John Hancock Starts Five-Year Longevity Research Project With MIT

John Hancock and its parent company Manulife announced Tuesday a multimillion-dollar, five-year research partnership with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s AgeLab for projects including the creation of a Longevity Preparedness Index.

Through the partnership, John Hancock and Manulife will collaborate with the university on research, thought leadership and workshops focused on addressing the challenges longevity brings to quality of life and income needs. Researchers will also have access to John Hancock’s customer-base data to support findings, according to the organizations.

The index, a pillar of the collaboration, is being prepared to launch in early 2025 and will measure Americans’ readiness to live longer lives in the coming years and decades. The research will also look to provide insights into how people can maximize financial planning, health and wellness habits, work and retirement transition planning, housing choices and end-of-life planning.

Wayne Park

“We are excited by this collaboration and anticipate that the learnings will inform how we can better help participants, sponsors, advisers and TPAs so that more Americans are prepared to live better—as well as longer and healthier—lives in retirement,” says Wayne Park, head of John Hancock’s U.S. retirement division.

Park added that the findings are intended to be useful for policymakers and relevant private and public organizations.

The organizations declined to provide the exact amount of funding.

Longevity is a focus for many financial organizations as well as nonprofits as a growing number of people will be faced with supporting themselves and family members for longer periods of time. In the announcement, John Hancock cites World Economic Forum data estimating that, by 2050, the number of people aged over 60 is expected to double to 2.1 billion, with one-fifth of an individual’s life also now expected to be lived with morbidity or in a state of illness.

The research will be led by MIT AgeLab Founder and Director Joseph Coughlin, author of the book “The Longevity Economy,” along with social and data scientists and experts outside of MIT. The group will also hold workshops on topics including “activations around longevity, generational dynamics, new technology, and behavioral insurance.”

“We want not only to identify the many different dimensions of what it takes to live longer, better; but also to measure the preparedness of a nation to live 100 good years,” Coughlin said in a statement. “It is our shared objective that our work will educate and motivate people to do what it takes for themselves, their families, and their communities—to turn a longer life into a better life for all.”

John Hancock sells financial products, including life insurance and annuities, along with retirement plans and services for institutions and individuals.

The firm announced a reorganization in February to combine its sales and services divisions—a move it made a little under one year from when Park took over as CEO.