Director – Quantitative Investment Modeling and Support

MassMutual Ascend tops $2 billion in RIA annuity sales as advisors warm to income products. Ten years after entering the fee-based annuity market, MassMutual Ascend says nearly half its lifetime sales came in the past two years alone - but barriers remain among fee-only advisors. AUG 13, 2026 MassMutual Ascend, the wholly owned subsidiary of Mass Mutual wth a focus on the RIA channel, is celebrating a milestone in the growing adoption of advisory annuities. MassMutual Ascend has crossed $2 billion in lifetime advisory annuity sales, a threshold the insurer says reflects a broader shift in how registered investment advisors think about guaranteed income inside client portfolios. The Cincinnati-based insurer said the figure was built on relationships with more than 1,700 investment advisor representatives across nearly 1,000 RIAs that now write annuity business through the platform. What stands out in the numbers, the company said, is the pace of adoption in the past two years, with roughly $900 million of its advisory annuity sales coming through the door in 2025 and 2026. "Ten years ago, we entered this space with the belief that annuities would become an increasingly important part of advisors' retirement planning conversations," Joe Maringer, senior vice president and national sales manager at MassMutual Ascend, said in a statement. "This milestone is evidence of that momentum." MassMutual Ascend traces the milestone back to 2016, when it launched what it describes as the industry's first advisory fixed-indexed annuity - a product built specifically for advisors operating under a fee-based, rather than commission-based, model. Since then, the company has broadened its advisory lineup to include fixed, fixed-indexed and registered index-linked annuities, chasing a fiduciary channel that has historically been resistant to insurance products. MassMutual Ascend has also been ranked by LIMRA as the top provider in advisory fixed-indexed annuity sales for eight consecutive quarters, the company said. The case for annuities inside a fee-based practice rests on the fact that a dollar allocated to an annuity can be structured to generate more guaranteed lifetime income than a dollar in a comparable fixed-income allocation; that comes down mostly to how risk pooling happens across a large group of policyholders. Mammoth asset managers like BlackRock and State Street have taken notice over the past few years, placing annuities into the target-date products that end up on the menus made available to countless retirement plan participants. "When these asset managers are acknowledging that fact and bringing annuities in for income and in their own products, that has to speak to the individual advisors and firms who think they can do it themselves," David Lau, founder and CEO of DPL Financial, previously told InvestmentNews. Belle Bielawska, national key account manager at MassMutual Ascend, framed the trend as a shift in how advisors and clients view the category altogether. "As retirement challenges become more complex, we're seeing greater appreciation for the role modern annuities can play and the unique outcomes they're designed to deliver, like defined protection and contractual income, which can be difficult to replicate elsewhere," Bielawska said in a written statement. Despite the RIA channel's prospects as the next growth frontier for annuities, there are still real challenges holding them back. Aside from implementaton bottlenecks and the historical gap in fee-based options, the complexity of annuties has also kept a lid on how comfortable advisors can get recommending them. For fiduciary advisors, it may also be easier to justify other low-cost options when considering their clients' best interest. Matt Clifford, a former Pacific Life annuities strategy leader who now consults for insurance and annuity organizations, also sees a mismatch between how carriers design and roll out new annuity products, and how RIAs approach planning for clients. "Carriers frequently adjust product design and sales capacity to align with shifting economic conditions, capital markets, and internal risk or return objectives," Clifford said in a LinkedIn note. "Over the past two decades, this has driven notable shifts in product focus." In the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, he said low interest rates and rampant market volatility, along with more stringent capital reserve requirements for financial institutions, pushed carriers to pivot from variable annuities with guaranteed living benefits to more capital-efficient fixed products. "As interest rates rose sharply in 2022 and 2023, carriers leaned into multi-year guaranteed annuities (MYGAs) and fixed indexed annuities (FIAs), which offered competitive yields, strong consumer appeal, and more favorable spread economics," he said. "These shifts, while operationally sound, create downstream friction as advisors and wholesalers must reorient their positioning, retrain, and reshape client conversations." While firms operating in the brokerage model may be able to manage those frictions thanks to incentives such as commssions and marketing support, Clfford argued those buttons aren't available to RIAs, who "tend to take a longer-term, more stable view of portfolio construction and client strategy. "To close that gap, carriers should work to identify and deeply understand the core financial planning principles RIAs manage to, and build a set of stable, fitting solutions that align with those principles," he said. "Just as important, they must demonstrate a willingness to stand behind those solutions across changing macro and market environments."

