John Hancock Introduces New Retirement Planner Tool

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May 18, 2020, 09:31 ET

Tool Projects More Personalized Retirement Outcomes for Participants

TSX/NYSE/PSE: MFC SEHK: 945

BOSTON, May 18, 2020 /PRNewswire/ - As part of its enhancements to the online and digital experience for participants, John Hancock Retirement has recently introduced a new digital tool for individuals in its retirement plans to help them easily project their own retirement readiness and model the impact of taking different steps to improve it.

The retirement planner, located on the newly redesigned participant website, goes beyond providing projections based on a flat income replacement ratio. Instead it shows retirement readiness based on an individual's personal projected spending in retirement using key demographic and behavioral data points that consider shifts in lifestyle over the course of one's retirement. Helping participants better understand their expenses in retirement allows them to implement the most appropriate withdrawal strategy based on individual income sources and needs such as health,* lifestyle and other assets.

"Despite recent market swings, we have found that clear investment goals and a proactive plan can help participants put short-term market fluctuations into context and continue to work toward the retirement they want," said Patrick Murphy, CEO of John Hancock Retirement. "The retirement planner addresses top concerns and satisfies the needs of participants as they plan and prepare for retirement, giving them a realistic and tangible retirement goal."

Using each participant's current retirement funds and savings strategy, John Hancock's retirement planner provides insight into longevity risk, future spending patterns and predictive analytics to generate a personalized projection of how income in retirement compares to the anticipated costs over the course of the participant's retirement years. Participants receive a personalized action plan with steps that will help them get on track if they're behind or improve their general financial health if they're retirement ready.

"We know from our research that more than half of participants feel they are behind in savings for retirement – and 9 out of 10 participants agree that projections of their retirement expenses would motivate them to save more. The retirement planner has the potential to encourage greater engagement and to drive more positive action resulting in better preparation for participants when it comes to their retirement," said Sosseh Malkhassian, Head of Participant Experience, John Hancock Retirement. "We're using customer-centric design to enhance our participant experience and this tool makes planning personal for each participant and provides suggested contribution level guidance that can be easily implemented in just two clicks."

Participants can also adjust and model several variables in the retirement planner, such as when and where they plan to retire, health status*, lifestyle, and outside savings, to see how different inputs can impact their specific retirement outcomes. According to John Hancock's most recent Financial Stress Survey, 80 percent of participants have given some consideration to potential wealth and health issues in retirement. Addressing these considerations - the retirement planner factors personal health data into both the analysis tool and actual needs projection. This helps provide a unique, and more accurate scenario for individual participants, rather than relying on base assumptions using the same income replacement ratio for everyone.

"Everything we do comes down to helping participants become financially prepared for the retirement they want," continued Mr. Murphy. "And in times of increased uncertainty, we want to reinforce that having a plan is the very best way to stay focused on what can be controlled and alleviate the stress that can accompany the unknown."

*Health data is not retained due to privacy reasons, but the impact of the health information is retained in the projection.

John Hancock Financial Stress Survey Methodology
The 2019 John Hancock Financial Stress survey was commissioned by John Hancock and conducted by Greenwald & Associates. An online survey of 3,547 John Hancock plan participants was conducted in June 2019.

About John Hancock and Manulife
John Hancock is a unit of Manulife Financial Corporation, a leading international financial services group that helps people make their decisions easier and lives better. We operate primarily as John Hancock in the United States, and Manulife globally, including Canada, Asia and Europe. We provide financial advice, insurance and wealth and asset management solutions for individuals, groups and institutions. Assets under management and administration by Manulife and its subsidiaries were CAD$1.2 trillion (US$0.8 trillion) as of March 31, 2020. Manulife Financial Corporation trades as MFC on the TSX, NYSE, and PSE, and under 945 on the SEHK. Manulife can be found at manulife.com.

One of the largest life insurers in the United States, John Hancock supports more than 10 million Americans with a broad range of financial products, including life insurance, annuities, investments, 401(k) plans, and college savings plans. Additional information about John Hancock may be found at johnhancock.com.

About John Hancock Retirement
As of March 31, 2020, John Hancock serviced over 51,000 retirement plans with over 3 million participants** and over $156 billion in AUMA.

**	Participant Counts reflect all active participants with a balance.

About Manulife Investment Management
Manulife Investment Management is the global wealth and asset management segment of Manulife Financial Corporation. We draw on more than 150 years of financial stewardship to partner with clients across our institutional, retail, and retirement businesses globally. Our specialist approach to money management includes the highly differentiated strategies of our fixed-income, specialized equity, multi-asset solutions, and private markets teams—along with access to specialized, unaffiliated asset managers from around the world through our multimanager model. Our personalized, data-driven approach to retirement is focused on delivering financial wellness in retirement plans of all sizes to help plan participants and members retire with dignity.

Headquartered in Toronto, we operate as Manulife Investment Management throughout the world, with the exception of the United States, where the retail and retirement businesses operate as John Hancock Investment Management and John Hancock, respectively; and in Asia and Canada, where the retirement business operates as Manulife. Manulife Investment Management had CAD$832 billion (US$586 billion) in assets under management and administration.^* Not all offerings are available in all jurisdictions. For additional information, please visit our website at manulifeinvestmentmgt.com.

*	MFC financials in CAD. Global Wealth and Asset Management AUMA as of March 31, 2020, was $832 billion and includes $195 billion of assets managed on behalf of other segments and $139 billion of assets under administration.

John Hancock Distributors LLC Member FINRA, SIPC 200 Berkeley Street Boston, MA 02116 800-225-6020
jhinvestments.com

John Hancock Retirement Plan Services, LLC• 200 Berkeley Street • Boston, MA 02116

NOT FDIC INSURED. MAY LOSE VALUE. NOT BANK GUARANTEED.

SOURCE John Hancock Retirement