Products April 20, 2023

Investment Product and Service Launches

MassMutual announces fund investing in diverse-led businesses; Pacific Life offers variable universal life product; and more.

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MassMutual Announces $100 Million Fund to Invest in Diverse-Led Companies

Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co. announced it launched a second MM Catalyst Fund of $100 million to continue investing in Black-led startups, as well as overlooked businesses across Massachusetts.

The fund will selectively invest in Black, Latino and Indigenous-led businesses across the US and Canada, alongside fund managers within MassMutual’s First Fund Initiative. The new investment builds on the first $50 million fund the company launched just over two years ago.

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“This new fund will build and expand upon the MM Catalyst Fund’s success – including our innovative, consultative approach that helps address the gaps and barriers to funding,” said Jason Allen, portfolio manager of impact investments at MassMutual. “We look forward to investing in companies led by exceptional founders who are solving problems with compassion and conviction to generate positive, measurable social and environmental impact while addressing inequality in capital markets.”

Pacific Life Launches Variable Universal Life Product for Wealth Transfer Market

Pacific Life Insurance Co. announced the addition pf a new protection-focused variable universal life insurance product aimed at the $68 trillion wealth transfer market.

Pacific Protector VUL is designed for cost-efficient guaranteed death benefit protection, providing the potential to build cash value.

“Now more than ever, we’re dedicated to offering a competitive, well-rounded lineup of VUL products tailored to meet clients’ financial needs,” said Greg Reber, senior vice president of Pacific Life’s insurance sales and distribution, in a statement. “A focus on lower premium for the maximum guaranteed death benefit provides a strong option for financial professionals and their clients looking to solve wealth transfer planning scenarios.”

Pacific Protector VUL is the first Pacific Life product available with the new premier chronic illness rider, an accelerated death benefit rider for chronic conditions.

CrowdStreet Advisors’ Flagship Fund Now Available on iCapital

CrowdStreet Advisors LLC, a boutique alternative investment manager, announced it has launched its flagship REIT fund, CrowdStreet REIT I, on iCapital.

“iCapital is at the forefront of the push to make alternative investments more accessible to a broader range of advisers and their clients, and we couldn’t be more excited to offer our flagship C-REIT on their platform,” said Sheldon Chang, president of CrowdStreet Advisers, in a statement. “Like iCapital, our team understands the important role advisers play in helping individuals better prepare for retirement and meet their financial goals. We’re committed to supporting advisers in this essential mission and working with iCapital to expand access to alternatives like private commercial real estate.”

C-REIT makes direct equity investments in private commercial real estate projects which the fund believes will benefit from long-term growth drivers, as well as the current market dislocation.

Beacon Capital Management Launches Tactical Risk ETF

Beacon Capital Management Inc. announced the launch of an exchange-traded fund, Beacon Tactical Risk, which began trading on the New York Stock Exchange Arca on Tuesday.

The new fund uses an equal sector allocation across 11 sectors and a mechanical stop-loss to limit losses. When the stop-loss is triggered, equity positions are sold, and portfolio assets are repositioned into fixed income. The BTR fund has been designed for both bear and bull market conditions.

“After experiencing a catastrophic loss to their portfolio value, the average investor simply does not have the time often required just to get back to where they started,” said Chris Cook, president and CIO of Beacon Capital Management, in a statement. “This is why we designed our investment strategy to have mechanical stop-loss measures—to limit losses before they become too catastrophic.”

Mutual of Omaha Launches Retirement Right Quoting Portal

Mutual of Omaha Retirement Services has launched its Retirement Right Quoting Portal, a new self-quoting portal for registered financial advisers.

An extension of Mutual’s Retirement Right suite, the quoting portal enables advisers to quote and build a retirement plan in an ongoing online experience. Within the portal, the total process takes place in three steps: get a quote; design a plan; and review and submit. Afterward, the firm will begin working to launch a retirement plan.

“Our Retirement Right Quoting Portal takes the complexity out of a notoriously drawn-out process,” said Bob Woods, national sales director for 401(k)s at Mutual of Omaha, in a statement. “We are excited to introduce our simple and intuitive experience to advisers.” 

In Practice April 20, 2023

Mandatory Retirement Not Serving Economy, According to Panel on Longevity

The current economy needs older workers, according to speakers at a conference on longevity with Thrive Global's Arianna Huffington.

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Ageism is driving older individuals out of the workforce just when the current economy needs people to work longer, according to the experts at Thursday’s Founders Summit, an event hosted by AARP AgeTech Collaborative and Primetime Partners.

In a panel discussion led by Arianna Huffington, founder of the Huffington Post and Thrive Global’s founder and CEO, experts said there is a disconnect between firms forcing workers out in a time when there may not be the talent to replace them, and they may need to income to support longer lives. Huffington told an audience at the Founders Summit that companies should evaluate the age limits set on their employees’ work lifespan.

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“Definitely now that we are living longer and working into old age, those companies that have arbitrary age limits have to reconsider that. They don’t make sense in the world we’re living in now,” Huffington said.

Huffington noted that she launched the Post at 55, and Thrive Global at 66, saying that age is “sort of a construct” assuming one is healthy.

That hasn’t kept some firms from seeking to get older workers out, according Alan Patricof, chairperson and co-founder of Primetime Partners.

“I’ve heard so many companies that had forced retirement at 60,” Patricof said. “If you believe me that I’ll live until 114, then at 60, I’ve just lived past the halfway mark, and they’re telling me to go after sunset. More and more companies have these rules, where at 60 or 65 you are going into forced retirement.”

Please Don’t Go

Recent research from retirement provider Smart shows that one in five American workers plan to keep working in retirement to fund what may be longer lives. The firm noted that retirement is becoming more of a “transition” state in which people may continue working.

If companies manage that transition correctly, it may fit the current economy better, according to panelist Donna Shalala, former U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services.

“Companies are begging people to stay on and hiring older people,” said Shalala. “You can’t walk into a grocery store in this country without seeing someone that’s older. Those are new hires or relatively new hires.”

There are cases of people rejoining the work force out of retirement, said Patricof. “A lot of companies are looking around, and they don’t have any COBOL [programming language] people, so they have to go back to retirees to find them to bring back tech expertise.”

Stay Flexible

Shalala said that many jobs are finding ways to accommodate older workers. Companies, particularly with the combination of remote learning, remote working and the hybrid system, can work out flexible schedules to accommodate older people in the economy.

“I actually think we’re fundamentally rethinking people’s roles,” said Shalala. “Now that means that we have to do a lot more with a health care system to keep people healthy so that they can work. The economy is driving it, and COVID drove it.”

She said a specific program providing extra support for older individuals is Medicare Advantage Plans, which have to provide emergency coverage outside of the plan’s service area. “I would describe it as a Chevrolet plan and turning it into closer to the Cadillac plan. Those services allow us to support older people in a way that we have not before,” said Shalala.

Anti-ageism advocate Ashton Applewhite, author of This Chair Rocks: A Manifesto Against Ageism, told panelists that ageism will only hinder leveraging human longevity.

“Ageism, structural age discrimination and internalized biases are the biggest obstacles to making the most of longer lives, the business that you are all engaged in,” said Applewhite. “So I urge you to make it central to your thinking and your efforts.”

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