National accounts newsletter
Q4 2024
As we start wrapping up the year and thinking about our goals for 2025, I just want to take a moment to say thank you. All of us at John Hancock Retirement are grateful for your ongoing partnership. It’s truly a privilege to work alongside you every day, bringing retirement plan solutions to our mutual clients and their employees.
This year, we launched a lot of new programs to help financial professionals build their retirement plan business and improve the plan sponsor and participant experiences. And we’re excited about more to come in 2025.
We hope you can take time to enjoy the upcoming holiday season with family and friends!
Sincerely,
Abigail Benham
Head of National Accounts
John Hancock Retirement
Insight from our financial resilience and longevity study
What if living longer meant living better? Our 10th annual survey of American workers and retirees reveals how they feel about their finances and their ability to fund a retirement that could span decades.
Key findings1
- 87% of Gen Z and millennials worry about their finances at work
- 59% of Gen Xers feel their retirement saving is behind schedule
- 40% of baby boomers are concerned about their level of debt
- 62% of workers retired sooner than expected, extending the time spent in retirement
Get more insight to help financial professionals provide the support their clients need to build financial resilience today.
Celebrating excellence
We’re proud to be recognized for our participant experience and the services we provide our plan sponsors and financial professionals.
Wealthie Award2
Our It’s about time participant engagement program won a 2024 Wealth Management Industry Award, also known as a Wealthie! We’re honored to receive this prestigious award recognizing initiatives and programs that facilitate retirement planning, preparation, and funding through a service enhancement. More than 1,000 entries were submitted by 400 companies. This award is a celebration of our commitment to helping people live longer, healthier, and better lives.
NAPA Advisors’ Choice Awards3
John Hancock Retirement was recognized as a top 2024 recordkeeper. We received the most awards in the small plans market and eight awards in the micro plans market. These awards give financial professionals the opportunity to provide feedback on the capabilities of the nation’s recordkeeping firms. Financial professionals provide input on advisor support, financial wellness, and more.
Expect more from target-date funds4
Now’s the time to consider how much additional value target-date funds (TDFs) can offer retirement plans. We believe a multi-asset investment approach is best suited to provide an appropriate level of diversification5 and risk-adjusted return potential that can help retirement savers pursue their long-term goals. Our approach is built on over 25 years of multi-asset investing and includes diversifying across multiple asset classes, using experienced managers globally, and applying both active and passive investment styles.
With John Hancock’s TDFs, participants can gain access to:
- Multiple offerings
- Benefits of a one-stop shop for retirement
- Expenses that may fit any plan’s budget
For complete information about a particular investment option, please read the fund prospectus or offering/trust document. You should carefully consider the objectives, risks, charges, and expenses before investing. The prospectus or offering/trust document contains this and other important information about the investment option and investment company. Please read the prospectus or offering/trust document carefully before you invest or send money. Fund prospectus or offering/trust document may only be available in English.
Help improve client service with our new tool kit
Our unique tool kit, developed in collaboration with Robin Green from WinMore Plans, is based on lessons learned from leading retirement plan financial professionals in the 2024 How Advisors Level Up study.6 It’s filled with actionable ideas to help financial professionals enhance their efficiency, profitability, and client satisfaction:
- Setting sales and marketing goals
- Identifying plan sponsor priorities
- Proving value with a history of accomplishments
- Creating recurring meeting agendas
- Conducting effective client surveys
Understand the Fed’s potential impact on retirement savings
It’s beneficial for plan sponsors to understand how the Fed works so they can help employees manage their retirement savings in changing economic conditions. Keep up to date with our latest thought leadership on changes with the Federal Reserve and what this could mean to investors.
Fed trims rates—what next?
The highly anticipated Fed rate-cutting cycle gets off to a relatively aggressive start. We take a closer look at what this could mean for investors.
Fed trims rates—what next? | John Hancock Retirement
Why the Fed and its policies matter to a plan sponsor
The highly anticipated Fed rate-cutting cycle gets off to a relatively aggressive start. We take a closer look at what this could mean for investors.
