Principal Risks include: Credit and Counterparty, Currency, Derivatives, Distressed Investments, Emerging Markets, Extension, Fixed-Income Securities, Foreign Securities, Futures, High Portfolio Turnover, High-Yield Securities, Inflation/Deflation, Interest Rate, Issuer, Leverage, Loss of Money, Management, Market/Market Volatility, Mortgage-Backed and Asset-Backed Securities, Not FDIC Insured, Other, Prepayment (Call), Pricing, Restricted/Illiquid Securities, Swaps, U.S. Government Obligations and Unrated Securities. See disclosure for details.
Credit and Counterparty The issuer or guarantor of a fixed-income security, counterparty to an OTC derivatives contract, or other borrower may not be able to make timely principal, interest, or settlement payments on an obligation. In this event, the issuer of a fixed-income security may have its credit rating downgraded or defaulted, which may reduce the potential for income and value of the portfolio.
Currency Investments in securities traded in foreign currencies or more directly in foreign currencies are subject to the risk that the foreign currency will decline in value relative to the U.S. dollar, which may reduce the value of the portfolio. Investments in currency hedging positions are subject to the risk that the value of the U.S. dollar will decline relative to the currency being hedged, which may result in a loss of money on the investment as well as the position designed to act as a hedge. Cross-currency hedging strategies and active currency positions may increase currency risk because actual currency exposure may be substantially different from that suggested by the portfolio's holdings.
Derivatives Investments in derivatives may be subject to the risk that the advisor does not correctly predict the movement of the underlying security, interest rate, market index, or other financial asset, or that the value of the derivative does not correlate perfectly with either the overall market or the underlying asset from which the derivative's value is derived. Because derivatives usually involve a small investment relative to the magnitude of liquidity and other risks assumed, the resulting gain or loss from the transaction will be disproportionately magnified. These investments may result in a loss if the counterparty to the transaction does not perform as promised.
Distressed Investments Investments in distressed or defaulted investments, which may include loans, loan participations, bonds, notes, and issuers undergoing bankruptcy organization, are often not publicly traded and face increased price volatility and liquidity risk. These securities are subject to the risk that the advisor does not correctly estimate their future value, which may result in a loss of part or all of the investment.
Emerging Markets Investments in emerging- and frontier-markets securities may be subject to greater market, credit, currency, liquidity, legal, political, and other risks compared with assets invested in developed foreign countries.
Extension The issuer of a security may repay principal more slowly than expected because of rising interest rates. In this event, short- and medium-duration securities are effectively converted into longer-duration securities, increasing their sensitivity to interest-rate changes and causing their prices to decline.
Fixed-Income Securities The value of fixed-income or debt securities may be susceptible to general movements in the bond market and are subject to interest-rate and credit risk.
Foreign Securities Investments in foreign securities may be subject to increased volatility as the value of these securities can change more rapidly and extremely than can the value of U.S. securities. Foreign securities are subject to increased issuer risk because foreign issuers may not experience the same degree of regulation as U.S. issuers do and are held to different reporting, accounting, and auditing standards. In addition, foreign securities are subject to increased costs because there are generally higher commission rates on transactions, transfer taxes, higher custodial costs, and the potential for foreign tax charges on dividend and interest payments. Many foreign markets are relatively small, and securities issued in less-developed countries face the risks of nationalization, expropriation or confiscatory taxation, and adverse changes in investment or exchange control regulations, including suspension of the ability to transfer currency from a country. Economic, political, social, or diplomatic developments can also negatively impact performance.
Futures Investments in futures contracts and options on futures contracts may increase volatility and be subject to additional market, active management, interest, currency, and other risks if the contract cannot be closed when desired.
High Portfolio Turnover Active trading may create high portfolio turnover, or a turnover of 100% or more, resulting in increased transaction costs. These higher costs may have an adverse impact on performance and generate short-term capital gains, creating potential tax liability even if an investor does not sell any shares during the year.
High-Yield Securities Investments in below-investment-grade debt securities and unrated securities of similar credit quality, commonly known as "junk bonds" or "high-yield securities," may be subject to increased interest, credit, and liquidity risks.
Inflation/Deflation A change of asset value may occur because of inflation or deflation, causing the portfolio to underperform. Inflation may cause the present value of future payments to decrease, causing a decline in the future value of assets or income. Deflation causes prices to decline throughout the economy over time, impacting issuers' creditworthiness and increasing their risk for default, which may reduce the value of the portfolio.
Interest Rate Most securities are subject to the risk that changes in interest rates will reduce their market value.
Issuer A stake in any individual security is subject to the risk that the issuer of that security performs poorly, resulting in a decline in the security's value. Issuer-related declines may be caused by poor management decisions, competitive pressures, technological breakthroughs, reliance on suppliers, labor problems or shortages, corporate restructurings, fraudulent disclosures, or other factors. Additionally, certain issuers may be more sensitive to adverse issuer, political, regulatory, market, or economic developments.
Leverage Leverage transactions may increase volatility and result in a significant loss of value if a transaction fails. Because leverage usually involves investment exposure that exceeds the initial investment, the resulting gain or loss from a relatively small change in an underlying indicator will be disproportionately magnified.
Loss of Money Because the investment's market value may fluctuate up and down, an investor may lose money, including part of the principal, when he or she buys or sells the investment.
