Performance

Investment Philosophy and Strategy

We Take a Strategic, Long-Term View

MassMutual’s investment approach is rooted in diversification with a focus on creating long-term value. Our General Investment Account (GIA) — which backs the obligations we make to our policyowners and other customers — is well-diversified and managed with a long-term view. Along with ensuring diversification within and across asset classes, we also employ a rigorous asset liability management process to help mitigate the economic impact of various risks. The following principles are key to our approach:

DiversificationSee footnote 13

We diversify the composition of the GIA by investing in a variety of asset classes — from municipal, corporate, and Treasury bonds to commercial mortgages, private equity, and real estate. This approach increases the opportunity to capture positive returns across issuers and sectors while minimizing the impact of underperformance. MassMutual further diversifies by investing in strategic partnerships in international insurance and asset management businesses.

Relative Value

A relative-value assessment of risk versus return informs our decision-making process as we consider various opportunities and their prospective impacts on GIA performance.

Strategic Businesses and
Investments Fuel Earnings

One of MassMutual’s longstanding, distinct competitive advantages has been our portfolio of strategic businesses and investments. This broad and diverse portfolio includes our non-participating insurance businesses (annuities, Institutional Solutions), our ownership interests in global asset management business (Barings), and other strategic investments (Invesco, Rothesay).

In addition, we continue to evolve this portfolio in response to market trends and capitalize on growth opportunities. For example, MassMutual Ascend, a leader in the annuity market with a diversified portfolio of fixed, fixed-indexed and registered index-linked annuities, has enabled MassMutual to become one of the top annuity providers in America. And Martello Re, a company we founded with other investors in 2022, provides reinsurance services that help us better manage risk in our product suite, with the goal to help other companies do the same.

Invested AssetsSee footnote 14 As of December 31, 2023 (in Millions)

Invested Assets bar chart as of December 31, 2023

BondsSee footnote 16 As of December 31, 2023 (in Millions)

Bonds bar chart as of December 31, 2023
  • $245,854M Invested AssetsSee footnote 14
  • $132,085M BondsSee footnote 16
  1. Diversification does not ensure a profit and does not protect against loss in a declining market.
  2. Invested Assets exclude $17,340 million of funds withheld given that 100% of the associated investment risk is reinsured. The funds withheld investment portfolio has counterparty protections in place including investment guidelines that were established to meet MassMutual’s risk management objectives.
  3. Policy loans are loans taken by policyowners against the cash surrender value of their policies and, as such, are secured by the cash surrender value of those policies.
  4. Bonds exclude $15,215 million of funds withheld given that 100% of the associated investment risk is reinsured. The funds withheld investment portfolio has counterparty protections in place including investment guidelines that were established to meet MassMutual’s risk management objectives.
  5. Residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS), commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS), and asset-backed securities (ABS).

Invested AssetsSee footnote 14 As of December 31, 2023 (in Millions)

  1. Invested Assets exclude $17,340 million of funds withheld given that 100% of the associated investment risk is reinsured. The funds withheld investment portfolio has counterparty protections in place including investment guidelines that were established to meet MassMutual’s risk management objectives.
  2. Policy loans are loans taken by policyowners against the cash surrender value of their policies and, as such, are secured by the cash surrender value of those policies.

BondsSee footnote 16 As of December 31, 2023 (in Millions)

  1. Bonds exclude $15,215 million of funds withheld given that 100% of the associated investment risk is reinsured. The funds withheld investment portfolio has counterparty protections in place including investment guidelines that were established to meet MassMutual’s risk management objectives.
  2. Residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS), commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS), and asset-backed securities (ABS).