The Principal Financial Group to Address Auto-Retirement Savings Forum

Nov. 20, 2006 (Des Moines, Iowa) — The Principal Financial Group^®, the nation's 401(k) leader¹ and total retirement solutions innovator today announced that Gregory J. Burrows, vice president and chief marketing officer of Retirement and Investor Services, will be a panelist at the Brookings Institution's Retirement Security Project Forum on Automatic Savings and the Pension Protection Act, Tuesday November, 21, 2006.

Burrows will speak on The Role of the Employer Sponsored Retirement Plans in Retirement Security as part of a panel discussion on the effectiveness of automatic 401(k) savings options and the new Pension Protection Act of 2006.

"In this era of greater personal responsibility for saving for retirement, employer-sponsored retirement savings plans play a pivotal role in helping American workers shoulder that increased responsibility and save for their futures," said Burrows. "We are pleased to participate in this critically important discussion now that federal legislation has made it easier for employers to encourage greater savings with automatic 401(k) features."

The Retirement Security Project will unveil a new paper estimating the potential impact of the automatic savings options and increased incentives on the nation's savings rate.

Other panelists and their topics include:

Peter R. Orszag, Ph.D. Director, Retirement Security Project, will present the new paper entitled: The Potential Effects of Making Saving More Automatic and Increasing Financial Incentives: Exploratory Calculations,
Brigitte Madrian, Ph.D., Professor, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University will speak on The Automatic 401(k): A Simple Way to Strengthen Retirement Savings, and
Mark J. Warshawsky, Ph.D. Director of Retirement Research, Watson Wyatt, will discuss The Pension Protection Act of 2006 and the Automatic 401(k).

The event is being held at the Falk Auditorium, Brookings Institution, 1775 Massachusetts Ave., NW, from 10:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Those interested in attending can register at Info@retirementsecurityproject.org or contact Melissa Green at the Retirement Security Project, 202-741-6513.

To schedule an interview with Gregory Burrows, please contact Terri Hale, 515-283-8858, hale.terri@principal.com.

About the Principal Financial Group

The Principal Financial Group^® (The Principal^®)² 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 and national network of financial professionals. A member of the Fortune 500, the Principal Financial Group has $215 billion in assets under management³ and serves some 16.4 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 ranks number one in plans administered - 2006 Spectrem Group analysis of fully-bundled 401(k) providers.
2) "The Principal Financial Group" and "The Principal" are registered service marks of Principal Financial Services, Inc., a member of the Principal Financial Group.
3) As of September 30, 2006.