August 22, 2002 (Madison, Wis.) - "Our business started picking up about the time the recession hit, and it has really taken off since the Dow slid below 9000." Words not many businesspeople can say. But Joe Saari, President and CEO of Precision Information (PI), has seen his business grow while much of the rest of the economy struggles.

The secret to PI's success in troubled times is the company's product: financial education for investors. As frantic investors search for ways to protect themselves in the face of one of the worst bear markets in recent memory, they are turning to PI for help.

"In the late '90s, millions of people opened new accounts and began trading aggressively. They bought lots of tech stocks, saw huge gains, and figured they knew what they were doing," Saari said. "Then came the tech blow-out, followed by recession, the Enron debacle, and the recent stock market tumble. Suddenly, these investors realize that they need a lot more know-how if their portfolios are going to survive and thrive in the future," he said.

The latest investor survey by the Securities Investors Association bears out Saari's observation. Nearly 50 percent of investors regret the investment decisions they made last year, and 46 percent say they'll be more cautious in the future. Fewer than half of investors surveyed say they know most or all of what they need to make good investment decisions, and a full 84 percent say the securities industry should be doing more to educate them.

Precision Information co-founder Ed Harris says lack of knowledge about the basics of investing is causing many investors to make expensive mistakes. "I shake my head when I hear so many stories of people losing their retirement savings or their kids' college funds," he said. "With a little knowledge of simple concepts like diversification and risk tolerance, many of these folks would be in a much stronger position today."

The combination of insecurity and a need for know-how is bringing both individual investors and the securities industry to Precision Information's door. Sales of PI's signature offering, a software product called The Encyclopedia of Personal Finance™, have increased over 200% since last year. Companies like Ameritrade, Morningstar, New York Life, Bob Brinker's Money Talk and Investment Advisor magazine have turned to PI to create online investor education pages for their Web sites as well. Most recently, PI created an investor guide for the latest versions of Intuit's Quicken Premier and Quicken Premier Home and Business.

While PI products like The Encyclopedia of Personal Finance™ are marketed directly to consumers, PI has also focused on financial professionals to use investor education as a marketing strategy. Along with custom-designed Internet materials, PI has a variety of special products designed for financial professionals to distribute as prospecting and customer service tools.

"Investor confidence is at an all-time low," Saari said. "Investor education is a powerful way for financial professionals to boost their clients' confidence and increase their willingness to buy financial products and services," he said.

After founding Precision Information in 1998, it took a while for Saari and Harris to convince the financial community that educating its customers was an important business strategy. But the financial shocks of the past year are making believers out of many.

"Successful advisors know that educating their clients is essential to developing good relationships," said Investment Advisor publisher Eric Haines. "When clients are knowledgeable and understand the investing process, that often leads to good long-term relationships. Financial planning is a process, and successful advisors know that client education is a big part of it."

"The PI materials in our Investor Education Center are easy to read and straight to the point. Advisors can feel confident sharing them with clients," Haines said.

"The Precision Information material is both accurate and written so both experienced and novice investors can understand it," said Susan Dziubinski, developer of Morningstar.com's University pages. "That can be a rare combination in the world of finance." PI developed a bond education section for the Morningstar.com site.

Saari and Harris say they were inspired to start the business by the lack of reliable, basic information for new investors. "When it comes to managing your money effectively, what you know can make the difference between a great return and a big loss," Harris said. "There's a lot of information out there, but it's spread out all over the place. What's more, much of it is either too complex for most investors to understand, or it is colored by somebody's personal opinions or biases," he said.

"We wanted to create resources that would be objective, easy to use, and comprehensive enough that they could answer any question you might have about your finances," Saari said. "With the Encyclopedia of Personal Finance™ and our other products, we've achieved that goal."

Precision Information (PI) is a rapidly growing personal finance software company devoted to developing and distributing innovative educational software and online applications for the financial services market. PI provides efficient, effective, and affordable financial education tools and learning systems to serve the needs of financial service firms, financial professionals, students, individual investors, and independent learners alike.

For more information about Precision Information or the Encyclopedia of Personal Finance™, call Precision Information at 888-345-1285, or log on to the company's Web site at www.precision-info.com.