Russell poll provides snapshot of financial advisor perspectives on lifestyle/lifecycle products (Russell.com)

Russell Poll Provides Snapshot of Financial Advisor Perspectives on Lifestyle/Lifecycle Products
Differentiating Among Plethora of Offerings Based on Investment Process, Asset Allocation and Underlying Manager Selection

Tacoma, WA — July 17, 2006 — A poll of US independent financial professionals found that more than three quarters (76%) of the respondents currently recommend lifestyle¹ or lifecycle² products to their clients and moreover, in the past 12 months, the majority noted that client assets actually directed to these products increased both for defined contribution (DC) plan clients (72%) and for individual investor clients (62%). The primary investment goal for which these products are being used is retirement (63%).

"Lifestyle and lifecycle products can be an excellent vehicle for helping clients reach their retirement goals and it is pretty clear that advisors recognize this and are successfully helping their clients understand the benefits of using these types of products," said Kristin Gibson, director, national accounts, Russell Retirement Services. "With so many of these products now on the market, the next step is to ensure that advisors, plan sponsors and investors are fully aware of the key factors they should consider when evaluating the offerings available to them, because not all lifecycle and lifestyle products are created equal."

Differentiation
When asked to rate attributes in terms of their importance for differentiating between the lifecycle/lifestyle offerings available, the respondents cited investment process (58%), asset allocation (52%) and underlying manager selection (50%) as 'very important'. Ranked 'not that important' or 'not important at all' was manager "brand" name (27%).

Benefits
From the client's perspective, advisors cited as 'very important' the benefits of 'built-in diversification' (65%), 'ease of use' (54%) and 'automatic rebalancing' (52%).

From a practice management perspective, half the advisors who responded felt 'ease of administration' was a 'very important' benefit, followed by 48% who also cited 'automatic rebalancing' as 'very important'.

"These products offer benefits at multiple levels for advisors and their clients. They provide an excellent leveraged advice solution, allowing advisors to deliver comprehensively packaged advice via superior investment content and investment process in a wrapper that at the same time provides ease of administration," said Gibson. "With respect to Russell's LifePoints family specifically, advisors and plan sponsors can also offer their clients or plan participants access to some of the world's best money managers, objectively researched and selected by our industry leading manager research engine."

About the poll
The poll was conducted in April at Russell's annual conference of financial professionals. There were 63 respondents in total. Overall, the respondents represented an experienced group with slightly less than half (42%) having more than 20 years experience and more than half (55%) managing at least $1 billion in total assets under management. Of those actively recommending lifecycle/lifestyle funds, close to two-thirds (60%) have over 60% of their client assets represented by individual investors. Forty-three (43) respondents had defined contribution clients and almost half (47%) of this group stated they have more than 20% of their assets under management in defined contribution plans.

About Russell
Russell Investment Group, a global leader in multi-manager investing, provides investment products and services in more than 44 countries. Russell manages more than $171 billion in assets for advisory clients as of June 30, 2006. In 2006, and for the fifth time since 1999, Russell is ranked among the Fortune Magazine's 100 Best Companies to Work For in America.

Contact:
Jennifer Tice, 253-439-2921

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.

¹Static asset allocation funds based on risk tolerance
²Dynamic asset allocation funds with respect to a specific retirement date

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

Securities distributed through Russell Fund Distributors, Inc. member NASD, part of Russell Investment Group.

Effective July 1, 2006 Frank Russell Investment Company ("FRIC") will change its name to Russell Investment Company. FRIC Funds are distributed by Russell Fund Distributors, Inc., and advised by Frank Russell Investment Management Company ("FRIMCo"). Effective July 1, 2006 FRIMCo will change its name to Russell Investment Management Company.

The LifePoints® Funds are exposed to the risks of the underlying fund proportionately to their underlying fund allocation. Investment in LifePoints® Funds involves direct and indirect expenses which together can be higher than those incurred when investing directly in an underlying fund. Currently, direct operating expenses, other than distribution fees, shareholder servicing fees and non-recurring and extraordinary expenses, are waived or reimbursed by Frank Russell Investment Management Company.

Russell Fund Distributors, Member NASD, part of Russell Investment Group.

RFD 06-6031
First used: July 2006