Americans Deeply Conflicted About New Dot-Com Investing Landscape.

Business Editors

BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 26, 2000

Scudder Kemper Investments Survey Reveals America's "Split Investing

Personality": Investors Simultaneously Bullish and Apprehensive

A comprehensive new survey by Scudder Kemper Investments, "Investing in a Dot-Com World: Americans' Attitudes and Apprehensions," reveals that a surprising proportion of Americans are in deep conflict about their perceptions of dot-com companies.

The survey results suggest that Americans have a high level of optimism and confidence in the ultimate success of dot-com companies and yet, simultaneously, share high levels of concern about these companies' stability. In addition, Americans are disinclined to invest directly in them.

Said Dianne Michael, Senior Vice President at Scudder Kemper Investments, "In the wake of the dot-com investing revolution and today's wide upward and downward swings in the markets, investors are in an ambivalent state of mind. Like the markets in which they are invested, Americans are vacillating between confidence and apprehension, unsure of how all this change will ultimately play out."

Americans are downright bullish about the future of dot-coms and the investment opportunities they offer:

-- 63% of Americans and 60% of investors say that if they were to get extra
money, they would not invest in Internet and technology stocks.

-- 65% of Americans and 56% of investors have not even considered putting aside
some money to use for riskier technology, Internet or dot-com investments.

-- If given $5,000 to spend, save or invest, only 9% of Americans and 11% of
investors would put all or some of the money into Internet or technology
stocks.

-- Even with the long-standing bull market and white-hot tech sector of the
last few years, less than half of Americans (49%) regret not having invested
earlier in Internet and tech stocks and funds.

Added Ms. Michael, "One of the more striking components of investor confidence in dot-coms is an unwavering faith in the young, and often untested management teams. Perhaps the legacy of the Bill Gates and Steve Jobs has created a mindset among investors that the technology world is best left to `young renegades' who have the minds and vision to change the world."

-- 63% of Americans and 60% of investors say that if they were to get extra
money, they would not invest in Internet and technology stocks.

-- 65% of Americans and 56% of investors have not even considered putting aside
some money to use for riskier technology, Internet or dot-com investments.

-- If given $5,000 to spend, save or invest, only 9% of Americans and 11% of
investors would put all or some of the money into Internet or technology
stocks.

-- Even with the long-standing bull market and white-hot tech sector of the
last few years, less than half of Americans (49%) regret not having invested
earlier in Internet and tech stocks and funds.

But all this bullishness and confidence does not tell the whole story. These same survey respondents simultaneously express serious concern and apprehension about dot-coms and their ultimate impact on the overall economy:

-- 63% of Americans and 60% of investors say that if they were to get extra
money, they would not invest in Internet and technology stocks.

-- 65% of Americans and 56% of investors have not even considered putting aside
some money to use for riskier technology, Internet or dot-com investments.

-- If given $5,000 to spend, save or invest, only 9% of Americans and 11% of
investors would put all or some of the money into Internet or technology
stocks.

-- Even with the long-standing bull market and white-hot tech sector of the
last few years, less than half of Americans (49%) regret not having invested
earlier in Internet and tech stocks and funds.

Likewise, even as they express the belief that technology investing is the best way to make money, most Americans are disinclined to do so.

-- 63% of Americans and 60% of investors say that if they were to get extra
money, they would not invest in Internet and technology stocks.

-- 65% of Americans and 56% of investors have not even considered putting aside
some money to use for riskier technology, Internet or dot-com investments.

-- If given $5,000 to spend, save or invest, only 9% of Americans and 11% of
investors would put all or some of the money into Internet or technology
stocks.

-- Even with the long-standing bull market and white-hot tech sector of the
last few years, less than half of Americans (49%) regret not having invested
earlier in Internet and tech stocks and funds.

Said Joan Wood, Senior Vice President at Scudder Kemper Investments, "So even as Americans express confidence in the ultimate value and success of dot-com and Internet companies, they're simultaneously a little anxious and not really willing to invest directly in them. These results clearly show that although dot-coms dominate much of our attention and fascination these days, the vast majority of the investing public is simply not willing to risk their retirement savings on `high-risk' `high-reward' investments."

About Scudder Kemper Investments

Scudder Kemper Investments, Inc., the global investment management business of Zurich Financial Services Groups, is one of the largest and most experienced investment management organizations in the world, managing more than $290 billion in assets for institutional and corporate clients, retirement and pension plans, insurance companies, mutual fund investors, and individuals. Scudder Kemper Investments offers a full range of investment counsel and asset management capabilities, based on a combination of proprietary research and disciplined, long-term investment strategies.

Headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland, Zurich Financial Services Group is one of the global leaders in the financial services industry, providing its customers with products and solutions in the area of financial protection and asset accumulation. The Group has four core businesses: non-life and life insurance, reinsurance and asset management.

The margin of error for results based on the national weighted sample of 1,300 is +/- 2.7 percentage points; for the investor sample of 963, +/- 3.2 percentage points; and for each statewide sample of 400, +/- 4.9 percentage points.

About the Investing in a Dot-Com World Survey

The public opinion data reported in the study entitled Investing in a Dot-Com World: Americans' Attitudes and Apprehensions are the result of a total of 2,900 telephone interviews conducted with adult Americans, 18 years and older, living in the continental United States. Interviewing was conducted from a central telephone facility during the period of April 18 through May 1, 2000 utilizing a random-digital-dial (RDD) sampling methodology.

National survey results are based on 1,300 telephone interviews conducted with a random and representative sample of adults, including an oversample of 300 "investors." Investors are defined as individuals indicating they currently have investments in stocks, mutual funds or money market funds, including IRAs, Keoghs or employer-sponsored retirement plans, like 401(k)s. In addition, a total of 1,600 interviews were conducted in a series of four random and representative statewide surveys of 400 adults each in California, Florida, Illinois and Texas.

For more details on the findings of Investing in a Dot-Com World: Americans' Attitudes and Apprehensions, please visit investments.scudder.com or contact Laura Trumble at [phone], or Amy Schwabero at [phone]. A copy of the complete survey is available upon request.