Products October 3, 2003

Manulife 529 Plan Given Additional Investment Features

March 10, 2003 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company's 529 college savings product has been enhanced to include an insurance wrap, dollar cost averaging (DCA) and breakpoints and Rights of Accumulation (ROA) within the A-share class.
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An insurance wrap and a change in the underlying investment from a money market fund to short and intermediate fixed income funds are the changes to Manulife College Savings’ Stable Principal Portfolio.  This change, designed for conservative investors, allows the opportunity for the portfolio to provide higher potential returns than the average money market fund, while helping to preserve the stability of the principal investment, according to a news release.

Additional changes to the 529 plan include DCA.  These systematic exchanges allow clients the ability to invest identical amounts of money at regular intervals and are designed to reduce the risk of investing at the top of a market cycle. 

Also, class A shares will now be offering investors breakpoint pricing, reducing sales charges once a client reaches certain defined asset levels.   Breakpoint levels occur at:

  • $50,000
  • $100,000
  • $250,000

Investors with multiple accounts will be able to take advantage of ROA, where assets among different accounts with the same tax identification are pooled to take advantage of a lower overall sales charge.

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