XML 151 R63.htm IDEA: XBRL DOCUMENT v2.4.0.6
(Lifestyle Growth Trust)

Investment Objective

To seek long-term growth of capital. Current income is also a consideration.

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.

~http://jhvit-20130429/role/ShareholderFeesDataAANN column period compact * column rr_ProspectusShareClassAxis compact * row primary compact * row dei_LegalEntityAxis compact jhvit-20130429_S000008278Member ~

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

Annual Fund Operating Expenses (Lifestyle Growth Trust)
Series I
Series II
NAV
Management fee 0.04% 0.04% 0.04%
Distribution and service (12b-1) fees 0.05% 0.25% none
Other Expenses 0.02% 0.02% 0.02%
Acquired fund fees and expenses [1] 0.70% 0.70% 0.70%
Total annual fund operating expenses 0.81% 1.01% 0.76%
[1] "Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses" are based on the indirect net expenses associated with the fund's investment in underlying funds and are included in "Total Fund Operating Expenses". The Total Fund Operating Expenses shown may not correlate to the fund's ratio of expenses to average net assets shown in the "Financial Highlights" section of the fund prospectus, which does not include Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses.

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 (Lifestyle Growth Trust) (USD $)
1 Year
3 Years
5 Years
10 Years
Series I
83 259 450 1,002
Series II
103 322 558 1,236
NAV
78 243 422 942
~ http://jhvit-20130429/role/ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionAANN column period compact * column rr_ProspectusShareClassAxis compact * row primary compact * row dei_LegalEntityAxis compact jhvit-20130429_S000008278Member ~

Portfolio Turnover

The fund, which operates as a fund of funds and invests in underlying funds, does not pay transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells shares of underlying funds (or "turns over" its portfolio). An underlying 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 underlying funds and of the fund. During its most recent fiscal year, the fund's portfolio turnover rate was 39% of the average value of its portfolio.

Principal Investment Strategies

The fund, except as otherwise described below, normally invests approximately 70% of its assets in underlying funds that invest primarily in equity securities and approximately 30% of its assets in underlying funds that invest primarily in fixed-income securities.

Variations in the target percentage allocation between underlying funds that invest primarily in equity securities and underlying funds that invest primarily in fixed-income securities are permitted up to 10% in either direction. Thus, based on its target percentage allocation of approximately 70% of its assets in equity underlying funds and 30% of its assets in fixed-income underlying funds, the fund may have an equity/fixed-income underlying funds allocation ranging between 80%/20% and 60%/40%. Although variations beyond the 10% range are generally not permitted, the subadvisor may determine in light of market or economic conditions that the normal percentage limitations should be exceeded to protect the fund or achieve its objective.

Within the prescribed percentage allocation, the subadvisor selects the percentage level to be maintained in specific underlying funds. The subadvisor may from time to time change the allocation in specific underlying funds or rebalance the underlying funds. To maintain target allocation in the underlying funds, daily cash flows for the fund will be directed to its underlying funds that most deviate from target.

The fund may invest in various underlying funds that as a group hold a wide range of equity type securities. These include small-, mid- and large-capitalization stocks, domestic and foreign securities (including emerging market securities) and sector holdings such as utilities and science and technology stocks. Each of these underlying funds has its own investment strategy which, for example, may focus on growth stocks or value stocks or may employ a strategy combining growth and income stocks and/or may invest in derivatives such as options on securities and futures contracts. Certain of these underlying funds focus their investment strategy on fixed-income securities, which may include investment grade and below investment grade debt securities with maturities that range from short to longer term. The fixed-income underlying funds collectively hold various types of debt instruments, such as corporate bonds and mortgage backed, government issued, domestic and international securities.

The fund may also invest in the securities of other investment companies including exchange traded funds (ETFs) and may invest directly in other types of investments, such as equity and fixed-income securities including U.S. government securities, closed-end funds and partnerships. See "Other Permitted Investments by the Funds of Funds." The fund may also engage in short selling.

The fund bears its own expenses and, in addition, indirectly bears its proportionate share of the expenses of the underlying funds in which it invests.

Use of Hedging and Other Strategic Transactions. The fund is authorized to use all of the various investment strategies referred to under "Additional Information About the Funds' Principal Risks —Hedging, derivatives and other strategic trans actions risk" including, without limitation, investing in credit default swaps, foreign currency forward contracts, futures contracts, interest rate swaps and options. The fund is not presently expected to invest significantly in derivatives although it may do so in the future.

Principal Risks of Investing in the Fund of Funds

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

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

Commodity risk Commodity investments involve the risk of volatile market price fluctuations of commodities resulting from fluctuating demand, supply disruption, speculation and other factors.

Exchange-traded funds risk Owning an ETF generally reflects the risks of owning the underlying securities it is designed to track.

Exchange-traded notes risk Similar to ETFs, owning an ETN generally reflects the risks of owning the assets that comprise the underlying market benchmark or strategy that the ETN is designed to reflect. ETNs also are subject to issuer and fixed-income risk.

Fund of funds risk The fund is subject to the performance of the underlying funds in which it invests.

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. In addition, the use of derivative instruments (such as options, futures and swaps) 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. The following is a list of certain derivatives and other strategic transactions in which the fund may invest and the main risks associated with each of them:

Credit default swaps Counterparty risk, liquidity risk (i.e., the inability to enter into closing transactions), interest-rate risk, risk of default of the underlying reference obligation and risk of disproportionate loss are the principal risks of engaging in transactions involving credit default swaps.

Foreign currency forward contracts Counterparty risk, liquidity risk (i.e., the inability to enter into closing transactions), foreign currency risk and risk of disproportionate loss are the principal risks of engaging in transactions involving foreign currency forward contracts.

