John Hancock's retirement planner marks first year of use with 23% of participants increasing payroll contribution rates

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BOSTON, Oct. 1, 2021 /CNW/ - John Hancock Retirement, a company of Manulife Investment Management, announced today encouraging data resulting from the first year of use of its new retirement planner. Introduced to participants in May 2020, the retirement planner enhanced the online and digital experience 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. Over the past year, despite the COVID-19 pandemic, 23.6% of retirement planner users made a positive change to their contribution rate and increased their payroll contribution rate by an average of 4.2%.¹ Additionally, in the first six months of use, 94% of retirement planner users added information to personalize their projections, with 66% of users making 10 or more changes within the experience to further refine their retirement projections and plan.²

"Our retirement planner is just one of the many tools we offer as a part of comprehensive plan design to help participants achieve the retirement outcomes they envision," said Sue Reibel, CEO, John Hancock Retirement. "We are confident that helping employees plan and save for retirement through a workplace plan is the best and easiest way for people to reach their individual retirement savings goals. If we want participants to engage with their plans, we need them to be taking these actions to help visualize what their retirements will be."

The retirement planner uses proprietary predictive analytics to project a participant's income and spending needs each year of their retirement³, breaking down expenses into line items such as healthcare⁴, food, and housing. This detailed view of retirement spending makes the need to save more tangible and relevant to the participant. The results of the first year of the retirement planner's use are in keeping with the responses from the 2020 John Hancock Financial Stress survey where 95% of respondents said that projections of their estimated income and expenses in retirement would help motivate them to plan.⁵

The retirement planner can accommodate all types of income sources including defined contribution plans, defined benefit and nonqualified plans that sit with John Hancock Retirement as well as outside accounts including savings, other retirement plans and expected income like rental income to provide the participant a realistic holistic retirement picture.

"We could not be happier to mark the one-year anniversary of the retirement planner with these results," added Lynda Abend, head of strategy & transformation, John Hancock Retirement. "We are all aware of how difficult the past year has been on both plan sponsors and participants and are really encouraged by the increased activity we have seen – including higher contribution rates and the addition of personalized information into individual plans. These changes help make retirement projections more accurate for participants and also show that participants are becoming more aware of the impact the planning they can do now to achieve their individual retirement outcomes and goals."

1. John Hancock internal data based on the 116,589 active participants on John Hancock's Open Architecture platform, who used the retirement planner from June 1, 2020 through May 31, 2021.
2. John Hancock internal data based on participants on John Hancock's Group Annuity and Open Architecture platforms, who used the retirement planner from May – November 2020. 
3. The projected retirement income estimates for current John Hancock accounts, future contributions, employer contributions (if applicable), and other accounts set aside for retirement used in this calculator are hypothetical, and for illustrative purposes only, and do not constitute investment advice. Results are not guaranteed and do not represent the current or future performance of any specific account or investment. All investments carry a degree of risk, and past performance is not a guarantee of future results. Due to market fluctuations and other factors, it is possible that investment objectives may not be met.
4. Health data is not retained due to privacy reasons, but the impact of the health information is retained in the projection.
5. In July 2020, John Hancock commissioned our seventh annual financial stress survey with the respected research firm Greenwald & Associates. An online survey of 589 workers was conducted between 7/28/20 and 8/14/20 to learn more about individual stress levels, their causes and effects, and strategies for relief. John Hancock and Greenwald & Associates are not affiliated, and neither is responsible for the liabilities of the other.

About John Hancock Retirement
John Hancock Retirement is the U.S. retirement business of Manulife Investment Management. For nearly 50 years, we've helped people plan and invest for retirement; today, we're one of the largest full-service providers in the United States.¹ We take a hands-on consultative approach based on the idea that no two plans - and no two plan participants - are exactly alike. We partner with plan sponsors, financial professionals, and third-party administrators to ensure that every plan is personal to the participant and delivers results.

As of June 30, 2021, John Hancock serviced over 52,000 retirement plans with over 3.1 million participants* and over $218 billion in AUMA.²

*Participant Counts reflect all active participants with a balance.

1. "2020 Defined Contribution Recordkeeper Survey," PLANSPONSOR, 2020.
2. As of June 30, 2021, John Hancock Life Insurance Company (USA) supported 47,995 plans, 1,606,720 participants, and $ 108,283,261,827.19 in AUMA. John Hancock Life Insurance Company of New York supported 2,549 plans, 80,027 participants, and $ 6,434,822,673.87 in AUMA. John Hancock Retirement Plan Services, LLC supported 2,207 plans, 1,428,948 participants, and $103,680,838,816.18 in AUMA. Participant Counts reflect all active participants with a balance. Approximate unaudited figures for John Hancock, provided on a U.S. statutory basis.

About Manulife Investment Management 
Manulife Investment Management is the global wealth and asset management segment of Manulife Financial Corporation. We draw on more than a century of financial stewardship and the full resources of our parent company to serve individuals, institutions, and retirement plan members worldwide. Headquartered in Toronto, our leading capabilities in public and private markets are strengthened by an investment footprint that spans 18 geographies. We complement these capabilities by providing access to a network of unaffiliated asset managers from around the world. We're committed to investing responsibly across our businesses. We develop innovative global frameworks for sustainable investing, collaboratively engage with companies in our securities portfolios, and maintain a high standard of stewardship where we own and operate assets, and we believe in supporting financial well-being through our workplace retirement plans. Today, plan sponsors around the world rely on our retirement plan administration and investment expertise to help their employees plan for, save for, and live a better retirement.

As of June 30, 2021, Manulife Investment Management had CAD $1.0 trillion (US $834 billion) in assets under management and administration. Not all offerings are available in all jurisdictions. For additional information, please visit manulifeim.com. 

John Hancock Retirement Plan Services, LLC offers administrative or recordkeeping services to sponsors and administrators of retirement plans. John Hancock Trust Company LLC provides trust and custodial services to such plans.

Group annuity contracts and recordkeeping agreements are issued by John Hancock Life Insurance Company (U.S.A.), Boston, MA (not licensed in New York), and John Hancock Life Insurance Company of New York, Valhalla, New York. Product features and availability may differ by state.

John Hancock Retirement Plan Services, LLC, John Hancock Life Insurance Company (U.S.A.), and John Hancock Life Insurance Company of New York each make available a platform of investment alternatives to sponsors or administrators of retirement plans without regard to the individualized needs of any plan. Unless otherwise specifically stated in writing, each such company does not, and is not undertaking to, provide impartial investment advice or give advice in a fiduciary capacity.

Both John Hancock Life Insurance Company (U.S.A.) and John Hancock Life Insurance Company of New York do business under certain instances using the John Hancock name.

JH Enterprise is a registered trademark of John Hancock Life Insurance Company (U.S.A.).

JH Signature is a trademark of John Hancock Life Insurance Company (U.S.A.) and is used under license by John Hancock Life Insurance Company of New York.

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

© 2021 John Hancock. All rights reserved.

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SOURCE John Hancock