PR - A.G. Edwards Nest Egg Score Jumps to 649

At 649, the September 2007 Nest Egg Score — released this week by A.G. Edwards (NYSE: AGE) — increased 12 points since June and is at the top of the "Fair" range. The biggest factor contributing to the Score’s increase — resulting in the highest Score since first released in March 2006 — was the savings rate.

"The personal savings rate has increased slightly in the past year as the pace of economic activity has slowed down, showing Americans are beginning to focus more on saving and investing for the future," said A.G. Edwards’ Chief Economist Gary Thayer. "In addition, we saw an increase in the value of Americans’ financial assets and a shift to a more aggressive asset allocation, which helped boost household wealth, therefore positively affecting the Score."

The housing market continues to have a negative effect on the Nest Egg Score. A decline in homeownership and home equity rates weighed down the Score. In fact, the home equity rate hit a new five-year low.

The A.G. Edwards Nest Egg Score is a proprietary analysis of 12 factors that influence the willingness and ability of adults to build wealth. It includes such government measures as the personal savings rate, wealth-to-income ratio, the cost of living and the home equity rate, along with proprietary research that evaluates Americans’ saving and investing behaviors. Quarterly data for each factor is evaluated and scored on the following scale: 450 to 549-poor; 550 to 649-fair; 650 to 749-good; and 750 to 850-excellent.

To help people determine their personal Nest Egg Scores, A.G. Edwards offers the Nest Egg Score Estimator. The Nest Egg Score Estimator asks a variety of questions, including length of employment at current job, annual household income, investment preferences, risk tolerance, home equity and discretionary spending habits. It also takes into consideration age, marital status and location of residence. To find out how your savings and investing habits rate in relation to the rest of the country, please visit nesteggscore.com.

The A.G. Edwards Nest Egg Score is a single, quarterly, three-digit numerical rating that represents a measure of the relative strength or weakness of Americans’ wealth-building performance, similar to the scoring systems used to evaluate creditworthiness. A high Nest Egg Score indicates that households are having more success in building their nest eggs or that economic conditions are favorable for saving and investing. Conversely, a low score means that households are not taking advantage of opportunities to build their nest eggs or that economic conditions are not conducive to wealth accumulation.