AGE Edwards AG

Los Alamos, N.M., Tops List for Second Straight Year ST. LOUIS, Sept. 12 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- A.G. Edwards (NYSE:AGE) today released its third annual "Nest Egg Index," which ranks America's 500 top-performing communities and the 50 states based on their residents' personal savings and investing behavior. By measuring a dozen statistical factors -- including participation in retirement savings plans, personal debt levels and home ownership -- the Nest Egg Index shows the geographic regions where people are succeeding in building and nurturing their nest eggs and where they face the greatest difficulty. Earning the top spot in the A.G. Edwards Nest Egg Index -- for the second straight year -- is Los Alamos, N.M., which scored a rating of 134.83 (indexed to a national average of 100). San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA placed second, with a rating of 127.61 and Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk, CT, placed third with a rating of 125.15. The communities rounding out the top 10 of the 2007 A.G. Edwards Nest Egg Index are: 4. Torrington, CT (121.15) 5. San Francisco-Oakland-Freemont, CA (118.94) 6. Barnstable Town, MA (118.36) 7. Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI (116.98) 8. Holland-Grand Haven, MI (116.87) 9. Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA (116.65) 10. Edwards, CO (116.46) According to this year's survey results, communities that ranked highly in the A.G. Edwards Nest Egg Index continue to benefit from local strong housing markets and show a high propensity toward saving and investing, particularly in retirement vehicles such as 401(k) or pension plans. Though these top-performing markets have higher costs of living than the national average, residents are still managing to keep their debt levels in check. Nineteen out of the top 20 communities exhibit lower debt levels than the national average. In addition, the top 20 communities showed above-average scores in all saving and investing categories. "One thing we can learn from the top-saving communities is the importance of consistency when it comes to saving and investing," said A.G. Edwards Personal Finance Strategist Sophie Beckmann, CFP(R), CPA. "It's no secret that developing a strategy for building your nest egg and sticking to your plan will give you a greater chance of successfully achieving your goals, but what the communities in this survey have demonstrated is that solid savings coupled with debt reduction leads to success, and the rankings show that." For a complete list of rankings by community and state, visit http://www.nesteggindex.com/. How the 50 States Ranked Among the states, Connecticut surpassed New Jersey for this year's top spot with a Nest Egg Index rating of 114.25. This jump can be attributed to Connecticut showing improvement in the saving and investing categories, as well as reduced levels of personal debt for its residents. In fact, all of the five top-ranking states had debt levels that were much lower than the national average. The other states in the top five of the 2007 A.G. Edwards Nest Egg Index are New Jersey (113.21), Minnesota (112.59), Massachusetts (112.19) and Maryland (111.59). In the 2007 Nest Egg Index, Ohio had the most communities in the top 500 list at 37, followed by Indiana (32), Pennsylvania (30) and Michigan (29). In addition, all 24 Wisconsin communities were ranked in the top 500. Only Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Oklahoma did not have communities represented in the top 500 rankings of this year's Nest Egg Index. "When looking at the state rankings, we can see clearly that the Midwest continues to be the geographic area where more residents are actively working toward building their nest eggs," Beckmann notes. "Americans as a whole may face external factors -- such as economic and employment conditions -- that can hinder the saving and investing process, but the traditional axioms of starting early and developing a disciplined approach to saving are personal choices investors make that help them in the end." About A.G. Edwards & Sons, Inc. Drawn to the firm's client-first philosophy, individuals and businesses have turned to A.G. Edwards for sound advice and access to a wide array of investment products and services that can help them meet their financial goals and objectives. Founded in 1887, A.G. Edwards and its affiliates have financial consultants in more than 700 offices nationwide and two European locations in London and Geneva. More information can be found on http://www.agedwards.com/. How We Do Business A.G. Edwards generally acts as a broker-dealer but may act as an investment advisor on designated accounts, and the firm's obligations will vary with the role it plays. When working with clients, the firm generally acts as a broker-dealer unless specifically indicated in writing. To better understand the differences between brokerage and advisory services, please consult "Important Information About Your Relationship With A.G. Edwards" on http://www.agedwards.com/. Editor's notes: A.G. Edwards created the Nest Egg Index based on consumer data compiled by marketing information resources firm Claritas and a