Principal Financial Group 2008 Annual Report Download - page 18

The Principal Financial Group | Investing for the Future
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INVESTING FOR THE FUTURE
PRINCIPAL FINANCIAL GROUP, INC.
Following are highlights of some of the most important
ways we’ve given our customers and advisers an edge during
the past year—proving what we’re made of through value-
added solutions, greater investment choice, sales and service
and technology.
VALUE-ADDED SOLUTIONS
FOR BUSINESSES…
Helping businesses attract and retain employees
n Through the new Principal Executive Bonus
PlusSM—Tax-Exempt retirement plan, The Principal
provides attractive benefits to key employees in non-
profit or tax-exempt organizations. In addition to our
strong 457 plan offering, this simplified and flexible
alternative is another option to help organizations
attract and retain good talent.
n The Principal sponsored a new 403(b) benchmarking
survey by the Profit Sharing/401k Council of America
to help not-for-profit organizations and their financial
professionals evaluate how their plans stack up to
others. This analysis can help them become more
competitive employers.
n In Chile, Principal International launched sales of the
APVC product (similar to a 401(k)). We were among the
very first companies to sell an APVC contract to help
employees in Chile save through the workplace.
Other business owner offerings/solutions
n Plan sponsors count on their annual actuarial valuation
reports to help them with defined benefit (DB) plan funding
decisions. In response to Pension Protection Act regulations,
The Principal revamped the report to help sponsors meet—
and understand—the new rules. The report gives each
actuarial DB client of The Principal customized data to
satisfy the requirements and new tools to make future
planning faster and easier.
n Addressing the multiple needs of small and medium-
sized business owners, The Principal introduced Variable
Universal Life Income IISM (VUL Income II). One of the
most flexible policies to date, VUL Income II provides death
benefit protection, a tax-deferred investment and
supplemental income all in one place. These components
make it well suited for a wide range of business needs from
executive benefits for key employees to a business
succession tool to personal retirement income planning.
n We published our seventh benefits Best Practices Guide,
focused on the stories of 10 companies that are relying
on fundamental best practices to help employees secure
their financial futures amid troubling times. The guide
is based on our annual U.S. search, The Principal 10 Best
Companies for Employee Financial Security.
n Our Women in Business program helps us connect regularly
with nearly 6,500 women business leaders. A high
percentage of these women participated in one or more of
our 10 free, educational teleclasses in 2008. Topics
included preparing for the unexpected, brand-building,
using social media to build business and secrets of
successful women entrepreneurs.
Helping employers meet their fiduciary and compliance
responsibilities
n Market turbulence has eaten away at pension fund asset
values. Recognizing that funding levels could be low
enough to trigger new benefit payment restrictions put
in place by the Pension Protection Act, The Principal joined
with industry trade organizations to urge the U.S. Congress
to provide temporary relief from those rules for companies
with defined benefit pension plans.
n In light of complex rules from the Pension Protection
Act, we updated our easy-to-use fiduciary handbook that—
in plain language—helps plan sponsors and their financial
professionals feel more confident in their fiduciary duties.
The Fiduciary Handbook—A Guide to Plan Sponsor and
Plan Fiduciary Responsibilities is part of a package of tools
to help plan sponsors manage these critical responsibilities.
n Throughout the year we offered comprehensive assistance
to not-for-profits and their financial professionals to
address complex new 403(b) retirement plan rules. Our
403(b) Compliance Guides detailed step-by-step actions
to take in each stage of the plan transition and help them
fulfill their compliance obligations.
n For plan sponsors with nonqualified deferred compensation
arrangements, we continued to offer our plan design and
administrative service expertise as they complied with
Internal Revenue Code Section 409A final regulations,
effective Jan. 1, 2009.