FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Investor Relations Department
Telephone:  712-732-4117


FIRST MIDWEST FINANCIAL, INC. ANNOUNCES INCREASE IN QUARTERLY
CASH DIVIDEND:

(Storm Lake, Iowa - November 23, 1998)  First Midwest Financial,
Inc. has announced that the Company will increase its quarterly
cash dividend from 12 cents per share to 13 cents per share for
the first fiscal quarter of 1999.  The dividend, which represents
an increase of 8.33 percent, will be payable on or about January
4, 1999 to stockholders of record on December 15, 1998. 
President and Chairman James S. Haahr stated, "We are pleased to
pay this additional cash dividend to the stockholders of First
Midwest Financial, Inc."

The Company has increased dividends each year since its first
cash dividend on January 5, 1995. Regular quarterly dividends
have been paid since that date.  At September 30, 1998, First
Midwest Financial, Inc. had assets of $418 million and
stockholders' equity of $42.3 million.  The company's stock is
traded on the Nasdaq National Market under the symbol "CASH."

Corporate Profile:  

First Midwest Financial, Inc. is the holding company for First
Federal Savings Bank of the Midwest and Security State Bank. 
First Federal Savings Bank has its main bank office in Storm
Lake, Iowa, and six branch offices in a four-county area of
Northwest Iowa.  It also includes two Brookings Federal Bank
Division offices in Brookings, South Dakota, and two Iowa Savings
Bank Division offices in Des Moines and West Des Moines, Iowa. 
Security State Bank, with offices in Stuart, Casey and Menlo,
Iowa, is a separate holding of First Midwest and operates as a
commercial bank chartered by the State of Iowa.