Futures contracts Counterparty risk, liquidity risk (i.e., the inability to enter into closing transactions) and risk of disproportionate loss are the principal risks of engaging in transactions involving futures contracts.

Interest-rate swaps Counterparty risk, liquidity risk (i.e., the inability to enter into closing transactions), interest-rate risk and risk of disproportionate loss are the principal risks of engaging in transactions involving interest-rate swaps.

Options Counterparty risk, liquidity risk (i.e., the inability to enter into closing transactions) and risk of dispropor-tionate loss are the principal risks of engaging in transactions involving options. Counterparty risk does not apply to exchange-traded options.

Investment company securities risk The fund bears its own expenses and indirectly bears its proportionate share of expenses of the underlying funds in which it invests.

Principal Risks of Investing in the Underlying Funds

The principal risks of investing in the Underlying Funds include:

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

Convertible securities risk The market values of convertible securities tend to decline as interest rates increase and, conversely, to increase as interest rates decline. In addition, as the market price of the underlying common stock declines below the conversion price, the price of the convertible security tends to be increasingly influenced more by the yield of the convertible security.

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.

Exchange-traded funds risk Owning an ETF generally reflects the risks of owning the underlying securities it is designed to track.

Fixed-income securities risk Fixed-income securities are affected by changes in interest rates and credit quality. A rise in interest rates typically causes bond prices to fall. The longer the average maturity of the bonds held by the fund, the more sensitive the fund is likely to be to interest-rate changes. There is the possibility that the issuer of the security will not repay all or a portion of the principal borrowed and will not make all interest payments.

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. Investments in emerging-market countries are subject to greater levels of foreign investment risk.

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. The following is a list of certain derivatives and other strategic transactions in which the fund may invest and the main risks associated with each of them:

Credit default swaps Counterparty risk, liquidity risk (i.e., the inability to enter into closing transactions), interest-rate risk, risk of default of the underlying reference obligation and risk of disproportionate loss are the principal risks of engaging in transactions involving credit default swaps.

Foreign currency forward contracts Counterparty risk, liquidity risk (i.e., the inability to enter into closing transactions), foreign currency risk and risk of disproportionate loss are the principal risks of engaging in transactions involving foreign currency forward contracts.

Futures contracts Counterparty risk, liquidity risk (i.e., the inability to enter into closing transactions) and risk of disproportionate loss are the principal risks of engaging in transactions involving futures contracts.

Interest-rate swaps Counterparty risk, liquidity risk (i.e., the inability to enter into closing transactions), interest-rate risk and risk of disproportionate loss are the principal risks of engaging in transactions involving interest-rate swaps.

Options Counterparty risk, liquidity risk (i.e., the inability to enter into closing transactions) and risk of disproportionate loss are the principal risks of engaging in transactions involving options. Counterparty risk does not apply to exchange-traded options.

Industry or sector risk Because the fund may focus on one or more industry or sector of the economy, its performance depends in large part on the performance of those sectors or industries. As a result, the value of your investment may fluctuate more widely than it would in a fund that is diversified across industries and sectors.

Initial public offerings risk IPO shares may have a magnified impact on fund performance and are frequently volatile in price. They can be held for a short period of time causing an increase in portfolio turnover.

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.

Large company risk Large-capitalization stocks as a group could fall out of favor with the market, causing the fund to underperform investments that focus on small- or medium-capitalization stocks. Larger, more established companies may be slow to respond to challenges and may grow more slowly than smaller companies. For purposes of the fund's investment policies, the market capitalization of a company is based on its market capitalization at the time the fund purchases the company's securities. Market capitalizations of companies change over time.

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.

Lower-rated fixed-income securities risk and high-yield securities risk Lower-rated fixed-income securities and high-yield fixed-income securities (commonly known as "junk bonds") are subject to greater credit quality risk and risk of default than higher-rated fixed-income securities. These securities may be considered speculative and the value of these securities can be more volatile due to increased sensitivity to adverse issuer, political, regulatory, market or economic developments and can be difficult to resell.

Medium and smaller company risk The prices of medium and smaller company stocks can change more frequently and dramatically than those of large company stocks. For purposes of the fund's investment policies, the market capitalization of a company is based on its market capitalization at the time the fund purchases the company's securities. Market capitalizations of companies change over time.

Mortgage-backed and asset-backed securities risk Different types of mortgage-backed securities and asset-backed securities are subject to different combinations of prepayment, extension, interest-rate and/or other market risks.

Short sales risk Short sales involve costs and risk. The fund must pay the lender interest on the security it borrows, and the fund will lose money if the price of the security increases between the time of the short sale and the date when the fund replaces the borrowed security.

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. 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.

The Combined Index represents 70% of the Standard & Poor's 500 Index and 30% of the Barclays U.S. Aggregate Bond Index.

Calendar year total returns for Series I:

Bar Chart

Best Quarter:     17.89% (Quarter ended 6/30/2009)

Worst Quarter:   -20.75% (Quarter ended 12/31/2008)

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

Average Annual Total Returns (Lifestyle Growth Trust)
1 Year
5 Years
10 Years
Inception Date
Series I
13.87% 1.38% 7.74% Jan. 08, 1997
Series II
13.59% 1.17% 7.55% Jan. 28, 2002
NAV
13.91% 1.42% 7.77% Apr. 29, 2005
S&P 500 Index
16.00% 1.66% 7.10% Jan. 08, 1997
Barclays U.S. Aggregate Bond Index
4.22% 5.95% 5.18% Jan. 08, 1997
Combined Index
12.49% 3.33% 6.78% Jan. 08, 1997