OREANDA-NEWS. January 13, 2016. Half of investors surveyed by John Hancock credit their spouse as the person who has the most positive influence over their retirement planning decisions, while four in ten investors say their financial advisor has been most influential. One quarter cite their father as the most important person in their retirement planning.  

These findings were drawn from the fourth quarter 2015 John Hancock Investor Sentiment Survey, a quarterly poll of affluent investors.

Nearly half of investors (48 percent) surveyed expect to remain in their current home when they retire.  Close to three in ten (28 percent) plan to downsize and move to a smaller home, while three percent are planning to upgrade and move to a larger residence.

Of those investors who plan to expect to change their living situation in retirement, the survey also found that 43 percent plan to move out of the state where they currently reside. Seventeen percent plan to remain in the same city or town, while 13 percent plan to move to a new city or town in the same state. Four percent say they plan to move out of the country. Twenty percent are unsure of where they will live in retirement.

The investors in the John Hancock survey are for the most part optimistic about their own retirement prospects, but less so for their children’s. Sixty percent think their retirement experience will be better than their parents’ was. A quarter of investors believe their children’s quality of life in retirement will be better than theirs, yet this represents a significant decrease from one year ago (Q4 2014) when 33 percent thought so. More than a third of the investors surveyed think their children will have a worse quality of life in retirement than their own.

About the John Hancock Investor Sentiment Survey
John Hancock’s Investor Sentiment Survey is a quarterly poll of affluent investors.  The survey measures investors’ feelings about the current economic climate and their evaluations of what represents a good or bad investment given the current environment.  The poll also asks consumers about their confidence in reaching key financial goals and their attitudes toward specific financial products and services. This online survey was conducted by independent research firm Greenwald & Associates.  A total of 1,018 investors were surveyed from November 9th to November 20th, 2015.  Respondents were selected from among members of Research Now’s online research panel.  To qualify, respondents were required to participate at least to some extent in their household’s financial decision-making process, have a household income of at least \\$75,000, and assets of \\$100,000 or more.  The data were weighted by age and education to reflect the population of Americans matching the survey’s qualification requirements. In a similarly-sized random sample survey, the margin of error would be plus or minus 3.13 percentage points at the 95 percent confidence level.  Due to rounding and missing categories, numbers presented may not always total to 100 percent. .

About John Hancock Financial and Manulife
John Hancock Financial is a division of Manulife, a leading Canada-based financial services group with principal operations in Asia, Canada and the United States. Operating as Manulife in Canada and Asia, and primarily as John Hancock in the United States, our group of companies offers clients a diverse range of financial protection products and wealth management services through its extensive network of employees, agents and distribution partners. Assets under management and administration by Manulife and its subsidiaries were C\\$888 billion (US\\$663 billion) as at September 30, 2015. Manulife Financial Corporation trades as 'MFC' on the TSX, NYSE and PSE, and under '945' on the SEHK. Manulife can be found on the Internet at manulife.com.

The John Hancock unit, through its insurance companies, comprises one of the largest life insurers in the United States. John Hancock offers and administers a broad range of financial products, including life insurance, annuities, investments,  401(k) plans, long-term care insurance, college savings, and other forms of business insurance. Additional information about John Hancock may be found at johnhancock.com.