Financial Engines

FINANCIAL ENGINES® FIRST TO OFFER TAX-SMART ADVICE PLATFORM

Expands Breadth of Services to Meet the Needs of Financial Institutions and Employers

PALO ALTO, Calif., July 24, 2001 – Financial Engines, the leading provider of investment advisory services to the workplace and to financial institutions, today announced that it has expanded its service to provide advice on taxable brokerage accounts. Financial Engines' suite of advisory services now features tax-efficient recommendations that consider unrealized capital gains, asset placement and after-tax returns. In addition, the service has been expanded beyond a single retirement goal to include an unlimited number of life goals -- such as saving for a home or funding a child's education -- and now provides forecasts on employee stock options.

"Financial Engines was the pioneer in offering Monte Carlo simulation, the first to provide advice on multiple tax-deferred accounts and now leads the way in providing tax-efficient advice. The offering of this capability reflects years of research and development effort by our expert team," says Christopher L. Jones, Executive Vice President of Financial Research and Strategy. "The scope and breadth of the Financial Engines Advisory Services Platform continues to set the standard for the industry."

The Financial Engines Advisory Services Platform offers total portfolio, tax-efficient investment advice that helps investors:

• Avoid transactions that trigger capital gains taxes
• Rebalance intelligently using tax-deferred accounts and new savings
• Identify whether investments should be held in tax-deferred or taxable accounts
• Evaluate the expected after-tax investment performance on more than 20,000 traded mutual funds and stocks

"Advice is becoming the foundation of the customer relationship for financial institutions," says Jeff Maggioncalda, president and CEO of Financial Engines. "Financial Engines continues to lead the way in helping financial institutions and employers offer best-of-breed advice to their clients and employees."

Additional features now include:

• Advice on multiple life goals: The service provides Forecasts and advice on an unlimited number of financial goals, from saving for a home to funding a vacation and makes specific recommendations on how to invest and save to reach each goal.
• Forecasting of employee stock options: The service Forecasts the potential future value of employee stock options, demonstrating the entire range of scenarios based on potential stock performance. It also helps answer major questions surrounding stock options, including: "When should I exercise my stock options, how should I exercise my stock options and what should I do with the proceeds?"
• Improved Guided Advice capabilities: Enhanced Guided Advice features provide investors with simple 'point-and-click' advice on how to best reach their goals. The forecast-based approach includes screens that demonstrate how each decision affects the chances of reaching each goal.

Financial Engines rolled out its first customer in October of 1998. By January of 2001 it had 100 plan sponsors on its roster and today more than 525 companies have contracted with Financial Engines, representing more than 1.5 million participants. In addition, Financial Engines has developed strategic relationships with 20 financial institutions that service more than 30 million individual investors.

About Financial Engines
Financial Engines is a leading provider of investment advisory services to the workplace and to financial institutions. Financial Engines enables employers, financial professionals and financial organizations such as fund companies, brokerages and banks to offer consistent, high-quality, personalized investment advice on a cross-enterprise basis. Founded by Economics Nobel Laureate William F. Sharpe, Financial Engines works with its customers to help their clients make better investment decisions to meet their financial goals. Financial Engines was founded in 1996 and is located in Palo Alto, Calif.

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Financial Engines® is a registered trademark, and AdviceServerTM platform is a trademark of Financial Engines. All other trademarks and service marks are the property of their respective owners. All advisory services are provided by Financial Engines Advisors LLC, a federally registered investment advisor.