The boards of Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company and Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company have posted 2020 dividend payout estimates.
(Related: Two Big Mutuals Post 2019 Dividend Estimates)
Northwestern Mutual says the dividend interest rate it uses to calculate the dividend payments will hold steady at 5%.
Total dividend payments are on track to increase to $6 billion. A year ago, the company estimated it would pay $5.6 billion in dividends this year.
MassMutual is cutting its dividend rate slightly, to 6.2%, from 6.4%. The company says it expects to pay a total of $1.7 billion in dividends in 2020. A year ago, the company was predicting it would pay $1.7 billion in dividends this year.
A mutual life insurer is a life insurance company that's owned by some or all of its policyholders. A mutual may use dividends to pay part of its profits to the policyholder owners.