NOTED ECONOMIC AND INVESTMENT CONSULTING FIRMS ANNOUNCE UNIQUE STRATEGIC ALLIANCE

La Jolla Economics and Strategic Asset Alliance to provide added services for insurance companies

La Jolla, CA and Blaine, WA -- A new, dynamic strategic alliance has been formed that will bring the unique, highly regarded insights of Victor Canto, PhD, to insurance companies as part of expanded investment consulting services offered through Strategic Asset Alliance (SAA).

The increased uncertainty faced by insurance companies coupled with the trends toward financial services deregulation and globalization demand broader points of view that help put the complex financial markets into perspective," said Alton Cogert, President, Strategic Asset Alliance. Too many times, when it comes to a view of the economy, insurance company senior managers take the opinions of their investment manager or the general consensus as fact. Adding another intelligent viewpoint can only improve perspective and the ability to see past spurious conclusions that can lead to poor decision making. We have been continually impressed by La Jolla Economics (LJE) commentary and Dr. Cantos ability to make sense of seemingly contradictory economic data. "

According to Mr. Cogert, Adding highly regarded economic analyses to our services package can only help improve SAAs ability to achieve our corporate mission: To improve the financial results of our insurance company clients. We look forward to working closely with Dr. Canto and the professionals at LJE."

According to Dr. Canto, Insurance companies, unlike other financial institutions, have a need to not only understand the short term implications of economic events, but also how longer term economic and demographic factors will influence their existing policy obligations."

This simultaneous focus on the very short term and the very long term emphasizes the importance of an accurate understanding of the underlying global and domestic economies," emphasized Dr. Canto. We fully expect that this strategic alliance will produce economic and investment consulting services that can give an insurer an important competitive edge."

Various La Jolla Economics studies can now be accessed via SAAs web site at www.saai.com. More detailed economic commentary and statistics can be found at La Jolla Economics site at www.lje.com. In addition, La Jolla Economics is a Silver Sponsor of the Insurer Internet and Investment Forum (www.saai.com/internetandinvestmentforum.htm) to be held September 17-19 at the Marriott Sawgrass Resort.

Strategic Asset Alliance, founded in 1995, is the only investment consulting firm that exclusively serves the insurance industry. Its services include asset allocation analyses, asset/liability management analyses, investment policy review and revision, investment manager searches and monitoirng, customized investment benchmarking, and successfully dealing with the rating agencies. SAAs clients include life/health and property/casualty insurers ranging in size from less than $50 million to over $5 billion in admitted assets.

La Jolla Economics offers economic, political and industry research to the institutional and corporate investor, analyzing the investment implications of domestic and international government policies. Founded in 1997, La Jolla Economics has already earned a reputation as a premier analytical service.
Today, La Jolla Economics has a worldwide following of clients that include money managers, pension funds, mutual funds and corporations, among others. La Jolla Economics provides professional investors with the insights and interpretations necessary for them to understand how the geopolitical events of today will impact their portfolios tomorrow. La Jolla Economics combines a macro view of political and economic research with a dynamic view of industry research to serve the full range of client needs.

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