American Express Financial Group Launches Annuities Feature Designed to Help Investors ''Fight Off the Bears and Run With the Bulls''.

MINNEAPOLIS -- New Select Variable Annuities' Rider Provides Upside Potential Together With Downside Protection 

American Express Financial Group (AEFG), through American Enterprise Life Insurance Company (AEL), today announced the launch of a unique rider for the Select Variable Annuities that is designed to provide investment protection coupled with market participation. A variable annuity with the Accumulation Protector Benefit(SM)(APB) allows investors to accumulate retirement savings and provides access to their funds when needed. This patent pending rider offers investors:

--Protection from prolonged market declines,

--Participation in market gains,

--Freedom to access their investment however they like at the end the waiting period.

The APB rider, an optional benefit available for an additional cost, enables clients to take advantage of volatile markets while guaranteeing their principal. Regardless of market performance, at the end of ten years of investment, clients will receive the greater of their original contract investment(a), their contract anniversary value, or 80 percent of their highest maximum anniversary value(a) ((a) adjusted for withdrawals). Because the automatic 80 percent step-up feature is unique to accumulation benefits, AEFG has applied for a patent for this high client-value rider.

A variable annuity is an insurance product that offers guaranteed income you can't outlive and guaranteed death benefits to protect your beneficiaries. Other benefits include tax-deferred growth potential, asset diversification, professional money management and optional guarantees. These benefits may include associated fees and may not be available in some states.

"With the launch of this unique variable annuity rider, AEFG continues to demonstrate its commitment to the marketplace. The rider was designed based on the demands of clients, who want to protect their original investment while being able to participate in market growth," said Lynn Abbott, vice president of national sales and strategic alliances for AEFG. "We are giving them excellent downside protection, coupled with the opportunity to have upside protection--allowing them to 'fight off the bears and letting them run with the bulls.' The rider serves as an alternative to fixed annuities or indexed annuities, for clients who need principal protection but want full market participation."

In addition, the APB rider allows investors to take even greater advantage of AEFG's comprehensive online asset allocation program, Portfolio Navigator. This proprietary asset allocation program was developed with assistance from Morningstar Associates, LLC, a registered investment advisor and subsidiary of Morningstar, Inc., to provide AEFG clients with asset allocation expertise and to simplify their decision making process.

The Portfolio Navigator was designed to help clients manage the assets in their variable annuity accounts while providing for different investment styles, diversification, automatic rebalancing and professional portfolio management. Investors can choose from five asset allocation model portfolios based on risk tolerance, investment objectives and time horizon--conservative, moderately conservative, moderate, moderately aggressive and aggressive. They can diversify their investments in 55 investment subaccounts from a wide variety of well-known fund families, including American Express, American Century, Franklin Templeton Investments, Fidelity Investments, Van Kampen, and others.

About American Express Financial Group

Based in Minneapolis, American Express Financial Group is the service arm of American Enterprise Life Insurance Company (AEL) and its affiliate American Centurion Life Assurance Company (ACL), Albany, NY, which provide bank and broker-dealer clients with an array of products and services to support their retail annuity operations. AEL offers fixed and variable annuities directly to financial institutions nationwide. ACL markets fixed and variable annuities in New York. Both are affiliated with American Express Financial Advisors Inc. (AEFA), which provides financial advisory services and investment programs for more than 2.5 million clients. AEFA, member NASD, is the principal underwriter of the variable products issued by AEL and ACL. AEL and ACL had $9.1 billion and $721 million in assets, respectively at the end of 2004. Reserves for policyholder benefits and other liabilities totaled $8.3 billion and $625 million, respectively. AEL is not licensed to do business in New York. New York business is conducted through ACL. AEL and ACL are subsidiaries of IDS Life Insurance Company, which is a subsidiary of American Express Financial Corporation, a well-known and respected leader in financial services. American Express Financial Corporation has more than $405 billion in assets owned, managed or administered, as of March 31, 2005.

On Feb. 1, 2005, American Express Company announced plans to pursue a spin-off to shareholders of the American Express Financial Advisors unit. The transaction is expected to be completed in the third quarter of 2005, subject to certain conditions.

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You should consider the investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses of the underlying investment options carefully before investing. For a free copy of the underlying investment's prospectus, which contains this and other information, call [phone] or write to American Enterprise Life Insurance Company, 829 AXP Financial Center, Minneapolis, MN 55474. Read the prospectus carefully before you invest.

All guarantees are based upon the claims paying ability of the issuing company and do not apply to the performance of the separate accounts.

Variable annuities are complex investment vehicles. Before you invest, be sure to ask your sales representative about the variable annuity's features, benefits, risks and fees, and whether the variable annuity is appropriate for you, based upon your financial situation and objectives.

This material does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy nor will there be any sales of annuities in any state in which such an offer, solicitation or sales would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the applicable laws of any such state. Variable annuities are complex investment vehicles. Please call [phone] for information on individual state approvals. American Express Company is separate from AEFA and is not an insurance company or a broker-dealer.