Retirement savings and the Fed | John Hancock Retirement
Important disclosures
1 In June 2024, John Hancock commissioned our 10th annual financial resilience and longevity survey with the respected research firm Edelman Public Relations Worldwide Canada (Edelman). An online survey of 2,623 John Hancock plan participants was conducted between 5/17/24 and 6/3/24 and 525 retired Americans, sourced through Angus Reid’s research panel, was conducted between 5/13/24 and 5/28/24. The objectives of the study were to learn more about individual stress levels, their causes and effects, strategies for relief, and to provide custom insight around how retirees are faring in retirement. John Hancock and Edelman are not affiliated, and neither is responsible for the liabilities of the other. 2 “WealthManagement.com 2024 Industry Award (the Wealthies),” winner of Retirement Plan Support and Advisor Services, 401(k) Services Category, WealthManagement.com, 2024. 3 “Top Recordkeepers (Advisors’ Choice Awards),” National Association of Plan Advisors, 2024. 4 A target-date portfolio is an investment option comprising a fund of funds that allocates its investments among multiple asset classes that can include U.S. and foreign equity and fixed-income securities. The target date is the approximate date an investor plans to start withdrawing money. The portfolio’s ability to achieve its investment objective will depend largely on the ability of the subadvisor to select the appropriate mix of underlying funds and on the underlying funds’ ability to meet their investment objectives. The portfolio managers control security selection and asset allocation. There can be no assurance that either a fund or the underlying funds will achieve their investment objectives. Investors should examine the asset allocation of the fund to ensure it is consistent with their own risk tolerance. A fund is subject to the same risks as the underlying funds in which it invests. Because target-date funds are managed to specific retirement dates, investors may be taking on greater risk if the actual year of retirement differs dramatically from the original estimated date. Target-date funds generally shift to a more conservative investment mix over time. While this may help manage risk, it does not guarantee earnings growth. An investment in a target-date fund is not guaranteed, and you may experience losses, including principal value, at, or after, the target date. There is no guarantee that the fund will provide adequate income at and through retirement. Consider the investment objectives, risks, charges, and expenses of the fund carefully before investing. For a more complete description of these and other risks, please see the fund’s prospectus. 5 Diversification does not guarantee a profit or eliminate the risk of a loss. 6 “Level-up; Benchmarking Your Retirement Practice + other lessons from legends,” WinMore Plans, April 2024. The study is commissioned in part by John Hancock and is based on data gathered from 84 practices and 319 offices, with at least 50% of revenue from retirement or a dedicated retirement plan business. Responses were collected from July 2023 to March 2024 through a combination of survey and interviews. Individual circumstances may vary and may not be reflective of your situation. John Hancock and WinMore Plans are not affiliated and neither are responsible for the liabilities of the other. 7 Use of the resources and tips indicated may be subject to approval by your broker-dealer. Please check with your firm prior to use.
The content of this document is for general information only and is believed to be accurate and reliable as of the posting date, but may be subject to change. It is not intended to provide investment, tax, plan design, or legal advice (unless otherwise indicated). Please consult your own independent advisor as to any investment, tax, or legal statements made
John Hancock Retirement Plan Services LLC provides administrative and/or recordkeeping services to sponsors or administrators of retirement plans through an open-architecture platform. John Hancock Trust Company LLC, a New Hampshire non-depository trust company,provides trust and custodial services to such plans, offers an Individual Retirement Accounts product, and maintains specific Collective Investment Trusts. Group annuity contracts and recordkeeping agreements are issued by John Hancock Life Insurance Company (U.S.A.), Boston, MA (not licensed in NY), and John Hancock Life Insurance Company of New York, Valhalla, NY. Product features and availability may differ by state. All entities do business under certain instances using the John Hancock brand name. Each entity makes 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 entity does not, and is not undertaking to, provide impartial investment advice or give advice in a fiduciary capacity. Securities are offered through John Hancock Distributors LLC, member FINRA, SIPC.
NOT FDIC INSURED. MAY LOSE VALUE. NOT BANK GUARANTEED.
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