Exhibit 99.2
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STILWELL
FINANCIAL INC.

                                                     920 Main Street, 21st Floor
                                                Kansas City, Missouri 64105-2008
                                                                NYSE Symbol:  SV

NEWS RELEASE

Media Contact:                            Investor Contacts:
   Peggy Landon (816-218-2455)           Landon H. Rowland (816-218-2416)
    Director of Investor and                Chairman, President and
     Public Relations                        Chief Executive Officer
                                         Daniel P. Connealy (816-218-2412)
                                            Vice President and
                                               Chief Financial Officer


            Stilwell Financial Retires Zero-Coupon Convertible Notes
                   FIRM ALSO ANNOUNCES ASSETS UNDER MANAGEMENT

     KANSAS CITY, Mo. (May 1, 2002) - Stilwell  Financial Inc.  (NYSE:  SV) will
use existing cash and credit facilities today to retire zero-coupon  convertible
notes with an accreted value of approximately $614.5 million.

     The terms of the notes allowed the holders to require  Stilwell to purchase
all or a portion of their holdings by tendering them to the company by the close
of  business  on April 30,  2002.  The notes that were not  tendered  and remain
outstanding have an accreted value of approximately  $82.5 million.  Holders who
did not tender their notes for purchase  will  receive  cash  interest  payments
equal to approximately  four percent of the currently accreted value for each of
the next two years.

     "We are pleased  with this  outcome,"  said Landon H.  Rowland,  Stilwell's
chairman, president and chief executive officer. "We were able to achieve a very
low  cost of  financing  for one  year,  and we now are  able to use our cash to
reduce our total debt."






Assets Under Management

     Stilwell  also  reported  that assets under  management at the close of the
markets on April 30, 2002  totaled  approximately  $178  billion.  For the month
ended April 30, assets under management averaged approximately $185 billion. For
the four months ended April 30, preliminary average assets under management were
approximately $188 billion.

About Stilwell Financial Inc.

     Stilwell Financial Inc. is a diversified, global financial services company
with  subsidiaries and affiliates  operating in North America,  Europe and Asia.
Stilwell  owns  approximately  92 percent of Janus  Capital  Management  LLC, 90
percent of Berger  Financial  Group LLC, 81 percent of Nelson Money Managers Plc
and 33 percent of DST Systems, Inc. (NYSE: DST).

     This press release includes statements  concerning  potential future events
involving  Stilwell  Financial Inc. that could differ materially from the events
that  actually  occur.  The  differences  could be caused by a number of factors
including those factors  identified in Stilwell's Annual Report on Form 10-K for
the year  ended  December  31,  2001 on file with the  Securities  and  Exchange
Commission  (Commission  file  no.  001-15253).  Stilwell  will not  update  any
forward-looking  statements  made in this press release to reflect future events
or developments.


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