John Hancock Financial Network to Launch Cutting-Edge Retirement Income Program

BOSTON, Oct. 10, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- John Hancock Financial Network (JHFN) today announced their plans to launch Retirement Ready, a cutting-edge retirement income program designed to help JHFN financial professionals and advisors maximize sustainable retirement income for their clients and potentially minimize the risks clients may face. The program leverages a product allocation approach and includes a web-based product allocation analysis tool, a robust array of multi-media educational and training materials for clients and financial professionals and advisors, and dedicated support from JHFN.

"Research shows that the most trusted advisors are those who are now helping clients plan the decumulation stage of retirement," said Brian Heapps, CLU, ChFC, interim president, JHFN. "So we worked with some of the best in the business to develop a comprehensive program to help ensure our financial professionals and advisors are in the best possible position with the most advanced tools to help guide their clients." JHFN is awaiting review of the above materials which have been submitted to FINRA and will make any changes as required by FINRA.

Evolution from Asset Allocation to Product Allocation

"Traditional strategies such as asset allocation, where clients invest in different asset classes according to their risk tolerance, may work well when accumulating assets. Alone, however, they are often not enough to help protect clients from key retirement risks such as volatile equity markets, inflation, sequence of returns, and longevity," explained Bruce Harrington, head of retirement sales and strategy, JHFN.

JHFN has developed a program which not only leverages the advantage of an asset allocation strategy but also combines it with other products that offer guaranteed streams of income to help clients meet their financial needs. This solution is a product allocation strategy. Product allocation involves placing assets into distinct product categories to create an optimal mix of products, based on a client's personal needs, which tap into each product's features and benefits.

The RSQ Analyzer

At the heart of the Retirement Ready program is a product allocation tool called the RSQ Analyzer. It leverages a unique methodology developed by The QWeMA Group to determine each client's optimal product mix and provide a quantitative measurement of the relative likelihood that their portfolio will generate the income they desire for the rest of their lives. This measurement is called a retirement sustainability quotient (RSQ) and can range from a score of 0, where there is no likelihood of obtaining the desired income at retirement, to a score of 99, where the income stream is highly likely to be sustainable for life.

Moshe A. Milevsky, president and CEO, QWeMA, said, "QWeMA is delighted to be partnering with JHFN to bring product allocation to John Hancock Financial Network."

Retirement Ready Materials, Training and Advisor Support

Designed for use by financial professionals and advisors, an array of tools are available on JHFN's Retirement Ready microsite. These include the RSQ Analyzer, multi-media educational and training materials, an expense calculator, worksheets, promotional literature, and opportunities for advisors to create personalized client reports.

Larry Lubin, President & CEO of BlueRush, the award-winning digital marketing company that helped build the microsite, said, "We believe the Retirement Ready site sets a new benchmark for educating advisors and clients. Our goal was to make product allocation easy to understand by advisors—so they can explain its importance to their clients."

To support advisors as they work with clients on retirement income planning, JHFN has hired a dedicated team including director Greg Melton and retirement income sales consultant Danny Francisco. In addition, JHFN will be holding a series of training sessions for its network of independent firms in a variety of locations in October and November including Boston, San Francisco, Newark, Washington, D.C., Detroit and Orlando.

"Not only will Retirement Ready make it easy for financial professionals and advisors to help their clients maximize sustainable retirement income and minimize risk—we think it will help them build their businesses and meet additional client needs," said Harrington.

About John Hancock Financial Network

John Hancock Financial Network is a national network of independent firms with approximately 1,900 advisors across the U.S. A leader with the stability and scale to offer an innovative business model, John Hancock Financial Network gives entrepreneurial advisors the power to effectively build unique businesses, based on their own vision and market opportunity. For more information on John Hancock Financial Network and its national network of independent firms, visit https://www.johnhancockfinancialnetwork.com.

About John Hancock Financial and Manulife Financial Corporation

John Hancock Financial is a unit of Manulife Financial Corporation, a leading Canadian-based financial services group serving millions of customers in 21 countries and territories worldwide. Operating as Manulife Financial in Canada and in most of Asia, and primarily as John Hancock in the United States, Manulife Financial Corporation offers clients a diverse range of financial protection products and wealth management services through its extensive network of employees, agents and distribution partners. Funds under management by Manulife Financial and its subsidiaries were $481 billion (US$498 billion) as at June 30, 2011. Manulife Financial Corporation trades as 'MFC' on the TSX, NYSE and PSE, and under '945' on the SEHK. Manulife Financial can be found on the Internet at www.manulife.com.

The John Hancock unit, through its insurance companies, comprises one of the largest life insurers in the United States. John Hancock offers a broad range of financial products and services, including life insurance, fixed and variable annuities, fixed products, mutual funds, 401(k) plans, long-term care insurance, college savings, and other forms of business insurance. Additional information about John Hancock may be found at www.johnhancock.com.

Securities and investment advisory services offered through Signator Investors, Inc., member FINRA/SIPC, a registered investment advisor.

197 Clarendon St., Boston, MA 02116.

About The QWeMA Group, Inc.

The QWeMA Group Inc., an abbreviation of Quantitative Wealth Management Analytics Group, develops and licenses unique probability-analytic intellectual property and educational software for the financial services & retirement industry. QWeMA is privately owned and operated by a network of University based financial engineers, computational scientists and applied mathematicians. For more information please visit www.qwema.ca

About BlueRush

BlueRush Media Group Corp. ("BlueRush"), through its wholly-owned subsidiary, BlueRush Digital Media Corp., is a C standard-setting digital marketing company that combines rich media video and cutting-edge technology to create award-winning production for online and mobile platforms. The company has deep experience in financial services.

BlueRush creates innovative rich media solutions for distribution across all new emerging media; with expertise in design, programming, television, video production and marketing, BlueRush is uniquely qualified to position our clients – which include some of the most recognizable brands in North America – as digital communications leaders.

BlueRush Media Group Corp. is a publicly-listed company on the TSX Venture Exchange ("BTV").

SOURCE John Hancock Financial Network

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