The Hartford & MIT's AgeLab to Explore the Future of Longevity and Aging.

Financial services leader and expert on aging extend alliance to better understand Boomer psychology and encourage a greater level of retirement planning

SIMSBURY, Conn. -- Over 78 million Baby Boomers will be retiring in the near future. Or, perhaps, they may not be retiring due to either

Through a new alliance, The Hartford Financial Services Group (NYSE: HIG) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) AgeLab will explore this phenomena among other longevity and aging issues facing the world in the 21st century. The financial services leader and the world's foremost authority on aging will investigate the growing uncertainty surrounding retirement, the changing family and workplace and the role of women in the decision-making process.

According to John Walters, President of The Hartford's U.S. Wealth Management Group, the new alliance with MIT AgeLab is critical to future business initiatives at the firm.

"It's important that we understand our clients fully," Walters said. "We need to know the challenges they face and what will drive them to plan, so we can in turn create the right product and service solutions to help them."

A recent panel discussion at MIT entitled "The Future of Longevity" was moderated by Walters and included Ben Stein, columnist, author and honorary chairperson of National Retirement Planning Week, Dr. Joe Coughlin, founder and director of the MIT AgeLab, Maureen Mohyde, director of Corporate Gerontology at The Hartford and John Diehl, certified financial planner and president of The Hartford's Retirement Solutions Group.

Dr. Coughlin's remarks from the panel discussion reinforce the important step The Hartford and MIT's AgeLab have taken in beginning to work together on this issue. According to Coughlin, "I'd like to argue that longevity, something that we've all been planning for, quite frankly has snuck up on us. It is an endless frontier for us on a personal level, on a public level and indeed for those of us at the MIT AgeLab, on a research level."

Other panelists shared additional insights from their unique perspectives. Special guest Ben Stein recommended a back-to-basics approach to retirement planning and issued a call to action for the audience of financial professionals when he said "a hope is not a plan." Maureen Mohyde described what she termed the "longevity mismatch," whereby women are expected to live much longer and many couples don't plan for a scenario where the woman may live an additional 10 or 15 years. John Diehl reaffirmed the new landscape Boomers will face in retirement when he said, "you actually don't retire, you just become the CEO of a new kind of business" where you need to pay yourself a salary for the rest of your life.

You can access a replay of the panel through December 19(th) via the following link:

http://www.iian.ibeam.com/events/thom001/20840

About The Hartford

The Hartford, a Fortune 100 company, is one of the nation's largest financial services and insurance companies, with 2005 revenues of $27.1 billion. The Hartford is a leading provider of investment products, life insurance and group benefits; automobile and homeowners products; and business property and casualty insurance. International operations are located in Japan, Brazil and the United Kingdom. The Hartford's Internet address is www.thehartford.com.

About The MIT AgeLab

The MIT AgeLab is a multi-disciplinary research center dedicated to improving quality of life for older adults. Based within the Engineering Systems Division at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the AgeLab is uniquely suited to translate cutting edge scientific and technological breakthroughs into innovative solutions that help address challenges posed by the world's aging population.

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"The Hartford" is The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc. and its subsidiaries. MIT AgeLab is neither an affiliate nor a subsidiary of The Hartford.

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