Daily News from New York, New York • 33

W.IIIJAI.IJU'J By SYLVIA PORTER iDoogdtrg toft DOM By HELEN O'CONNOR 'DonaoDCDaiD If you are planning to buy a home, educate your children or save for retirement, your problems are complex. You may be dealing with an attorney, an accountant and an insurance agent, and ignoring the services available from a financial planner with multi-disciplinary skills. poogD jpgOd vSsfc jM i i ft il mm i jfettfrr" I Planing field is reimveiy. new. 11 is still defining itself, still developing ethical standards and testing the competence of prac Daily News Business Writer If ad jingles were pop hits, Paul, Ar-lene, Helen, Lenny and Annette of Group Five would be names as famous as John, Paul, George and Ringo.

They've been around just as long. They've lent their voices to six times as many recognizable tunes. But there's one difference. "No one knows who we are," laments member Lenny Roberts. "We're the world's first unknown, unfamous group." Here's a couple of clues, though.

You know the Beverly Sills "I Love New York" commercial? It ain't Beverly singing. That's the group's Helen Miles from Teaneck, N.J. Remember radio's "It's a Sealy Pos-turepedic morning, yeah!" That's Ar-lene Martell. "That commercial annoyed so many people," she said. "If they knew it was me, they'd kill me." The sexy "Turn me loose, Imprevu" belongs to Annette Sanders.

And are you familiar with Promise margarine's current "You Make Me Feel So Young" campaign? That's member Paul Evans. Oo-oo-oo-ee-ee Group Five members have sung at least 6,000 commercials, together and separately. They've warbled for Nabisco, McDonald's, New York Telephone, American Airlines, Sara Lee and Budweiser. They're the voices that go "oo-oo-oo-ee-ee, Trump Plaza is for me," as well as "look for the union label" and "Coke is it" But despite being known as the best in the business, the five say that jingling sometimes strikes a sour note. For a start, they don't get paid that much.

"We all work for scale," said Sanders. Unless a jingle makes network television, allowing the performer to earn residuals, the usual pay is $85 per session no matter how long it takes. Having voices, but not faces, that are famous, is not much fun, either. Initial career plans "We all have friends who have gone on," said Martell, who always dreamed of herself as a big-time singer. Barry Manilow, Melissa Manchester and Luther Vandross started out SING A SONG: The members of the Group Five are (left to right) Helen Miles, Paul Evans, Arlene Martell, Lenny Roberts and Annette Sanders.

titioners. Financial planning is a process of gathering and analyzing personal financial information, developing a plan for meeting the client's goals, getting the client's approval, implementing the plan and revising it periodically as needed, according to Robert M.Crowe, professor of finance and insurance at The American College. The need for a planner could arise at any time. Roy C. Ballen-tine, a chartered financial accountant in Wolfeboro, cites the example of a businessman who plans to take a nine-month trip abroad with his wife and children.

Not only was he required to get his business affairs in order, but had to maintain his home. He decided to put $30,000 in a joint bank account, with his secretary authorized to make withdrawals. Power of attorney Instead, on the advice of a planner, he is opening a money market account, which will earn interest He has appointed his secretary as trustee, placing her under the fiduciary laws. Peg Downey, a certified financial planner of Silver Spring, suggested powers of attorney for her reservist clients who were called into service. Roberts once spent hours doing an orange commercial, only to be told by the client, "Do it again.

In New York, you say 'or-aange'. The rest of the world says 'orrr-nge." Sanders tells of the time she did a ditty for Dow bathroom cleaner that consisted of nine "bleeps." The ad agency took four hours of takes to decide whether to have the bleeps go up or down the musical scale. "We're not just voices for hire. We also have feelings," is the message they want to send to the industry. Remember that next time you hear Group Five's latest hits, won't you? Currently, that means the jingles for Visa, McDonald's, Irish Spring and Trump Plaza, oo-oo-oo-ee-ee.

in jingles. "The anonymity thing is hard at times" she added. All five jinglers had stars in their eyes when they started out Evans, who penned such hits as Bobby Vinton's "Roses Are Red, My Love," wanted to be a rock star. Miles, who understudied for Ethel Merman, saw herself taking Broadway. Roberts, whose songs have been recorded by Diana Ross, dreamed of being a legendary folk singer.

And Sanders wanted a name in jazz. But fame is fickle and elusive. And commercials were the next-best thing. Consequently, the ad business brings out love-hate feelings in the performers and jingle war stories abound. las tapsir, taft lss niug NEWS WIRE SERVICES helped allay the fears of oil companies, whose executives worried about an interruption in supplies.

The New Jersey Automobile Club said there has been an overall decline in the number of motorists at the pumps, but that more vacationers are driving than flying because of the threat of terrorism. "We've noticed that many more people are taking cars instead of flights," association spokeswoman Tina Le-vorse said. Ferrara said the lowest gasoline prices can be found at independent stations that don't sell major name brands. Brand-name retailers continue to pay higher wholesale prices. Stations waging battle at pumps last week.

"The pressure is on the individual dealers to compete," said Jerry Ferrara, executive director of the New Jersey Gasoline Retailers Association. The organization represents 3,000 gasoline dealers. "Sales are not there because of the economy. If people aren't going out to eat, and they're not doing any shopping and there are people out of work, then they're not buying gas," he said. Ferrara also said the-success of lieA.

attacks against. Iraqi troops has Gasoline prices in New York and New Jersey have been driven down by a slumping economy, unusually warm weather and the success of the United States-led war against Iraq, industry officials said last week. Typical gasoline' prices statewide have fallen 25 cents a gallon over the past 11 weeks, the New York State Energy Office said, with some areas' dipping below their levels before the Kuwait invasion. For the week ending Feb. 21, the average price of unleaded regular fell two Cents a gallon to 125.9 cents.

New Jersey, unleaded gasoline at ''the pump plunged low as 99. jc.en.tsj TOMORROW: Commerce Department reports durable-goods orders for January, and merchandise trade balance of payments for the fourth quarter National Association of Business Economists releases quarterly economic-outlook report. WEDNESDAY: Commerce reports gross national product for 4th quarter. THURSDAY: Commerce reports personal income for January. FRIDAY: Commerce reports leading indicators and construction spending, both for January.

Hew Wire Snrics.