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Manulife Investment Management Review

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This review was produced by SmartAsset based on publicly available information. The named firm and its financial professionals have not reviewed, approved, or endorsed this review and are not responsible for its accuracy. Review content is produced by SmartAsset independently of any business relationships that might exist between SmartAsset and the named firm and its financial professionals, and firms and financial professionals having business relationships with SmartAsset receive no special treatment or consideration in SmartAsset’s reviews. This page contains links to SmartAsset’s financial advisor matching tool, which may or may not match you with the firm mentioned in this review or its financial professionals.

Manulife Investment Management works primarily with institutional clients such as other financial institutions and sponsors of large investment accounts. It operates as an advisor to multiple other advisor firms.

Manulife Investment Management Background

Manulife currently oversees billions in assets under management (AUM). The firm is based in Boston and employs advisory teams around the world. Though formed in 1968, the firm registered as an investment advisor with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in 1992. 

Today, it operates as a direct wholly owned subsidiary of John Hancock Life Insurance Company, which, in turn, is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Manulife Financial Corporation, a publicly held company based in Canada. The latter entity is affiliated with both registered and non-registered investment advisors throughout the world. 

Manulife Investment Management Types of Clients and Minimum Account Sizes

Manulife works primarily with institutional clients, including public and private pension funds, foundations, mandatory provident funds outside the U.S., financial institutions, investment trusts and separately managed accounts. It also advises non-high-net-worth and high-net-worth individuals.  

Manulife generally requires institutional clients, other than investment companies, to have account minimums ranging from $10 million to $50 million. Clients enrolled in the firm’s managed account program generally have minimum account sizes of $25,000 to $100,000. Manulife will discuss specific account minimums directly with its clients. It may amend or waive these requirements at its discretion. 

Services Offered by Manulife Investment Management

Manulife primarily offers investment advisory services to managed accounts, most of which are created and managed by unaffiliated investment advisors and other entities. The scope of these services ranges from periodically updating a model portfolio on behalf of the account sponsor to directly managing the account on a fully discretionary basis. In this sense, Manulife acts as an advisor to the advisor. It provides some investment assistance to the program sponsor overseeing the account. 

The firm also serves as manager or sub-advisor to mutual funds sponsored by its affiliates and manages advisory accounts of affiliates such as pension assets for the John Hancock Life Insurance Company and general account assets for Manulife (International) Limited. Additionally, Manulife offers advisory services to clients overseen by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) and non-ERISA plans.

Manulife Investment Management Investment Philosophy

Because Manulife serves a variety of institutional clients with different investment goals, it adopts a variety of different strategies. However, it places an emphasis on proprietary fundamental research. 

Fundamental analysis entails conducting intensive research on the financials behind companies, their competitors, industries and countries to make investment decisions. The firm also engages in quantitative analysis, which involves systematically ranking securities and other financial instruments throughout the investing universe. 

Fees Under Manulife Investment Management

Managed account program annual fees typically range from 0.34% to 0.75% of assets managed. These fees are paid by the program sponsor on a quarterly basis in most cases. Manulife and its affiliates may collect fees from private funds as a percentage of AUM or net asset value. In addition, clients may incur external expenses such as brokerage and transaction costs along with fees rendered by account custodians.

What to Watch Out For

Manulife's SEC-filed Form ADV features several disclosures on its record. All of these apply to advisory affiliates of the firm, though.

Opening an Account With Manulife Investment Management

To contact Manulife, call the main office in Boston at 617-375-1500.

All information was accurate as of the writing of this article.

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How Long $1mm Lasts in Retirement

SmartAsset's interactive map highlights places where $1 million will last the longest in retirement. Zoom between states and the national map to see the top spots in each region. Also, scroll over any city to learn about the cost of living in retirement for that location.

Least
Most
Rank City Housing Expenses Food Expenses Healthcare Expenses Utilities Expenses Transportation Expenses

Methodology We analyzed data on average expenditures for seniors, cost of living and investment returns to determine how many years of retirement a $1 million nest egg would cover in cities across America.

First, we looked at data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) on the average annual expenditures of seniors. We then applied cost of living data from the Council for Community and Economic Research to adjust those national average spending levels based on the costs of each expense category (housing, food, healthcare, utilities, transportation and other) in each city. Using this data, SmartAsset calculated the average cost of living for retirees in the largest U.S. cities.

We assumed the $1 million would grow at a real return (interest minus inflation) of 2%. Then, we divided $1 million by the sum of each of those annual numbers to determine how long $1 million would cover retirement expenses in each of the cities in our study. Cities where $1 million lasted the longest ranked the highest in the study.

Sources: Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), Council for Community and Economic Research