Thank you for a successful year of partnership and collaboration

Your support shines brightly in a year filled with uncertainty. We strive every day to help our firm partners and financial professionals pursue their business initiatives and deliver on client expectations. And we’re humbled for the recognition we’ve received for our efforts.

• Most NAPA Advisor Allies of any firm, fifth year in a row¹
• Adviser Choice Award for retirement plan specialist advisers’ favorite recordkeeper²
• Advisors’ Choice top recordkeeper, with the most Advisors’ Choice Awards in the mid-market³
• Advisors’ Choice top recordkeeper, with six Advisors’ Choice Awards in the small market³

We’re also thrilled that even more financial professionals are choosing to partner with us—as engagement jumped 49% this year.⁴ It’s our privilege to help you and your financial professionals earn new business and service the needs of our mutual clients. We can’t wait to build on this momentum in 2024.

Wishing you and yours a happy and healthy holiday season from all of us at John Hancock.

Regards,

Abigail Benham
Head of National Accounts
John Hancock Retirement

^{1 “NAPA Allied Advisors—2023,” National Association of Plan Advisors (NAPA), 2023. 2 “2023 PLANADVISER Adviser Choice Awards,” PLANADVISER, 2023. 3 “NAPA's Advisors’ Choice Awards,” NAPA, 2023. 4 John Hancock internal data, January to October 2023. 1 “NAPA Allied Advisors—2023,” National Association of Plan Advisors (NAPA), 2023. 2 “2023 PLANADVISER Adviser Choice Awards,” PLANADVISER, 2023. 3 “NAPA's Advisors’ Choice Awards,” NAPA, 2023. 4 John Hancock internal data, January to October 2023.} 

Understanding where participants stand today is the first important step in helping them take action toward confidently saving for retirement. In our annual State of the participant study,⁵ we’ve once again identified compelling trends in John Hancock DC plan participant behavior and progress. And because data is only a starting point, we also suggest specific tools financial professionals and plan sponsors can use to help people make better decisions along their financial journey.

You’ll find these tools in our State of the participant resource center, as well as insight on:

• How to improve retirement readiness by assessing both the ability to cover retirement expenses and levels of retirement income
• Lessons learned from investment transactions and personal rates of return
• Actions participants are taking that can help and hinder their retirement readiness

^{5 All data is from our open-architecture platform. 2022 data reflects John Hancock Retirement Plan Services LLC’s 1,756 plans, 1,440,374 participants, and $95,176,036,431 in assets under management and administration (AUMA) as of 6/30/22. 2023 data reflects John Hancock Retirement Plan Services LLC’s 1,966 plans, 1,511,835,participants, and $100,319,359,778.24 in AUMA as of 6/30/23.} 

Money market funds are usually one of the first options people think of when they think about capital preservation, but stable value funds⁶ can be an alternative. Our stable value web page contains a broad range of information to help financial professionals understand:  

• How stable value funds work
• Where stable value fits in the capital preservation landscape
• How they can provide stability in times of stress
• Our stable value investment approach

^{6 Stable value portfolios typically invest in a diversified portfolio of bonds and enter into wrapper agreements with financial companies to prevent fluctuations in their share prices. Although a portfolio will seek to maintain a stable value, there is a risk that it will not be able to do so, and participants may lose their investment if both the fund’s investment portfolio and the wrapper provider fail.} 

The idea that a recession could be imminent may spark anxiety among retirement plan participants. Our U.S. economic web page contains thought leadership that financial professionals can use to help address participants’ concerns, including five things they should be focusing on:

• Growth momentum
• Factors that could alter the next recession
• Performance of U.S. assets in a global market
• Mild recession versus stagnation
• Participants’ time horizons  

John Hancock continues to evaluate and implement SECURE 2.0’s provisions and develop action steps to meet its retirement plan requirements and deadlines. We plan to update financial professionals and plan sponsors on a number of provisions that we’re currently addressing, including:

• Designating catch-up contributions as Roth for highly compensated employees
• Exclusion of Roth from participant required minimum distributions (RMDs)
• Repayment of qualified birth or adoption distribution (QBAD)
• Increase in age for RMDs, from age 72 to age 73
• Increase in cash-out limit, from $5,000 to $7,000
• Long-term, part-time employees

Here’s a copy of the updates for your reference.

• SECURE 2.0 update: Signature plans
• SECURE 2.0 update: open-architecture plans (bundled)
• SECURE 2.0 update: open-architecture plans (unbundled)

Financial professionals should contact their John Hancock representative with any questions.

^{7 2023 Investment Management Education Alliance (IMEA) Star Award for overall innovation.} 

A strong pipeline is an integral part of building a successful practice. We’re proud to be recognized as a 2023 Wealth Management Industry Award winner⁹ for our prospect finder, which makes it easy for financial professionals to identify and prioritize qualified leads to help them grow and scale their retirement plan business.

• Smart filters to find plans with specific characteristics
• Ability to save potential clients to their personalized dashboard at retirement.johnhancock.com
• Plan scorecard comparisons at the industry, state, and national levels
• A custom needs analysis to help identify opportunities for enhancement
• Actionable ideas to help open doors

^{8 Use of the tools and resources indicated may be subject to approval by your broker-dealer. Please check with your firm prior to use. John Hancock and its affiliates are not responsible for the consequences of any decisions or actions taken in reliance on, or as a result of, the information provided by this tool and is not responsible for any human or mechanical errors or omissions. 9 2023 Wealth Management Industry Award for retirement plan advisor support.} 

We’re honored to partner with Schwarz Partners and their advisor, SageView, to provide a retirement plan that “helps people help themselves.” And we thank them for letting us share their success story with you. 

^{10 “2023 Plan Sponsor of the Year, Corporate 401(k) >$150MM–$250MM,” PLANSPONSOR, 2023.} 

Over the summer, hundreds of teens worked at our Boston office and 30 local nonprofits as part of our annual MLK Scholars Program. This program provides youth with summer jobs, financial education, and professional development opportunities while helping participating organizations engage Boston’s diverse student population. Since 2008, we’ve invested over $15 million in the program and created inclusive career opportunities for more than 6,000 students.