March 6, 2003

                          DREYFUS INVESTMENT PORTFOLIOS
                   -- FOUNDERS INTERNATIONAL EQUITY PORTFOLIO

                            SUPPLEMENT TO PROSPECTUS
                               DATED MAY 1, 2002

   This  information  supersedes  any  contrary  information  in the portfolio's
prospectus.

   Effective  March 6,  2003,  Remi J. Browne  and Daniel B. LeVan became the
co-primary  portfolio  managers  of  Dreyfus  Investment  Portfolios  - Founders
International  Equity  Portfolio (the "Portfolio"). Mr. Browne and Mr. LeVan are
each  chartered financial analysts, and each has been employed by Founders since
March  2003.  Mr. Browne  also  is  senior  vice president and chief investment
officer  of  international  equities at Standish Mellon Asset Management Company
LLC  ("Standish  Mellon"), an affiliate of Dreyfus, where he has been employed
since  August  1996.  Mr. LeVan,  a vice president of Standish Mellon, is lead
portfolio manager for global, international and European small cap portfolios at
Standish Mellon, where he has been employed since May 1994.

   "Growth  companies" are companies whose earnings are expected to grow faster
than  the overall market or companies similar to those represented in the growth
component  of  the  Salomon  Smith  Barney Primary Market Index(sm) (the "PMI").
Often,  growth  stocks have relatively high price-to-earnings, price-to-book and
price-to-sales  ratios,  and  tend  to  be  more  volatile  than  value  stocks.

     The PMI  consists of the larger  capitalization  stocks,  representing  the
upper  80% of  available  market  capitalization,  for each  individual  country
comprising the Salomon Smith Barney Broad Market Index(sm) (the "BMI").  The BMI
includes all listed shares of companies in 23 developed  world  countries and 26
emerging  markets  countries that have a market  capitalization  of at least the
local equivalent of US$100 million.

   The  paragraph  concerning  A. Edward Allinson in the section "Management" is
deleted because he is no longer the portfolio manager of the Portfolio.

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