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Products November 14, 2006
John Hancock Enters the Lifecycle Market
November 14, 2006 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - John Hancock
Retirement Services has added eight target date funds and a
Retirement Portfolio to its roster of investment options for
401(k) plan participants.
Reported by Adrien Martin
“People want simplicity,” Edward Eng,
senior vice president of product development at John
Hancock Retirement Services, told PLANSPONSOR.com in an
interview. “All you have to do is give us a birth date
and a retirement date.”
Eng explained that lifestyle funds are on the other end of
the spectrum from those plans that require participants to
choose the mutual funds in which they want to invest.
Rather, lifecycle funds are for those that do not even want
to consider the level of risk they can absorb – a level of
investment sophisdication that is required for lifestyle
funds.
The Toronto-based provider is riding on the success of
its lifestyle funds to propel the take-up rate of
its new target date offerings.
Currently John Hancock’s 401(k) business is split 50/50 between lifestyle participants and those choosing their own funds. With the opening of the new target date funds, the company is hoping to attract companies with participants who want to hand off all of the investment option responsibility, according to Eng.
The Retirement Portfolio aims to provide more investment
stability throughout retirement in volatile markets and
offer a low probability of negative returns in any 12-month
period, the company said.
The new target date funds are:
- John Hancock Lifecycle 2045 Portfolio
- John Hancock Lifecycle 2040 Portfolio
- John Hancock Lifecycle 2035 Portfolio
- John Hancock Lifecycle 2030 Portfolio
- John Hancock Lifecycle 2025 Portfolio
- John Hancock Lifecycle 2020 Portfolio
- John Hancock Lifecycle 2015 Portfolio
- John Hancock Lifecycle 2010 Portfolio.