MassMutual History

• MassMutual was formed by George Rice and his cousin Caleb Rice in Springfield, Massachusetts. George was an agent with a Connecticut insurance company at the time. He begin to see interest from potential customers in the Springfield area, however, his company did not want to underwrite the policies in Massachusetts.
• The original vision was for the company to be mutual, meaning the policy holders would own the company, but the law in Massachusetts required that insurance companies be chartered through stock ownership first. Once the company had enough surplus funds, it could retire the stock and become mutualized. In order to charter, the Rice cousins had to find $100,000 from investors, the equivalent of about $3 million today.
• Eventually, with the support of about 31 investors, MassMutual was granted a charter in May 1851. It sold its first policy to an investor on August 2, 1851 and within a year had sold 341 policies totaling $370,495. Caleb Rice served as president of the company until his death in 1873. By then, the company had shifted to a mutual company and had over $1 million in assets. George, however, was not able to see his vision come to fruition having died of tuberculosis in 1856.

MassMutual Product Lines

•  MassMutual offers life insurance, retirment, and investment solutions for individuals and families, employers, and institutions.
•  Insurance solutions include whole life, term life, direct term, universal life, and variable universal life.
•  Retirement solutions include deferred fixed annuities, variable annuities, fixed index annuities, immediate income annuities, and deferred income annuities.
•  Investment solutions include mutual funds, exchange-traded funds, Fortuna by MML Investors Services, unit investment trusts, Section 529 plans, and individual retirement accounts.

MassMutual CSR and Philanthropy

• MassMutual's CSR vision is "Living Mutual." This means "supporting those who share our vision for a better future."
• The company's CSR efforts are initiated through the MassMutual Foundation, which invests around $20 million annually to support economic opportunities.
• The Live Mutual Project is an initiative led by the MassMutual Foundation. The project draws on community members, businesses, and stakeholders to provide resources and education for financial wellness, especially to aid low-income and under priviledged communities.
•  MassMutual's law department has partnered with the Hampden Country Bar Association’s Legal Clinic (HCLC) to provide pro bono services to charitable organizations and underserved communities.
• Internally, MassMutual has invested in employee wellbeing and has been honored by the American Heart Association and the National Business Group on Health. The company has also invested $1.6 million for employee education, and has been recognized by Korn Ferry Institute for diversity and inclusion.