Supplement Dated December 29, 2000*
                     to the Prospectus Dated May 1, 2000 of
                          AEL Personal Portfolio Plus2,
                          AEL Personal Portfolio Plus,
                      AEL Personal PortfolioSM (37301 K),
            American Express Pinnacle Variable AnnuitySM (44179 C),
            American Express Platinum Variable AnnuitySM (43415 C),
           and American Express Signature Variable AnnuitySM (43444C),

The  following  subsection  is added to the "Making  the Most of Your  Contract"
section  of  the  prospectus   following  the  subsection   entitled  "Automated
dollar-cost averaging."

Tiered dollar-cost averaging program

If your contract value** is at least $10,000,  you may elect to allocate any new
purchase payments of at least $1,000 to this program. You may not transfer money
you  previously  invested in this  contract  into the program.  If you fund this
program with money from a different  existing annuity or life insurance contract
(1035 exchange), we base the interest rate you qualify for on the total payments
we expect to receive regardless of when we receive the money.

      If your contract value** is....         we allocate your payment to...
            $10,000 - $49,999                           tier 1
            $50,000 or more                             tier 2

**   Contract value includes new purchase  payments or expected  payments if you
     fund the program from a 1035 exchange.

We will credit your  purchase  payment with  interest at the current  guaranteed
annual rate in effect for tier 1 or tier 2 on the date we receive your money. We
credit a higher  interest rate on program  accounts  than on the one-year  fixed
account.  We credit a higher  interest  rate on tier 2  accounts  than on tier 1
accounts.  We will change the rates for new purchase  payments from time to time
at our  discretion.  We base these rates on competition and the interest rate we
credit on the one-year fixed account at the time of the change.  Once we set the
interest  rate for a payment,  it does not change  even if your  contract  value
changes.

We apply these rates to the balance  remaining in the program  account and we do
not credit interest after we transfer the money to the accounts you selected. We
transfer  money out of the program  account  into the accounts you selected on a
monthly basis.  We transfer all money out of the program  within six months.  If
you fund this program  with money from a 1035  exchange,  we will deposit  money
into the program account as it arrives. This means that some of the money may be
transferred  out of the program in less than six months and you may receive less
total  interest  than if we received all of the money at one time. If we receive
the last of the money  from  your 1035  exchange  after  the  expiration  of the
six-month  period,  you have the  option of  allocating  this  money to  another
program account (if available) or any accounts you select.

If you have money in the  program,  you will not be able to allocate  additional
purchase payments to the program unless another interest rate is in effect.  You
may not use a new  payment  to fund a tier 1 program  account  if your  contract
value qualifies you for a tier 2 program account.

You may not  participate  in this  program  if you are making  payments  under a
Systematic  Investment Plan. You may simultaneously  participate in this program
and  the  automatic  rebalancing  program  as  long  as  your  subaccount  asset
allocation matches between the programs.  If you elect to change your subaccount
asset allocation  under one program,  we will  automatically  change it to match
under the other program. If you have more than one account in this program,  the
asset  allocation  for each account may be different as long as you are not also
participating in the automatic rebalancing program.

You may terminate  participation  in this program at any time. If you do so, you
will no longer  receive the  guaranteed  annual  interest  rate on any remaining
balance in the program account.  If you terminate the program,  or we are unable
to accept new money into the  program,  we will  allocate  that money  using the
accounts you selected for the program or in any other manner you specify.

We can modify the terms of this program or discontinue this program at any time.
Any modifications will not affect money already in the program.

*43444-13 A (12/00)
Valid until April 30, 2001