Allocating assets to only one or a small number of the investment options (other than the Target Date ‘Lifecycle’ or Target Risk ‘Lifestyle’ options) should not be considered a balanced investment program. In particular, allocating assets to a small number of options concentrated in particular business or market sectors will subject your account to increased risk and volatility. Examples of business or market sectors where this risk may be particularly high include: a) technology-related businesses, including Internet-related businesses, b) small-cap securities and c) foreign securities. John Hancock does not provide advice regarding appropriate investment allocations.
Credit and Counterparty The issuer or guarantor of a fixed-income security, counterparty to an OTC derivatives contract, or other borrower may not be able to make timely principal, interest, or settlement payments on an obligation. In this event, the issuer of a fixed-income security may have its credit rating downgraded or defaulted, which may reduce the potential for income and value of the portfolio.
Merger and Replacement Transition Risk for Sub-Account. It is possible that the Fund will be replaced with or merged into another investment option offered under your plan's group annuity contract. In the case of fund mergers and replacements, the affected funds that are being merged or replaced may implement the redemption of your interest by payment in cash or by distributing assets in kind. In either case, the redemption of your interest by the affected fund, as well as the investment of the redemption proceeds by the ''new'' fund, may result in transaction costs to the funds because the affected funds may find it necessary to sell securities and the ''new'' funds will find it necessary to invest the redemption proceeds. Also, the redemption and reinvestment processes, including any transition period that may be involved in completing such mergers and replacements, could be subject to market gains or losses, including those from currency exchange rates. The transaction costs and potential market gains or losses could have an impact on the value of your investment in the affected fund and in the ''new'' fund, and such market gains or losses could also have an impact on the value of any existing investment that you or other investors may have in the ''new'' fund. Although there can be no assurances that all risks can be eliminated, the portfolio manager(s) of the affected funds will use their best efforts to manage and minimize such risks and costs.
Risk of Increase in Expenses for Sub-Account. Your actual costs of investing in the fund may be higher than the expenses shown in "Annual fund operating expenses" for a variety of reasons. For example, expense ratios may be higher than those shown if a fee limitation is changed or terminated or if average net assets decrease. Net assets are more likely to decrease and fund expense ratios are more likely to increase when markets are volatile.
Bank Loans Investments in bank loans, also known as senior loans or floating-rate loans, are rated below-investment grade and may be subject to a greater risk of default than are investment-grade loans, reducing the potential for income and potentially leading to impairment of the collateral provided by the borrower. Bank loans pay interest at rates that are periodically reset based on changes in interest rates and may be subject to increased prepayment and liquidity risks.
Extension The issuer of a security may repay principal more slowly than expected because of rising interest rates. In this event, short- and medium-duration securities are effectively converted into longer-duration securities, increasing their sensitivity to interest-rate changes and causing their prices to decline.
Fixed-Income Securities The value of fixed-income or debt securities may be susceptible to general movements in the bond market and are subject to interest-rate and credit risk.
High-Yield Securities Investments in below-investment-grade debt securities and unrated securities of similar credit quality, commonly known as "junk bonds" or "high-yield securities," may be subject to increased interest, credit, and liquidity risks.
Other The investment’s performance may be impacted by its concentration in a certain type of security, adherence to a particular investing strategy, or a unique aspect of its structure and costs.
Active Management The investment is actively managed and subject to the risk that the advisor’s usage of investment techniques and risk analyses to make investment decisions fails to perform as expected, which may cause the portfolio to lose value or underperform investments with similar objectives and strategies or the market in general.
Lending Investing in loans creates risk for the borrower, lender, and any other participants. A borrower may fail to make payments of principal, interest, and other amounts in connection with loans of cash or securities or fail to return a borrowed security in a timely manner, which may lead to impairment of the collateral provided by the borrower. Investments in loan participations may be subject to increased credit, pricing, and liquidity risks, with these risks intensified for below investment-grade loans.
Restricted/Illiquid Securities Restricted and illiquid securities may fall in price because of an inability to sell the securities when desired. Investing in restricted securities may subject the portfolio to higher costs and liquidity risk.
Market/Market Volatility The market value of the portfolio’s securities may fall rapidly or unpredictably because of changing economic, political, or market conditions, which may reduce the value of the portfolio.
Underlying Fund/Fund of Funds A portfolio’s risks are closely associated with the risks of the securities and other investments held by the underlying or subsidiary funds, and the ability of the portfolio to meet its investment objective likewise depends on the ability of the underlying funds to meet their objectives. Investment in other funds may subject the portfolio to higher costs than owning the underlying securities directly because of their management fees.
Loss of Money Because the investment’s market value may fluctuate up and down, an investor may lose money, including part of the principal, when he or she buys or sells the investment.
Interest Rate Most securities are subject to the risk that changes in interest rates will reduce their market value.
Foreign Securities Investments in foreign securities may be subject to increased volatility as the value of these securities can change more rapidly and extremely than can the value of U.S. securities. Foreign securities are subject to increased issuer risk because foreign issuers may not experience the same degree of regulation as U.S. issuers do and are held to different reporting, accounting, and auditing standards. In addition, foreign securities are subject to increased costs because there are generally higher commission rates on transactions, transfer taxes, higher custodial costs, and the potential for foreign tax charges on dividend and interest payments. Many foreign markets are relatively small, and securities issued in less-developed countries face the risks of nationalization, expropriation or confiscatory taxation, and adverse changes in investment or exchange control regulations, including suspension of the ability to transfer currency from a country. Economic, political, social, or diplomatic developments can also negatively impact performance.
Not FDIC Insured The investment is not a deposit or obligation of, or guaranteed or endorsed by, any bank and is not insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Federal Reserve Board, or any other U.S. governmental agency.
Emerging Markets Investments in emerging- and frontier-markets securities may be subject to greater market, credit, currency, liquidity, legal, political, and other risks compared with assets invested in developed foreign countries.
Prepayment (Call) The issuer of a debt security may be able to repay principal prior to the security’s maturity because of an improvement in its credit quality or falling interest rates. In this event, this principal may have to be reinvested in securities with lower interest rates than the original securities, reducing the potential for income.
Industry and Sector Investing Concentrating assets in a particular industry, sector of the economy, or markets may increase volatility because the investment will be more susceptible to the impact of market, economic, regulatory, and other factors affecting that industry or sector compared with a more broadly diversified asset allocation.