About the Sun Life Financial Unretirement^SM Index
The Sun Life Financial Unretirement^SM Index is a first-of-its-kind measure to track the changing attitudes and expectations American workers have regarding retirement. As a composite index, it derives its findings by interviewing American workers about their projected retirement age and their confidence in a wide range of factors that may influence their retirement plans, including the current state of the economy, personal finances, health, and future government and employer benefits.

The Index ranges from 0 to 100, and the most recent study yielded an overall index score of 44, a drop from the score of 46 in August. The lower the Index number, the more negative or pessimistic the outlook is on issues that may influence retirement plans.

The overall index is a composite score based on the performance of five issue-specific indices, including: the "economic index" (score = 33), the "personal finance index" (score = 41), the "health index" (score = 67), the "government benefits index" (score = 40), and the "employer benefits index" (score = 38).

Methodology
The latest edition of the study was conducted between December 3 and 14 of 2008. Telephone interviews were conducted by Interviewing Service of America using a random-digit dial (RDD) sampling method. Quotas and weights were applied to gather a sample of 1,200 people working either full- or part-time, which was representative of the U.S. working population between the ages of 30 and 66. The sample was also representative in terms of gender and four-region census break. Analysis and construction of indices involved the application of factor analysis. Final indices are based on summated averages across the attributes which make up an index.

Age groups were divided by workers in their 30s, 40s, 50s, and 60+ and by three ranges of total assets, not including the net worth of the person's place of residence (less than $100K, between $100K and $500K, and greater than $500K). This sample has a margin of error of 2.8 percent at the 95 percent confidence interval.

About Sun Life Financial
Sun Life Financial is a leading international financial services organization providing a diverse range of protection and wealth accumulation products and services to individuals and corporate customers. Chartered in 1865, Sun Life Financial and its partners today have operations in key markets worldwide, including Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Japan, Indonesia, India, China and Bermuda. As of September 30, 2008, the Sun Life Financial group of companies had total assets under management of US $365.6 billion. Sun Life Financial Inc. trades on the Toronto (TSX), New York (NYSE) and Philippine (PSE) stock exchanges under ticker symbol SLF.

Media Contact
David Jacobson
Sun Life Financial

Learn more about Sun Life Financial
www.sunlife-usa.com