Women of All Ages Attend First Annual SMARTEN UP! LEARN FOR THE CURE Personal Finance Conference For Women -- Survey Shows Women In Control of Household Finances & Eager To Learn More

Question: What could convince 500 women to wake up at 9:00 AM on a Saturday to tackle their personal finances? Answer: The Answer Factory's Smarten Up! Learn For The Cure, an innovative and highly praised personal finance conference for women, and fundraiser for the fight against breast cancer. The event was held this past Saturday, March 29th, at the Hilton Hotel in NYC.

NEW YORK, NY - March 30, 2003: Question: What could convince 500 women to wake up at 9:00 AM on a Saturday to tackle their personal finances? Answer: The Answer Factory's Smarten Up! Learn For The Cure, an innovative and highly praised personal finance conference for women, and fundraiser for the fight against breast cancer. The event was held this past Saturday, March 29th, at the Hilton Hotel in NYC.

Women of all ages came to learn about everything from investing in a turbulent economy to merging money & relationships. Conference highlights included highly applauded educational programs presented by 17 different speakers including Jean Sherman Chatzky from Money Magazine and the Today Show; CNBC's Maria Bartiromo; MSN Money columnist M.P. Dunleavey; Tom Gardner & Dayana Yochim from the Motley Fool; and best-selling author of Smart Women Finish Rich, David Bach. Giving back was also high on the agenda - all conference proceeds benefited the Greater New York City Affiliate of the Susan G. Komen Foundation.

Additionally, the results of The Answer Factory's Women & Money 2003 survey were released. 544 women took the survey online between March 1, 2003 and March 27, 2003. Survey highlights include:

Women control the money. 57.5% of married women say they have complete control over the household finances, and 28.1% share the responsibility equally with their spouse. Further, only 8.6% of single women say they would ever consider relinquishing the financial reigns to their future spouses.

Women crave financial knowledge. Only about one third of women are satisfied with their current level of financial knowledge. What do they plan to do about it? In the next twelve months, 66.7% plan to take a class or seminar, 61.3% plan to read more business news periodicals, and 58.4% intend to read a personal finance book.

Women want to talk about money. Only 1/3 of women were taught about money and investing by their parents when growing up, yet 99% of the women intend to teach their own kids about finances. When asked who they speak to most about money and investing, the number one answer was "my friends."

Full survey results are available at www.smartenup.org/survey.htm. Smarten Up! conference sponsors include Microsoft Money, Fleet with Investing from Quick & Reilly, Lincoln, Daffy's, The Sports Club LA, Money Magazine, The Motley Fool, Working Mother Magazine, New York 1 News, New York Post, 1010 Wins, Time Warner Cable, and New York Magazine.

About The Answer Factory

The Answer Factory is an independent provider of innovative financial education programs. The company produces classes, workshops, and conferences in the areas of personal finance, investing, and 'the business of life.' The Answer Factory is headquartered in New York City at 200 Park Avenue South, New York, NY 10003. For more information, visit www.theanswerfactory.com or call 212.674.6100.