Russell Launches LifePoints® Funds, Target Date Series (Russell.com)

Russell Launches LifePoints® Funds, Target Date Series
Funds Available Via New Distribution Partner—American United Life Insurance Company® (AUL), a OneAmerica® financial partner

TACOMA, Wash. — March 3, 2005 — As part of the expansion of its retirement services solutions, Russell Investment Group, a global leader in multi-manager investing, today announced the launch of four target maturity retirement funds in its LifePoints® Funds family of funds. The four new funds, as well as the existing family of LifePoints products, will be available immediately to plan sponsors of 401(k) plans via Russell's new distribution partner, AUL, the 9th largest provider of 401(k) bundled full-service and recordkeeping products in the nation.

Under the terms of the agreement, AUL will distribute Russell funds via its independent broker network of 14,000 advisors which reaches plan sponsors across the U.S. AUL will be responsible for managing the plan administration needs of clients, including maintaining account records for DC plans and their participants, communicating periodically with DC plan participants and providing information to and answering questions from participants. Russell will be responsible for the delivery of its multi-manager investment approach, via the company's LifePoints family of funds. This includes the research and selection of some of the world's best investment managers to be part of these funds, as well as continuous monitoring of the managers (including manager replacement when necessary) and automatic daily rebalancing of the funds.

"The addition of AUL as one of our Retirement Alliances distribution partners is an immediate enhancement of our reach to plan sponsors in the US. By working with them, we are able to make available a broader array of 401(k) plans the same institutional-quality investment approach and fiduciary oversight that our largest institutional clients currently use," said Matthew Smith, managing director, Retirement Alliances, Russell Investment Group.

Commenting on the new relationship, Bill Yoerger, Vice President of AUL Retirement Services, said, "We were looking for an objectively-researched lifecycle fund family to make available to our plan sponsor clients and Russell provides one of the best multi-managing investing approach solution's available. Russell's life cycle funds bring added choices to our existing range of retirement plan products and services and allows us to fully serve our clients' retirement plan needs."

About LifePoints® Funds, Target Date Series
The four new LifePoints Funds, Target Date Series — 2010 Strategy Fund, 2020 Strategy Fund, 2030 Strategy Fund and 2040 Strategy Fund — are designed for investors who plan to retire close to the target year indicated in the fund name. Each fund is designed to provide the investor with an asset allocation that automatically changes over time as the individual's investment horizon changes.

"With our target date series, Russell takes this already popular format to the next level. Our multi-manager approach provides all-season diversification and the LifePoints format makes the decision-making process simpler for the investor, all while delivering an institutional-quality investment experience," said Smith. "Moreover, our approach enables us to provide key support for the fiduciary interests of plan sponsors by delivering unparalleled manager research and oversight."

Each of the four new funds seeks to provide investors with capital growth and income consistent with its current asset allocation. Each Fund's allocation to fixed income funds will be fixed at 80% approximately 20 years after the target year.

The initial asset allocation for each fund is as follows:

2010 Strategy Fund — 45% stock funds / 55% fixed income funds
2020 Strategy Fund — 55% stock funds / 45% fixed incomes funds
2030 Strategy Fund — 64% stock funds / 36% fixed income funds
2040 Strategy Fund — 72% stock funds / 28% fixed income funds

The LifePoints® Funds, Target Date Series, join Russell's existing LifePoints family, which includes five asset allocated portfolios.

About Russell
Russell Investment Group, a global leader in multi-manager investment services, provides investment products and services in more than 35 countries. Russell manages more than $131 billion in assets as of Dec. 31, 2004, and advises clients worldwide representing more than $2.3 trillion. The company is ranked for the first time in the top five of DALBAR's 2004 Financial Professionals "General Opinion" survey and is ranked second on the Great Place To Work Institute's 2004 list of Best Small & Medium Companies to Work for in America.

Founded in 1936, Russell is a subsidiary of Northwestern Mutual and is headquartered in Tacoma, Wash., with additional offices in New York, Toronto, London, Paris, Singapore, Sydney, Auckland and Tokyo.

About AUL
AUL is an experienced provider of retirement products and services to the small and mid-sized employer market. AUL and its predecessor companies have provided financial services for more than 125 years. Retirement products were introduced in 1963 and today include more than 12,000 active retirement plans, nearly half a million participants and more than $7 billion in retirement plan assets. Please visit us on the web at www.eretirement.aul.com.

Fund objectives, risks, charges and expenses should be carefully considered before investing. A prospectus containing this and other important information can be obtained by calling (800) 787-7354 or visiting www.russell.com. Please read the prospectus carefully before investing.

Each of the LifePoints® Funds invests its assets in shares of a number of underlying Frank Russell Investment Company Funds. Each of the LifePoints® Funds, Target Portfolio Series, will adjust its investments within set limits based on Russell's outlook for the economy, financial markets, and relative market valuation of the asset classes represented by each underlying Fund. Each of the LifePoints® Funds, Target Date Series, will adjust its investments within set limits based on the target year of the fund. The asset allocation of each fund is based solely on time horizon. However, the LifePoints® Funds may deviate from set limits when, in Russell's opinion, it is necessary to do so to pursue each Fund's investment objective. The amounts allocated to each underlying Fund will generally vary within 10%.

Russell Fund Distributors, Inc., is the distributor of Frank Russell Investment Company.

Russell Investment Group is a registered trade name of Frank Russell Company, a Washington, USA corporation, which operates through subsidiaries worldwide. Frank Russell Company is a subsidiary of The Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company.

RFD 05-4759. First used: March 2005