Manulife Investments launches product allocation strategy to help Canadians better plan and protect their retirement income

    
    Canada's first product allocation tool helps advisors

    TSX/NYSE/PSE: MFC; SEHK: 0945
    

    TORONTO, Sept. 29 /CNW/ - As more and more baby boomers near retirement,
Manulife Investments is launching a product allocation approach to help
Canadians work with their advisors, as they plan ahead for retirement.
    As part of its initiative, Manulife is launching an online Retirement
Solutions Centre with tools to help financial advisors learn more about how
product allocation can help their clients better plan and protect their
retirement income. The new site can be found at
www.retirementsolutionscentre.ca
    "Most of our lives we simply try to increase our savings as a way to plan
for retirement," says J. Roy Firth, Executive Vice President, Manulife
Financial.
    "But the ground rules change when you get closer to retirement. Our focus
needs to shift from simply saving to the types of products we need to generate
reliable and sustainable income from those savings. That's why we're launching
Canada's first product allocation tool, to help measure and assess retirement
savings, plus help our advisors address their clients' needs and respond to
these newer retirement risks."
    Along with its new advisor website, Manulife has partnered with Dr. Moshe
Milevsky, a finance professor at the Schulich School of Business in Toronto,
and QWeMA Group to develop Canada's first retirement income analysis tool
based on Product Allocation for Retirement Income (PrARI(TM)) algorithmic
methods. The tool will be available to advisors on October 27 on Manulife
Investments' online Retirement Solutions Centre.

    
    Range of tools for advisors
    ---------------------------
    

    The Manulife Investments Retirement Solutions Centre offers a range of
tools for advisors to help their clients plan for retirement. Advisors will
gain access to timely information and training materials to help their clients
prepare for retirement. The site includes a product allocation tool, income
and expense worksheets, calculators and video presentations to help advisors
work with clients to understand and identify their own individual retirement
priorities.
    "Boomers are in the process of planning for their life beyond the office
or the factory floor," continued Firth. "Our Retirement Solutions Centre is
one more way Manulife and its advisors provide clients with solid income
strategies that can help them live the retirement they want and deserve."

    
    New retirement challenges
    -------------------------
    

    "It isn't the investor with the most money who necessarily has the best
retirement nest egg," explains Dr. Milevsky. "It's the type of investment
products that they own in retirement - product allocation as well as asset
allocation - including the types of protections and guarantees that will
determine their financial success or failure after they retire."
    Newer and emerging concerns can impact boomers' financial health - from
increased longevity, and fewer guaranteed retiree benefits to inflation and
market volatility, Dr. Milevsky added. Product allocation considers product
guarantees and protections, to help improve client income sustainability in
retirement.
    The product allocation tool separates a client's portfolio into three
retirement product categories: immediate annuities, Guaranteed Minimum
Withdrawal Benefits and non-guaranteed income sources such as traditional
products like mutual funds, with systematic withdrawal plans. The online
product allocation tool, exclusive to Manulife in Canada, will help advisors
evaluate a client's current portfolio based on those categories and then
project the likelihood that an income stream will be sustainable.

    
    Product allocation
    ------------------
    

    Dr. Milevksy notes that asset allocation can account for 90-95 per cent
of investment performance and success when Canadians save for retirement. But
as they approach and move into retirement, the type of financial products
investors own will determine their financial health in their post-working
years. The best approach will ensure lasting income throughout retirement.
Manulife Investments believes product allocation plays a greater role in
retirement planning success or failure.
    To view a video of Dr. Milevsky discussing product allocation, please
click here: http://www.productallocation.retirementsolutionscentre.ca/

    
    About Manulife Investments
    --------------------------
    

    Manulife Investments is the brand name describing certain Canadian
subsidiaries and operating divisions of Manulife Financial Corporation that
offer personal wealth management products and services in Canada. As one of
Canada's leading integrated financial services providers, Manulife Investments
offers a variety of products and services including segregated funds, mutual
funds, annuities and guaranteed interest contracts.

    
    About QWeMA Group
    -----------------
    

    The QWeMA Group Inc., an abbreviation of Quantitative Wealth Management
Analytics Group, develops and licenses unique probability-analytic
intellectual property and educational software for the financial services &
retirement industry. QWeMA is privately owned and operated by a network of
University based financial engineers, computational scientists and applied
mathematicians. For more information please visit www.qwema.ca

    
    About Manulife Financial
    ------------------------
    

    Manulife Financial is a leading Canadian-based financial services group
serving millions of customers in 19 countries and territories worldwide.
Operating as Manulife Financial in Canada and Asia, and primarily through John
Hancock in the United States, the Company offers clients a diverse range of
financial protection products and wealth management services through its
extensive network of employees, agents and distribution partners. Funds under
management by Manulife Financial and its subsidiaries were Cdn$400 billion
(US$393 billion) as at June 30, 2008.
    Manulife Financial is one of two publicly traded life insurance companies
in the world whose rated life insurance subsidiaries hold Standard & Poor's
Rating Services' highest "AAA" rating.
    Manulife Financial Corporation trades as 'MFC' on the TSX, NYSE and PSE,
and under '0945' on the SEHK. Manulife Financial can be found on the Internet
at www.manulife.com.

For further information:

For further information: Media contact: Tom Nunn, Manulife Financial,
(519) 594-8578, tom_nunn@manulife.com