Management Performance is subject to the risk that the advisor's asset allocation and investment strategies do not perform as expected, which may cause the portfolio to underperform its benchmark, other investments with similar objectives, or the market in general. The investment is subject to the risk of loss of income and capital invested, and the advisor does not guarantee its value, performance, or any particular rate of return.
Market/Market Volatility The market value of the portfolio's securities may fall rapidly or unpredictably because of changing economic, political, or market conditions, which may reduce the value of the portfolio.
Mortgage-Backed and Asset-Backed Securities Investments in mortgage-backed and asset-backed securities may be subject to increased price volatility because of changes in interest rates, issuer information availability, credit quality of the underlying assets, market perception of the issuer, availability of credit enhancement, and prepayment of principal. The value of ABS and MBS may be adversely affected if the underlying borrower fails to pay the loan included in the security.
Not FDIC Insured The investment is not a deposit or obligation of, or guaranteed or endorsed by, any bank and is not insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Federal Reserve Board, or any other U.S. governmental agency.
Other The investment's performance may be impacted by its concentration in a certain type of security, adherence to a particular investing strategy, or a unique aspect of its structure and costs.
Prepayment (Call) The issuer of a debt security may be able to repay principal prior to the security's maturity because of an improvement in its credit quality or falling interest rates. In this event, this principal may have to be reinvested in securities with lower interest rates than the original securities, reducing the potential for income.
Pricing Some investments may not have a market observed price; therefore, values for these assets may be determined through a subjective valuation methodology. Fair values determined by a subjective methodology may differ from the actual value realized upon sale. Valuation methodologies may also be used to calculate a daily net asset value.
Restricted/Illiquid Securities Restricted and illiquid securities may fall in price because of an inability to sell the securities when desired. Investing in restricted securities may subject the portfolio to higher costs and liquidity risk.
Swaps Investments in swaps, such as interest-rate swaps, currency swaps and total return swaps, may increase volatility and be subject to increased liquidity, credit, and counterparty risks. Depending on their structure, swaps may increase or decrease the portfolio's exposure to long- or short-term interest rates, foreign currency values, corporate borrowing rates, security prices, index values, inflation rates, credit, or other factors.
U.S. Government Obligations Investments in U.S. government obligations are subject to varying levels of government support. In the event of default, some U.S. government securities, including U.S. Treasury obligations and Ginnie Mae securities, are issued and guaranteed as to principal and interest by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government. Other securities are obligations of U.S. government-sponsored entities but are neither issued nor guaranteed by the U.S. government.
Unrated Securities Investments in unrated securities may be subject to increased interest, credit, and liquidity risks if the advisor does not accurately assess the quality of those securities.
Other:
b1. Beta measures the sensitivity of the fund to its benchmark. The beta of the market (as represented by the benchmark) is 1.00. Accordingly, a fund with a 1.10 beta is expected to have 10% more volatility than the market.
b2. The portfolio composition, industry sectors, top ten holdings, and credit analysis are presented to illustrate examples of securities that the fund has bought and diversity of areas in which the fund may invest and may not be representative of the fund's current or future investments. The top ten holdings do not include money market instruments and/or futures contracts. The figures presented are as of date shown, do not include the fund's entire investment portfolio, and may change at any time.
b53. R-squared measures the degree to which the fund and its benchmark index are correlated. The closer it is to 100%, the more similar the historical performance between the two.
b54. Sharpe ratio is a measure of excess return per unit of risk, as defined by standard deviation. A higher Sharpe ratio suggests better risk-adjusted performance.
b87. Intermediate Core-Plus Bond Average is the average annual total return of the universe of mutual funds designated by Morningstar, Inc. as comprising the Morningstar Intermediate Core-Plus Bond category.
Fund data, Style Box and Morningstar Portfolio Ratings All Morningstar data is © 2017 by Morningstar, Inc. All rights reserved. The information contained herein: (1) is proprietary to Morningstar and/or its content providers; (2) may not be copied or distributed; and (3) is not warranted to be accurate, complete or timely. Neither Morningstar nor its content providers are responsible for any damages or losses arising from any use of this information.
f1. The Gross Expense Ratio does not include fee waivers or expense reimbursements which result in lower actual cost to the investor. The Net Expense Ratio represents the effect of a fee waiver and/or expense reimbursement and is subject to change.
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Index Description:
i30. Bloomberg US Aggregate Bond Index is an unmanaged market value-weighted performance benchmark for investment-grade or better fixed-rate debt issues, including government, corporate, asset-backed, and mortgage-backed securities, with maturities of at least one year. Results assume the reinvestment of all capital gain and dividend distributions. An investment cannot be made directly into an index.
Morningstar Category Description:
c100. Intermediate-term core-plus bond portfolios invest primarily in investment-grade U.S. fixed-income issues including government, corporate, and securitized debt, but generally have greater flexibility than core offerings to hold non-core sectors such as corporate high yield, bank loan, emerging-markets debt, and non-U.S. currency exposures. Their durations (a measure of interest-rate sensitivity) typically range between 75% and 125% of the three-year average of the effective duration of the Morningstar Core Bond Index.
A fund's investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses should be considered carefully before investing. The prospectus contains this and other important information about the fund. To obtain a prospectus, contact John Hancock Retirement Plan Services LLC at (800) 294-3575 or visit our website at myplan.johnhancock.com. Please read the prospectus carefully before investing or sending money.