News Room: The Principal Research Center
As a global leader in offering a wide range of financial products and services, the Principal Financial Group continuously tracks trends that may affect employers, individuals and institutional investors. Click on the links below to access Principal Financial Group primary research, current newsletters, commentaries and timely studies. New information is added regularly. For more information, please contact Media Relations.
Access research related to:
Retirement
Health Care
Employee Benefits
Economy
Retirement
Understanding Automatic Enrollment - Want to increase participation in your retirement plan? Find out if automatic enrollment is right for your organization in Understanding Automatic Enrollment (PDF: 102 KB).
New 403(b) plan regulations: New regulations from the Treasury Department may have an impact on clients with 403(b) plans.
- What are the new rules and what do they mean? The Principal® has partnered with the Groom Law Group, one of the nation's largest employee benefits specialty law firms, to provide guidance and interpretation of these rules with the 403(b) Plan Sponsor's Guide to the New Final 403(b) Regulations white paper.
- What is the difference between the existing rules and the new rules? Get a side-by-side comparison and determine the potential impact with the 403(b) Final Regulations Guide.
- How do the new rules affect plan sponsors? Read the Practical Implications of the 403(b) Regulations white paper for how these regulations affect plan sponsors and actions they may consider taking.
Fiduciary concerns of 403(b) plans: Get guidance on 403(b) plans and associated fiduciary concerns from a leading ERISA expert, Fred Reish from the law firm of Reish Luftman Reicher & Cohen, in the Analysis of 403(b) Rules Applicable to Plans, Sponsors and Their Officers white paper.
Pension Protection Act (PPA): Visit our official PPA site to download the Pension Protection Act Guide and color-coded Timeline of Provisions. The site also includes additional tools and overviews regarding the new law's provisions for the following:
- Automatic enrollment
- Cash balance plans
- The DB(k)
- Title V notice and disclosure requirements
- Vesting
Pension Protection Act of 2006: Is An Expanded Fiduciary Role The Right Choice For Financial Professionals? (PDF: 101 KB) The historic Pension Protection Act of 2006 opens the door for financial professionals to provide investment advice to defined contribution plan participants. This easy-to-read white paper helps financial professionals examine the pros and cons of the new opportunity to see if it is right for them.
The Total View: 2007 Retirement Plan Trends & Forecast: reports on the retirement plan activities of more than 38,600 retirement plan sponsors and approximately 3.5 million participants served by The Principal. Based on the 2006 calendar year. This is the only report of its kind that covers the four core retirement plan designs - defined contribution, including 401(k), defined benefit, nonqualified and Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOP). See also The Total View—2006 and the The Total View—2005.
Bridging the Income Gap with Annuities - A Plan Sponsor's Guide provides valuable tips on using income annuities to meet the needs of retirees without adding burdensome costs and administrative headaches to company-sponsored retirement plans.
The Principal Global Financial Well-Being StudySM - Conducted by Roper ASW in 2003-2004 and compared retirement confidence, organized saving, employee benefit coverage and benefit programs among employees in 12 countries: India, Japan, Hong Kong, China, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Great Britain, France, Germany, Italy and the United States. View past results:
- 2004 Results (PDF: 534 KB)
- 2003 Results (PDF: 438 KB)
Understanding and Managing Fiduciary Responsibility - The easy-to-use Fiduciary Handbook (PDF: 446 KB) is designed to help employers and their advisors understand the complex rules governing qualified retirement plans.
Health Care
Focus on Wellness: The Principal Financial Well-Being IndexSM
2005 Employee Benefit Research Institute's Health Confidence Survey - Eighth annual survey results and executive summary are now available.
Employee Benefits
The Principal Financial Well-Being IndexSM is a quarterly study to identify trends in consumer financial well-being, retirement planning, employee benefits, and workplace trends.
The Formula for Success: A guide to best practices in employee benefits from The Principal 10 Best Companies for Employee Financial Security.
