-MainStay Funds Investor Site Named A Top 20 Retail Mutual Fund Web Site By kasina & A Top 25 Mutual Fund Consumer Web Site By DALBAR-

Parsippany, NJ, January 15, 2003 New York Life Investment Management LLC (NYLIM) today announced that the MainStay Funds Investor Site, www.mainstayfunds.com, has received two top web site awards. Reflecting the significant enhancements from a recent web site re-engineering, the MainStay Funds site has been named a Top 20 Retail Mutual Fund Web Site for 2002 by kasina LLC, a New York-based consulting firm, and a Top 25 Mutual Fund Consumer Web Site for the third quarter of 2002 by Dalbar, Inc, a Boston-based financial-services market research and consulting firm.

Both kasina and DALBAR applauded MainStay Funds recent enhancements to the user experience including search engine upgrades, increased speed, and the addition of "Quick Links" to easily locate important information. Improved account access log-in and navigation on the Mainstay Funds web site also led to its first Top 20 appearance in the kasina study and its first Top 25 ranking in the Dalbar study.

"MainStay Funds is committed to providing investors with the tools they need to help pursue their vision and achieve their financial goals," noted Beverly J. Moore, Managing Director of NYLIM Retail Markets. "Both the kasina Top 20 Retail Mutual Fund Web Site award and the Dalbar Top 25 Mutual Fund Consumer Web Site award recognize MainStay Funds commitment to servicing financial advisors and their clients."

The MainStay Funds cover most major asset categories, including equity, fixed income, high yield, and international. The MainStay Funds offer active and quantitative management. Comprehensive information on MainStay Funds may be found at www.mainstayfunds.com.

With more than $158 billion in assets under management as of November 30, 2002, New York Life Investment Management LLC and its affiliates provide investment management and related services to a wide range of individual, corporate, public, and Taft-Hartley clients. NYLIM offers institutional asset management, retail investments, retirement plan services, guaranteed products, real estate investments, and alternative investments. For more information, visit the New York Life Investment Management site at www.nylim.com.

The annual kasina study is widely recognized as the industry's most authoritative study of the e-business initiatives of asset management companies. For this years review, kasina evaluated 481 mutual fund company Web sites based on five categories: branding, content, online services, usability, and Web technology.

kasina is a global management consulting firm specializing in e-business strategy. kasina focuses on the financial services sector, helping asset management companies to identify trends, benchmark against their competition, and prioritize initiatives relating to Internet technology. An overview of kasina's services is available at www.kasina.com.

More trends are available in a free summary of findings available at www.kasina.com/whitepapers/top20.

Dalbar, Inc. is committed to raising the standards of excellence in the financial-services industry. Headquartered in Boston, with additional offices in Toronto, DALBAR develops standards for, and provides research, ratings, and rankings of intangible factors to the mutual fund, broker/dealer, discount brokerage, life insurance, and banking industries. They include investor behavior, customer satisfaction, service quality, communications, Internet services, and financial-professional ratings. 

For more information on the Dalbar survey, visit www.dalbarinc.com.

The MainStay Funds are distributed by NYLIFE Distributors Inc., 169 Lackawanna Avenue, Parsippany, New Jersey 07054. For more information about any of the Funds, including a free prospectus that includes risks, fees and expenses, call (800) MAINSTAY. Please read the prospectus carefully before investing.