Products June 16, 2008

John Hancock Steps Up Variable Annuity Product

John Hancock Annuities' Income Plus For Life optional withdrawal benefit rider, available with Hancock’s variable annuities, now offers step-ups quarterly rather than annually.
Reported by

In a release, the firm explained that step-ups provide investors who elect Income Plus For Life the potential to increase their guaranteed lifetime income amount when their account values rise. John Hancock annuities purchased on or after June 16, 2008, will have four quarterly reviews each contract year up to age 95 to capture potential market growth via an anniversary step-up, the release said.

John Hancock Annuities also announced the addition of three new, broadly diversified investment options: Dimensional Fund Advisors (DFA) Disciplined Diversification, T. Rowe Price Capital Appreciation Value, and Wellington Management Core Allocation Plus.

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The Dimensional Fund Advisors (DFA) Disciplined Diversification portfolio seeks total return consisting of capital appreciation and current income by investing approximately 65% to 70% of assets to equity securities and 30% to 35% of assets to fixed-income securities. The equity allocation invests in a diversified portfolio of global equity securities while fixed-income assets are allocated to high quality, short-term global bonds and Treasury Inflation Protected Securities (TIPS).

The T. Rowe Price Capital Appreciation Value portfolio is managed in a similar style to the T. Rowe Price Capital Appreciation Fund, seeking long-term capital appreciation by investing in 50% to 70% of assets to equity securities and 30% to 50% of assets to fixed income securities.

The Wellington Management Core Allocation Plus fund provides exposure to core global equity and fixed-income securities, and exposure to equities that explore opportunistic, uncorrelated investment ideas. The target asset mix for the portfolio may range between 60% to 75% in equities and 25% to 40% in fixed-income securities.

More information is available at www.jhannuities.com.

Products June 16, 2008

Wind Energy ETF To Set Sail

First Trust Advisors L.P. unveiled the First Trust ISE Global Wind Energy Index Fund, an exchange-traded fund (ETF) anticipated to begin trading June 18.
Reported by

A news release said the new offering will seek investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield (before the fund’s fees and expenses) of the ISE Global Wind Energy Index, a modified market capitalization weighted equity index consisting of a portfolio of companies throughout the world active in the wind energy industry based on an analysis of the products and services offered by these companies.

The index includes only companies with market capitalizations of at least $100 million, the announcement said. First Trust will be the investment adviser for the ETF.

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“Industry experts are predicting continued growth of installed wind generation capacity worldwide for a number of reasons, including concerns about supply security, rising fossil fuel costs, and mitigation efforts related to environmental problems and climate change,” said Robert Carey, CIO of First Trust, in the release. “First Trust sees the acceleration in the building of global wind generation capacity as a strong signal that wind generation has become an important global growth industry.”

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