Manulife will launch a new segregated fund platform in early October with three investment series to offer Canadian investors attractive solutions for their accumulation, income and estate planning needs.
“We believe our go-forward products are simpler and effectively address our clients’ growing investment goals at various stages of their lives,” said J. Roy Firth, Executive Vice President, Individual Wealth Management, Manulife Financial. “The result is a more streamlined suite of segregated fund products designed to meet different client needs — from investing and accumulating wealth to their retirement and estate planning for their families.”
New GIF Select
To help provide clients with a lifetime of protection, Manulife will offer three investment series within a new GIF Select product platform effective October 5, 2009:
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- InvestmentPlus: With a choice of over 75 funds, this Series provides investors with the greatest range of investment choice available with management expense ratios competitively priced with most mutual funds. It offers investors basic protection and investment flexibility without the need of enhanced guarantees.
- IncomePlus (version 2): A new version of Manulife’s very popular IncomePlus has been designed to continue to meet the needs of investors in their pre- or early retirement years by offering guaranteed income for life, growth potential of the market and income protection from market downturns.
IncomePlus (version 2) will continue to offer resets, annual income bonuses and a 100 per cent death benefit guarantee. In addition to these features, a new Joint Life Payout Option will also be available. In the event one spouse dies, this option can allow the surviving spouse to continue to receive income at the same level, uninterrupted for the balance of his/her life. - EstatePlus: Is a new estate-planning-focused series offering a 100 per cent Death Benefit Guarantee with resets. This Series will help investors who do not require income protection to protect their legacy for their beneficiaries.
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Strong platform for the future
“Manulife Investments is committed to helping Canadians meet their investment needs and expects to continue to lead the marketplace with innovative solutions,” Mr. Firth added. “Our products are backed by the financial strength of Manulife Financial, the largest insurance company in Canada and one of North America’s leading financial services companies.”
The three series available within GIF Select will provide investors with access to a lifetime of protection, plus custom investment solutions with protection features that best suit their needs. As with all series, investors can also benefit from other unique insurance contract features such as estate planning benefits and the potential for creditor protection.
In addition, the new GIF Select platform will include seven new investment fund options, including fund bundles from two new fund partners: AIC and AGF.
In a continued effort to balance product risks/benefits and to simplify its overall product offering, Manulife will also close new sales to its original GIF Select, GIF and GIF encore contracts.
Original version of GIF Select IncomePlus (version 1)
With the introduction of a new GIF Select platform, including IncomePlus (version 2), the original version of GIF Select IncomePlus will close to new sales effective October 2, 2009. Existing contracts will remain in effect and the existing guarantees, core features and benefits remain intact.
Although no core product features will change for existing clients, it is still necessary to mitigate some risk and adjust costs accordingly, Mr. Firth said. Therefore IncomePlus fund fee levels will increase by 0.10 per cent to partially off-set these higher product costs and their associated risk. These fund fee levels will apply to both IncomePlus version 1 and version 2.
GIF/GIF encore & former Maritime Life segregated fund products
With the addition of the new EstatePlus Series to the GIF Select platform, GIF and GIF encore will close to new sales as well effective October 2, 2009. Existing contracts remain in effect, and the existing guarantees, core features and benefits remain unchanged.
To help manage ongoing risks and protect existing client benefits, GIF, GIF encore and all former Maritime Life segregated fund products, will be limited to annual supplementary deposits of $25,000 per contract per calendar year.
For more details, please visit the Advisor Resource Centre at www.manulife.ca/repsource.
