The Principal Financial Group Honored in 2004 DALBAR Rankings

The Principal Financial Group Honored in 2004 DALBAR Rankings

    Business Editors

    DES MOINES, Iowa--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 14, 2005--

DB & DC statements earn "Excellent" designation; Total retirement, variable annuity and mutual fund statements also take honors
    DALBAR, the nation's leading independent financial services research firm, has awarded the Principal Financial Group(R) top honors for its defined contribution (DC) and defined benefit (DB) retirement plan statements according to their 2004 Trends & Best Practices in Investor Statements reports. This marks the second year in a row The Principal(R) DB plan statement earned the DALBAR designation "Excellent." The DC statement was also awarded the DALBAR designation "Excellent."
    The Principal also earned high marks for its other investor statements. The company's Principal Total Retirement Suite, variable annuity and mutual statements all scored well above industry benchmarks. For the fifth consecutive year, The Principal achieved the DALBAR Communication Seal for its DC statement. The Principal Total Retirement Suite(SM), which broke ground as the first total retirement statement to earn the DALBAR Communication Seal in 2003, achieved it again in 2004. The company's DB, variable annuity and mutual statements also earned the prestigious DALBAR Communication Seal for the second year in a row. The Seal is awarded to select firms that display excellence in meeting the needs of customers. The distinguished honor establishes industry leaders in the critical area of plan participant communication.
    Louis S. Harvey, president of DALBAR, said "The number one concern of plan sponsors today is helping employees make critical decisions about their retirement savings. Well-designed investor statements are a critical element of the decision support system required for retirement security. The Principal consistently sets the standard by providing investor statements that are easy to understand and designed to help employees chart their progress toward retirement security."
    Harvey says an example of an industry-leading innovation is the unique Principal Total Retirement Suite statement, which was the first to integrate DC, DB, non-qualified (NQ) and employee stock ownership plans (ESOP) savings results. "It is one of the few statements to give participants an annual picture of total retirement income," said Harvey.
    DALBAR also applauded educational features of the DB statement including:

--	Projecting what percentage of annual pay the pension benefit, along with estimated Social Security, may replace at retirement
--	Pie chart to illustrate the gap between current income and projected retirement income from pension, Social Security, and other retirement income
--	Estimating whether the plan participant is on track to replace at least 80 percent of his or her income in retirement

    The Principal ranked second of all companies studied for its DB, Principal Total Retirement Suite and variable annuity statements. The company's DC plan statement was given the designation of "Excellent," ranking ninth out of 49 leading defined contribution retirement providers. The variable annuity statements were designated "Very Good," ranking second out of 47 companies. The mutual fund statements earned a "Good" designation, ranking 16th out of 70 providers.

    About DALBAR

    DALBAR, Inc, the nation's leading financial services market research firm, is committed to raising the standards of excellence in the financial-services industry. With offices in both the US and Canada, DALBAR develops standards for, and provides research, ratings, and ranking of intangible factors to the mutual fund, retirement broker/dealer, discount brokerage and life insurance companies. Research includes investor behavior, customer satisfaction, service quality, communications, Internet services and financial-professional ratings.

    About the Principal Financial Group

    The Principal Financial Group(R) (The Principal (R))(1) is a leader in offering businesses, individuals and institutional clients a wide range of financial products and services, including retirement and investment services, life and health insurance and banking through its diverse family of financial services companies. A member of the Fortune 500, the Principal Financial Group has $168.7 billion in assets under management(2) and serves some 14.9 million customers worldwide from offices in Asia, Australia, Europe, Latin America and the United States. Principal Financial Group, Inc. is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol PFG. For more information, visit www.principal.com.

    (1) "The Principal Financial Group" and "The Principal" are registered service marks of Principal Financial Services, Inc., a member of the Principal Financial Group.

    (2) As of December 31, 2004

--30--HB/ms*

CONTACT: Principal Financial Group, Des Moines Terri Shell, 515-283-8858 shell.terri@principal.com or Susan Houser, 515-248-2268 houser.susan@principal.com

KEYWORD: IOWA INDUSTRY KEYWORD: INSURANCE BANKING SOURCE: Principal Financial Group

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