Legg Mason's Scholars Choice® College Savings Program Maintains Impressive Performance While Reaching $3 Billion Mark

BALTIMORE, March 7, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Legg Mason, Inc. (NYSE: LM) announced today that its Scholars Choice College Savings Program has maintained its long-standing presence among the top 4-performing advisor-sold 529 plans for a quarterly rolling one-year period. This represents the 13th consecutive quarter that Scholars Choice has earned such kudos from Savingforcollege.com, based on investment performance, including the impact of fees. Scholars Choice also mastered the three-year category: It was named the #1 advisor-sold 529 plan for the three-year period, both including and excluding the impact of fees.

"Investment excellence is just one of the factors that has helped us reach $3 billion in assets under management," noted John Kenney, Head of Legg Mason Global Asset Allocation. "Financial advisors feel confident recommending a 529 savings plan with demonstrated results and low fees ¹."

"Top-tier 529s stand to benefit now that we have greater clarity around the tax consequences of education incentives," remarked Joe Hurley, founder of Savingforcollege.com. "We should see much larger contributions going into 529 plans as a direct result of the $5 million ( $10 million for a couple) estate exemption."

Savingforcollege.com -- an independent informational website owned by Saving for College, LLC -- is generally regarded by industry professionals as one of the leading experts on college savings. Scholars Choice is managed by Legg Mason's independent investment firm, Legg Mason Global Asset Allocation, and distributed by Legg Mason Investor Services for the State of Colorado.

All Savingforcollege.com rankings are as of December 31, 2012 and are based on the universe of 30 advisor-sold plans for Class A share performance (including maximum sales charges). The portfolios within the plans are compared and ranked based on published investment returns. The plan's composite ranking is determined by the average of its percentile ranking. The program ranked 3, 1, 10 and 7 for the quarterly rolling 1-, 3-, 5- and 10-year periods, respectively. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. The performance and rankings discussed are inherently limited and are not indicative of longer-term performance. Current performance may be lower or higher than performance results used for these rankings, resulting in different rankings that may be lower than those shown. Market volatility, interest-rate changes and economic events, among other factors, can affect an investment's short-term returns.

Ranking MethodologySavingforcollege.com derives the rankings using each plan's relevant portfolio performance in seven unique asset allocation categories: 100% Equity, 80% Equity, 60% Equity, 40% Equity, 20% Equity, 100% Fixed and 100% Short Term. The plan's composite ranking is determined by the average of its percentile ranking in these categories. Within each category, portfolios are compared and ranked based on published investment returns. Separate rankings are produced for one-, three- and five-year periods. In addition, two versions of rankings for each performance period are produced: one based on performance without sales charges and the other based on performance with maximum sales charges. Please visit Savingforcollege.com for more information about the ranking.

Additional unit classes may exist for each plan ranked. Please refer to each plan's program disclosure statement for more information regarding its performance, fees and expenses. For Scholars Choice's program disclosure statement, please visit scholars-choice.com.

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