MassMutual has announced that it has acquired substantially all the assets of Viability Advisory Group.
Viability has developed an analysis program, on which a patent is pending, that is aimed at helping companies evaluate the financial costs associated with employees being unprepared for retirement and the loss of productivity attributed to employees' lack of financial security.
As part of the evaluation, the program calculates the hard-dollar cost of inappropriate or underutilization of retirement savings and other employee benefits programs.
Recommended For You
The financial considerations for the acquisition of Viability were not disclosed.
Viability was founded by Hugh O'Toole, who left MassMutual Retirement Services in April 2014 after seven years to found the new firm. As part of the acquisition, O'Toole is rejoining MassMutual to run the Viability business.
The acquisition comes as part of MassMutual's strategy to help financial advisors quantify the value of employee retirement readiness and appropriate benefits plans use to employers' bottom lines.
The Viability suite of tools will be offered to MassMutual retirement plans and worksite insurance clients strictly through financial advisors, according to Eric Wietsma, head of sales and distribution for MassMutual Retirement Services.
The new offering is designed to enhance retirement advisors' practices and increase their value to employers.
Employers are becoming increasingly concerned about the retirement readiness and financial wellness of their employees.
As those employees grow older, they cost their employers more, and worries about money are taking a toll on workplace productivity—something else that costs employers money.
The traditional retirement age might be 65, but 80 percent of workers say they're going to postpone retirement, according to a report from the Employee Benefits Research Institute—and one out of every 10 expects never to retire.
And since about 8,000 Americans hit the age of 65 each day, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, that means employers are presiding over an increasingly older workforce.
In addition, a quarter of employees say personal financial problems have become a distraction at work, according to a 2014 survey of financial wellness issues conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers.
And money issues are consistently at the top of Americans' lists of biggest stressors since 2007, according to a report from the American Psychological Association.
© 2025 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
