John Hancock Funds' Adviser Survey Finds Clients on Sidelines for Another 6 to 12 Months

BOSTON, Nov. 9, 2010 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- John Hancock Funds, in a recent survey of advisers about their clients' attitudes toward the markets and investing, has found a strong preference by clients to remain in cash and short-term instruments, even though most advisers have encouraged them to move back into an investing mode.  The survey was sent to advisers in late September and nearly 400 advisers responded.

Also among the survey's key findings:

• Only 12 percent of advisers report being hesitant to invest right now, whereas they say nearly 88 percent of their clients are hesitant.
• Seventy percent of advisers think their clients have too much money in cash, including savings deposits, money market accounts, and short term instruments.  
• Nearly an equivalent percentage (69 percent) of clients do not think they have too much in cash.
• Among the reasons clients give for their inactivity:  34 percent said they were concerned about the economy, 26 percent said they are "scared," and 23 percent think the market will dip again.
• Advisers say more than 47 percent of their clients plan to invest their cash within six to 12 months, with 18 percent having a three to six month time horizon, and nearly 12 percent saying "never."

Advisers also report that a strongly improving employment picture and a big stock market uptick are the main factors that would convince clients to begin moving back into investing.

Getting Clients Off The Sidelines

As a way to help advisers who believe their clients may be missing out on the early phase of a market recovery, John Hancock Funds has launched a new program offering tools and materials designed to guide conversations with clients at a very difficult and emotional time for many.  It may be accessed by visiting www.jhfunds.com/HardWired.

"Advisers are caught in a dilemma. They know their clients stand to lose money by remaining in cash and that the prudent course of action is to adopt dollar-cost-averaging back into stocks, starting now," said Keith F. Hartstein, President & CEO, John Hancock Funds. "The materials in our new program are intended to foster more effective conversations between adviser and client that can begin to address this problem."

"Getting Clients Off the Sidelines" provides advisers with case studies of representative clients, and suggested mutual funds that could be used in putting cash back to work. A series of sales tools, including videos and client-approved interactive charts and reports, are also available.

"Advisers may need to acknowledge the emotion the client is feeling and help them change their perspective from short-term to long-term," said Carey Foran Hoch, Senior Vice President and head of marketing. "After reframing the conversation, advisers can suggest a course of action, say, to move a third of a cash position as a starting point."

This new program is a complement to the Behavioral Finance program, called "Hard Wired," that John Hancock Funds unveiled in August. "Hard Wired" uses behavioral finance concepts to help financial advisers better understand client behavior, structure client portfolios, and ultimately to help rebuild advisers' businesses.  Both programs are available to advisers registered on www.jhfunds.com.

About John Hancock Funds

The Boston-based mutual fund business unit of John Hancock Financial, John Hancock Funds manages more than $60.8 billion in open-end funds, closed-end funds, private accounts, retirement plans and related party assets for individual and institutional investors as at September 30, 2010.  

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 22 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. For more than 120 years, clients have looked to Manulife for strong, reliable, trustworthy and forward-thinking solutions for their most significant financial decisions. Funds under management by Manulife Financial and its subsidiaries were Cdn$474 billion (US$460 billion) as at September 30, 2010.

Manulife Financial Corporation trades as 'MFC' on the TSX, NYSE and PSE, and under '945' on the SEHK. Manulife Financial may 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.

SOURCE John Hancock Funds

WANT YOUR COMPANY'S NEWS FEATURED ON PRNEWSWIRE.COM?

440k+
Newsrooms &
Influencers

9k+
Digital Media
Outlets

270k+
Journalists
Opted In

GET STARTED