Pacific Life introduces New era for last survivor indexed universal Life Insurance. schedule 3 minutes Pacific Horizon Survivorship IUL 2 pairs robust protection with enhanced adaptability. NEWPORT BEACH, CALIF. - August 4, 2026 - Pacific Life Insurance Company announced today the launch of Pacific Horizon Survivorship IUL 2,[1] a next-generation survivorship indexed universal life insurance product built for a rapidly evolving legacy-planning landscape.[2] It replaces Pacific Horizon Survivorship IUL and offers even more customized coverage than its top-ranking predecessor. "Survivorship life insurance has always played a pivotal role in financial protection and estate liquidity, but consumers are now navigating longer lifespans and increasingly complex advanced-planning needs," said John Dieck, senior vice president and chief product officer, Consumer Markets at Pacific Life. "With Pacific Horizon Survivorship IUL 2, we're helping clients turn their values and vision into long-term strategies that help meet their needs." A survivorship structure insures two individuals under one policy - often at a lower cost than purchasing separate policies - and pays the death benefit upon the second death. This makes Pacific Horizon Survivorship IUL 2 a strategic fit for estate-planning needs by providing funds precisely when estate taxes are typically due. Plus, a survivorship policy can offer efficiency for individuals with significant age or health differences. To help put this strategy into action, Pacific Life offers advanced planning tools and resources designed to support financial professionals in building and presenting survivorship solutions for their clients. Key benefits of Pacific Horizon Survivorship IUL 2 include: * Three coverage types to better tailor protection to clients' objectives.[3] * Automatically includes a no-lapse guarantee up to the surviving insured's lifetime at no additional cost.[4] * Potential cash value growth via indexed interest-crediting strategies to help support long-term planning flexibility. * Versatile planning applications from estate liquidity and trust funding to multigenerational and philanthropic goals. "For high-net-worth clients and their financial professionals, planning decisions made today will impact outcomes for generations," said Kevin Kennedy, senior vice president and chief sales and marketing officer, Consumer Markets at Pacific Life. "Pacific Horizon Survivorship IUL 2 empowers families and businesses to reframe their legacies - making them more intentional, adaptable, and enduring." About Pacific Life Pacific Life provides a variety of products and services designed to help individuals and businesses in the retail, institutional, workforce benefits, and reinsurance markets achieve financial security. Whether your goal is to protect loved ones or grow your assets for retirement, Pacific Life offers innovative life insurance and annuity solutions, as well as mutual funds, that provide value and financial security for current and future generations. Supporting its policyholders for nearly 160 years, Pacific Life is a Fortune 500 company headquartered in Newport Beach, California. For additional company information, including current financial-strength ratings, visit PacificLife.com. [1 Pacific Life Insurance Company's Pacific Horizon Survivorship IUL 2 (Form series P26SIL, S26SHZN, varies based on state of policy issue).] [2 Schmidt, Alexander. "Estate Planning Industry Statistics," Gitnux, February 13, 2026,] [https://gitnux.org/estate-planning-industry-statistics/] [.] [3 Each coverage type - including those offered through riders - incurs its own set of charges with unique features and benefits, subject to availability, restrictions, and limitations. When considering coverage types, request a policy illustration from your financial professional to see the impact on your policy's values.] [4 The Flexible Duration No-Lapse Guarantee Rider (Form series R25FNL, S26FNL, varies based on state of policy issue) depending on how your policy is structured, has a maximum duration of the surviving insured's lifetime, subject to certain limits. If your net no-lapse guarantee value is zero, the no-lapse feature terminates. If the no-lapse feature terminates, additional premiums would be required to resume the no-lapse guarantee. If policy performance is such that your policy is being maintained solely by the no-lapse guarantee, your policy will not build cash value.] No bank guarantee - Not a deposit - May lose value - Not FDIC/NCUA insured - Not insured by any federal government agency Pacific Life refers to Pacific Life Insurance Company and its subsidiary, Pacific Life & Annuity Company. All individuals selling this product must be licensed insurance agents. Pacific Life Insurance Company is licensed to issue insurance products in all states except New York. Product/material availability and features may vary by state. Pacific Life is a product provider. It is not a fiduciary and therefore does not give advice or make recommendations regarding insurance or investment products. Insurance products and their guarantees, including optional benefits and any crediting rates, are backed by the financial strength and claims-paying ability of the issuing insurance company. Look to the strength of the insurance company with regard to such guarantees because these guarantees are not backed by the independent broker/dealers, insurance agencies, or their affiliates from which products are purchased. Neither these entities nor their representatives make any representation or assurance regarding the claims-paying ability of the issuing company. Pacific Life, its affiliates, distributors, and respective representatives do not provide tax, accounting, or legal advice. Any taxpayer should seek advice based on the taxpayer's particular circumstances from an independent tax advisor or attorney. Riders may be subject to additional charges, availability, restrictions, and limitations. When considering a rider, request a policy illustration from your financial professional to see the rider's impact on your policy's values. Not all products or optional benefits are available in all states or firms, and features may vary by state and firm. Indexed universal life (IUL) insurance generally requires additional premium payments after the initial premium. If either no premiums are paid, or subsequent premiums are insufficient to continue coverage, it is possible that coverage will expire. IUL does not directly participate in any stock or equity investments. Pacific Life Insurance Company reserves the right to change or modify any non-guaranteed or current elements. The right to modify these elements is not limited to a specific time or reason. Life insurance is subject to underwriting and approval of the application and will incur monthly policy charges. The primary purpose of survivorship life insurance is to provide a death benefit after both insured individuals have passed away. The home office for Pacific Life Insurance Company is located in Omaha, Nebraska. This material may not be used in California/Oregon/Delaware/Oklahoma/Wyoming/Mississippi/Nevada. Pacific Life Insurance Company IUC5249-00 8/26 E829