U.S. COMMODITY FUTURES TRADING COMMMISSION AND NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR FINANCIAL EDUCATION JOIN RANKS OF ALLIANCE FOR INVESTOR EDUCATION

WASHINGTON, D.C.///January 12, 2006///The non-profit Alliance for Investor Education (AIE) announced today that the National Endowment for Financial Education (NEFE) and the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) are its two newest participating organizations. The 21-member Alliance for Investor Education Web (http://www.investoreducation.org) provides U.S. investors with access to a full range of information they need to make wise investment decisions.

AIE President Michael D. Jones, who also is senior vice president at the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD), said: "The addition of these two groups, NEFE and the CFTC, will allow us to further expand the work of the Alliance for Investor Education. Both have a good track record of providing important financial and investment information to the public and we're happy to have them bring their expertise and resources to AIE. We strive to provide individuals with a better understanding of the full range of information they need to make informed investment decisions and we look forward to working with NEFE and the CFTC as they help us further this goal."

NEFE (http://www.nefe.org), a foundation that establishes partnerships for the financial well-being of the public, evolved from the Denver-based, non-profit College for Financial Planning, which was founded in 1972 as the nation's first financial planning educational institution. NEFE describes itself as "the only private, nonprofit foundation wholly dedicated to educating Americans about personal finance and empowering them to make positive and sound decisions in order to reach their financial goals. NEFE is completely non-partisan, unbiased and focused on consumer education, providing a crucial voice against the rapid rise in unchecked consumer spending and debt accumulation."

Congress created the CFTC (http://www.cftc.gov) in 1974 as an independent agency with the mandate to regulate commodity futures and option markets in the United States. The mission of the CFTC is to protect market users and the public from fraud, manipulation, and abusive practices related to the sale of commodity and financial futures and options, and to foster open, competitive, and financially sound futures and option markets. Through effective oversight, the CFTC enables the futures markets to serve the important function of providing a means for price discovery and offsetting price risk.

ABOUT AIE

The full breadth of the investment world is represented in AIE's membership ranks. Full members of the Alliance include: American Association of Individual Investors, AFSAEF, BetterInvesting, Bond Market Association, CFA Institute, Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, EBRI-ERF, Futures Industry Institute, Investment Company Institute Education Foundation, Investor Protection Trust, NASD, National Endowment for Financial Education, National Futures Association, National Investor Relations Institute, the New York Stock Exchange, Securities Industry Association, and the Securities Investor Protection Corporation.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission, SEC Office of Investor Education and Assistance, the Federal Trade Commission Bureau of Consumer Protection, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, and the North American Securities Administrators Association are governmental and quasi-governmental advisors to the Alliance.

CONTACT: Ailis Aaron Wolf, (703) 276-3265 or .