NEST College Savings Plans Earn Top Ranks

Direct and Advisor Plans Named Top Ten Among Best Performing 529
College Savings Plans

LINCOLN, Neb.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–The NEST Direct Plan and the NEST Advisor Plan continue to be ranked in
the top ten for one-year investment performance for 529 college savings
plans in a recently released nationwide analysis by Savingforcollege.com.

The NEST Direct Plan ranked fifth in the list of top performing
direct-sold 529 plans, and the NEST Advisor Plan ranked sixth in the
list of top performing advisor-sold 529 plans. This is the third
consecutive quarter the NEST Direct Plan has ranked in the top ten and
the second consecutive quarter for the NEST Advisor Plan.

“We are honored that Savingforcollege.com recognized the NEST Direct
Plan and NEST Advisor Plan as two of the top ten performing 529 plans in
the country,” said Nebraska State Treasurer Don Stenberg, Trustee of
NEST. “We strive to make our college savings plans customer focused, so
this is a significant mark of success in our eyes. We encourage more
families to invest in our 529 plans to help relieve some of the pressure
associated with higher education costs.”

“Our team is driven to make NEST 529 plans as efficient and
cost-effective as possible. The focus is always to ensure our college
savings plans benefit our investors nationwide,” said Deborah Goodkin,
Managing Director, Savings Plans, First National Bank of Omaha. “We are
continuously adjusting our performance and investment portfolio so that
our account owners’ savings aspirations are achievable. To help families
reach their goals, we regularly offer scholarships, giveaways and
contest opportunities. It’s nice to see our passion and hard work pay
off in our high ranking.”

Savingforcollege.com analyzes the investment performance figures for
thousands of 529 portfolios and ranks the 529 savings plans from best to
worst for one-year, three-year, five-year and ten-year investment
performance.

To produce the rankings for the direct-sold 529 plans,
Savingforcollege.com compared the reported investment performance of a
subset of portfolios from each 529 savings plan. A plan’s performance
score determines its ranking. The NEST Direct Plan, with a performance
score of 26.91, placed fifth overall in one-year investment performance.

For the advisor-sold 529 plans, rankings by SavingforCollege.com were
derived using each plan’s relevant portfolio performance in seven unique
asset allocation categories. The asset allocation categories used were
100 percent Equity, 80 percent Equity, 60 percent Equity, 40 percent
Equity, 20 percent Equity, 100 percent Fixed and 100 percent Short Term.
Like the Direct Plan ranking system, rankings were determined by a
plan’s performance score in the seven categories. The NEST Advisor Plan
received a performance score of 46.21, placing it sixth overall in
one-year investment performance.

For more information about NEST and to open a plan, visit NEST529.com,
NEST529Advisor.com
or treasurer.nebraska.gov.

About NEST

NEST is a tax-advantaged 529 college savings plan and provides four
plans to help make saving for college simple and affordable: NEST Direct
College Savings Plan, the NEST Advisor College Savings Plan, the TD
Ameritrade 529 College Savings Plan, and The State Farm College Savings
Plan. The Nebraska State Treasurer serves as Program Trustee. First
National Bank serves as the Program Manager, and all investments are
approved by the Nebraska Investment Council. Families nationwide are
saving for college using Nebraska’s 529 College Savings Plans, which
have more than 251,000 accounts, including 73,000 in Nebraska. Visit NEST529.com,
NEST529Advisor.com
and treasurer.nebraska.gov for
more information.

About First National Bank of Omaha

First National Bank of Omaha is a subsidiary of First National of
Nebraska. First National of Nebraska is the largest privately owned
banking company in the United States. First National and its affiliates
have $20 billion in managed assets and 5,000 employee associates.
Primary banking offices are located in Nebraska, Colorado, Illinois,
Iowa, Kansas, South Dakota and Texas.

Investments Are Not FDIC Insured* – No Bank, State or Federal Guarantee
– May Lose Value

*Except the Bank Savings Individual Investment Option

Contacts

Media:
The Rosen Group
Abby Berman Cohen
Vice
President
abby@rosengrouppr.com
646.695.7044
or
First
National Bank
Mary Hoffa
Director of Marketing
mhoffa@fnni.com
402.602.6549
or
Nebraska
State Treasurer’s Office
Jana Langemach
Director of
Communications
Jana.langemach@nebraska.gov
402.471.8884