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(American Growth-Income Trust)

Investment Objective

To seek to provide growth of capital and income.

Fees and Expenses

This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if shares of the fund are held by separate accounts of certain John Hancock insurance companies that fund variable annuity and variable life insurance contracts. They are based on expenses incurred during the fund's most recent fiscal year expressed as a percentage of the fund's average net assets during the year. In subsequent periods, the fund's expense ratio may increase due to decreases in fund assets attributable to redemptions and declines in portfolio valuation. The fees and expenses do not reflect fees and expenses of any separate account that may use the fund as its underlying investment medium and would be higher if they did.

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Annual Fund Operating Expenses (expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)

Annual Fund Operating Expenses (American Growth-Income Trust)
Series I
Series II
Series III
Management fee [1] 0.27% 0.27% 0.27%
Distribution and service (12b-1) fees [1] 0.60% 0.75% 0.25%
Other Expenses [1] 0.04% 0.04% 0.04%
Total annual fund operating expenses [1] 0.91% 1.06% 0.56%
[1] The table reflects the combined fees of the feeder fund and the master fund.

Examples. The examples are intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the fund with the cost of investing in other mutual funds. The examples assume that $10,000 is invested in the fund for the periods indicated and then all shares are redeemed at the end of those periods. The examples also assume that the investment has a 5% return each year and that the fund's operating expenses remain the same. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:

Expense Example (American Growth-Income Trust) (USD $)
1 Year
3 Years
5 Years
10 Years
Series I
93 290 504 1,120
Series II
108 337 585 1,294
Series III
57 179 313 701
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Portfolio Turnover

The fund, which operates as a feeder fund, does not pay transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells shares of the master fund (or "turns over" its portfolio). A master fund does pay transaction costs when it turns over its portfolio, and a higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs. These costs, which are not reflected in annual fund operating expenses or in the example, affect the performance of the master fund and of the fund. During its most recent fiscal year, the master fund's portfolio turnover rate was 18% of the average value of its portfolio.

Principal Investment Strategies

The fund invests all of its assets in Class 1 shares of its master fund, the Growth-Income Fund(SM), a series of American Funds Insurance Series. The Growth-Income Fund invests primarily in common stocks or other securities that the Growth-Income Fund's investment advisor believes demonstrate the potential for appreciation and/or dividends. Although the Growth-Income Fund focuses on investments in medium to larger capitalization companies, its investments are not limited to a particular capitalization size. The Growth-Income Fund may invest up to 15% of its assets, at the time of purchase, in securities of issuers domiciled outside the U.S. The Growth-Income Fund is designed for investors seeking both capital appreciation and income.

Principal Risks of Investing in the Fund

The fund is subject to risks, and you could lose money by investing in the fund. The principal risks of investing in the fund include:

Active management risk The investment strategy may fail to produce the intended result.

Credit and counterparty risk The issuer or guarantor of a fixed-income security, the counterparty to an over-the-counter derivatives contract or a borrower of a fund's securities may be unable or unwilling to make timely principal, interest or settlement payments, or otherwise honor its obligations. Funds that invest in fixed-income securities are subject to varying degrees of risk that the issuers of the securities will have their credit rating downgraded or will default, potentially reducing a fund's share price and income level.

Equity securities risk The value of a company's equity securities is subject to changes in the company's financial condition, and overall market and economic conditions.

Foreign securities risk As compared to U.S. companies, there may be less publicly available information relating to foreign companies. Foreign securities may be subject to foreign taxes. The value of foreign securities is subject to currency fluctuations and adverse political and economic developments.

Hedging, derivatives and other strategic transactions risk Hedging and other strategic transactions may increase the volatility of a fund and, if the transaction is not successful, could result in a significant loss to a fund. The use of derivative instruments could produce disproportionate gains or losses, more than the principal amount invested. Investing in derivative instruments involves risks different from, or possibly greater than, the risks associated with investing directly in securities and other traditional investments and, in a down market, could become harder to value or sell at a fair price.

Income stock risk Income provided by the fund may be affected by changes in the dividend polices of the companies in which the fund invests and the capital resources available for such payments at such companies.

Issuer risk An issuer of a security may perform poorly and, therefore, the value of its stocks and bonds may decline. An issuer of securities held by the fund could default or have its credit rating downgraded.

Liquidity risk Exposure exists when trading volume, lack of a market maker or legal restrictions impair the ability to sell particular securities or close derivative positions at an advantageous price.

Past Performance

The following information provides some indication of the risks of investing in the fund by showing changes in performance from year to year and by showing how average annual returns for specified periods compare with those of a broad measure of market performance. Unless all share classes shown in the table have the same inception date, performance shown for periods prior to the inception date of a class is the performance of the fund's oldest share class. The performance of the fund's oldest share class, for periods prior to its inception, is the performance of the master fund share class in which the fund invests, adjusted to reflect the 12b-1 fees of the fund's oldest class. This pre-inception performance, with respect to any other share class of the fund, has not been adjusted to reflect the 12b-1 fees of that class. As a result, the pre-inception performance shown for a share class other than the oldest share class may be higher or lower than it would be if adjusted to reflect the 12b-1 fees of the class. The performance information below does not reflect fees and expenses of any variable insurance contract which may use JHVIT as its underlying investment medium. If such fees and expenses had been reflected, performance would be lower. The past performance of the fund is not necessarily an indication of how the fund will perform in the future.

Calendar year total returns for Series II:

Bar Chart

Best Quarter:     16.83% (Quarter ended 6/30/2003)

Worst Quarter:   -22.05% (Quarter ended 12/31/2008)

Average Annual Total Returns for period ended 12/31/2012

Average Annual Total Returns (American Growth-Income Trust)
1 Year
5 Years
10 Years
Inception Date
Series I
17.15% 0.63% 6.61% Jul. 09, 2003
Series II
16.94% 0.47% 6.45% May 05, 2003
Series III
17.51% 1.19% 6.85% Jan. 02, 2008
S&P 500 Index
16.00% 1.66% 7.10% May 05, 2003