cost of living measure by the Council for Community and Economic Research. Rankings are based on 12 statistical factors that reflect or influence personal savings habits, including the investing and savings propensity of the local population; participation in retirement savings plans; home and other asset ownership; employment and income earning potential; and personal debt levels. For a copy of the full study results, go to http://www.nesteggindex.com/ . A.G. Edwards & Sons, Inc. Member SIPC September 2007 BACKGROUNDER A.G. EDWARDS NEST EGG INDEX METHODOLOGY A.G. Edwards & Sons, Inc., developed its Nest Egg Index to assess and compare the relative strength of the nation's cities and the 50 states in building and nurturing their "nest eggs" of financial and retirement assets. The 2007 A.G. Edwards Nest Egg Index ranks the top 500 performing markets and the individual states based on their residents' personal savings and investing behavior. To create its Nest Egg Index, A.G. Edwards gathered data, specific to each market and state, on 12 statistical factors that directly affect or influence personal savings habits, including: -- Savings propensity (proportion of households in the area that have a savings product of any type -- e.g., regular savings account, CD, IRA) -- 401(k) retirement plan penetration -- Non-401(k) retirement savings plan penetration (e.g., pension plans) -- Investing propensity (proportion of households in the area that have any investment product or service, excluding 401(k) plans) -- Net worth -- Owner-occupied housing value -- First mortgage balance -- Personal debt level -- Home ownership -- Household income -- Cost of living -- Local employment rate A.G. Edwards then converted the individual data for each market and state to a common scale in which the national average of each of the 12 statistical factors was indexed at 100. On nine of the 12 measures, the higher the number, the better that market or state ranked versus the national average, and the lower the number, the worse it fared. On three of the measures (personal debt levels, first mortgage value and cost of living), an inverse calculation was applied. The data was then combined and weighted to create a single Nest Egg Index rating for each geographic area. Finally, A.G. Edwards ranked the cities and states based on their overall Nest Egg Index ratings. For its Nest Egg Index, A.G. Edwards incorporates data compiled by Claritas, a San Diego-based marketing information resources company, from its proprietary, national consumer information database, plus the national Cost of Living Index produced by the Council for Community and Economic Research (C2ER). Claritas databases now reflect the U.S. Census Bureau's market definitions for metropolitan and micropolitan statistical areas, which are collectively referred to as core-based statistical areas, or CBSAs. Claritas databases used in compiling the Nest Egg Index included the Financial CLOUT(R) Database of market penetration and dollar balances for more than 100 financial products. Financial CLOUT(R) is based on responses from more than 300,000 surveys collected from Claritas' annual Market Audit(R) survey database, the largest syndicated survey database of consumer financial behavior. Additional data included government statistics and other industry information provided by Claritas, which is a division of VNU, the worldwide information and media company. C2ER, founded in 1961, produces its quarterly Cost of Living Index as a weighted ranking of costs based on government survey data on household spending patterns for professional and managerial households in the top income quintile. C2ER is a nonprofit professional organization comprising the research staff of chambers of commerce, economic development organizations, and related entities throughout the United States and Canada. How A.G. Edwards Does Business A.G. Edwards generally acts as a broker-dealer but may act as an investment advisor on designated accounts, and the firm's obligations will vary with the role it plays. When working with clients, the firm generally acts as a broker-dealer unless specifically indicated in writing. To better understand the differences between brokerage and advisory services, please consult "Important Information About Your Relationship With A.G. Edwards" on http://www.agedwards.com/disclosures. Editor's notes: A.G. Edwards created the Nest Egg Index based on consumer data compiled by marketing information resources firm Claritas and a cost of living measure by the American Chamber of Commerce Research Association. Rankings are based on 12 statistical factors that reflect or influence personal savings habits, including the investing and savings propensity of the local population; participation in retirement savings plans; home and other asset ownership; employment and income earning potential; and personal debt levels. For a copy of the full study results, go to http://www.nesteggindex.com/. A.G. Edwards & Sons, Inc. Member SIPC September 2007 DATASOURCE: A.G. Edwards CONTACT: Pia Reinhold, +1-314-955-4651, ; or Byron Goodrich, +1-314-955-3235, , both of A.G. Edwards Web site: http://www.agedwards.com/

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