2004 News Releases

--Online Survey Takes Snapshot of How Financial Consultants are Building Their Business with 529 Plans --

Boston -  In an ongoing effort to better understand and respond to the needs of Financial Consultants, Manulife College Savings recently conducted an online Gifting Survey through which Financial Consultants registered on Manulife College Savings’ Web site responded to a series of questions about their use of 529 plans with clients. The responses provided insight into strategies used by advisors to promote gifting using 529 plans, the prevalence of 529 plans as a means of saving for college, and key factors in selecting one 529 plan over another.

A leader in marketing 529 gifting tools for Financial Consultants, Manulife College Savings’ survey was part of their fall gifting campaign through which they fulfilled over 80,000 orders for seven pieces of gifting literature in just a few months. The survey invited Financial Consultants to answer 14 questions on a range of topics related to gifting and 529 plans, client prospecting, and commonly used sales tools.

The results uncovered a trend in 529 clients prospecting, as a majority of respondents (68%) reported marketing the product to grandparents differently than they do to parents. This data suggests a possible rise in the use of 529 plans for estate planning purposes while saving for a child or grandchild’s college education. Demonstrating the importance of continually meeting with clients and following up with them to discuss their evolving needs, annual review meetings were the most commonly cited means of encouraging the use of 529 plans as an estate planning tool. A full 60% of respondents identified these meetings as a key tool they used or intended to use to promote 529’s during the gifting season.

In addition to the findings related to gifting, the survey results indicated that, in a relatively short period of time, 529 plans have become an important financial planning tool for many Financial Consultants and their clients, with 94% of respondents saying their clients are receptive to conversations about 529 plans. The survey also identified multi-managed platforms as the most important criterion for choosing one 529 plan over another, according to 50% of respondents.

“The responses of the Financial Consultants who took part in this survey underscore the importance of continuing to provide creative tools that help them to engage parents and grandparents alike, enabling them to make use of the full potential of 529s as a tool for both college savings and estate planning,” said Carey Foran Hoch, Vice President, Marketing and Product Management for Manulife College Savings, Manulife USA. “It’s part of Manulife College Savings’ strategy to continually ask Financial Consultants what they need and then provide it; our survey results show Financial Consultants are using the tools we build for them, and that’s why Manulife College Savings has been ranked #1 for helping Financial Consultants to build their 529 businesses for two years in a row¹.

About Manulife College Savings
In July of 2001, Manulife entered the college savings market with Manulife College Savings, a national multi-managed Section 529 education savings plan distributed by Manulife Financial Securities LLC, through other broker/dealers appointed by Manulife Financial Securities LLC², managed by T. Rowe Price and sponsored by the Education Trust of Alaska. The multi-manager approach of Manulife College Savings allows investors to work with their financial consultants to pursue a strategy that helps to maximize their investment opportunities, while effectively managing risk. Expanding upon the inherent advantages of a typical 529 savings plan, Manulife College Savings offers investment choices from some of the nation’s top mutual fund managers. Mutual fund managers available with Manulife College Savings are A I M Investments, American Funds, Davis Selected Advisors, L.P., Franklin^®, Templeton^®, MFS Investment Management^®,, OppenheimerFunds, Inc., Pacific Investment Management Company (PIMCO) and T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc.

About Manulife
The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company (U.S.A.) (Manulife USA) is committed to offering the highest quality life insurance, pension, and individual wealth management products to its clients. Its family of products has been built around a powerful combination of investment options chosen with the goal of providing attractive risk-adjusted returns and broad diversification across asset classes, investment styles, and asset managers. With its extensive product lines, competitive underwriting, excellent ratings, and quality customer service, Manulife USA is dedicated to providing quality products designed to help create and preserve wealth for its clients.

Manulife Financial is a leading Canadian-based financial services group operating in 15 countries and territories worldwide. Through its extensive network of employees, agents and distribution partners, Manulife Financial offers clients a diverse range of financial protection products and wealth management services. Funds under management by Manulife Financial were US$121.2 billion (Cdn$156.7 billion) as at December 31, 2003.

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.

¹ According to a 2003 survey conducted by Marketing Matrix

² Manulife Financial Securities is a member of the NASD and is listed with the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board (MSRB).

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Media Contact:
Heather Randolph
U.S. Communications
(617) 854-4342