The Principal Unveils Retirement Wellness Score for Participants

To help retirement plan participants quickly see how well they’re tracking toward their retirement goals, the Principal Financial Group® has introduced a personalized, at-a-glance Retirement Wellness Score1.

The Retirement Wellness Score represents the percentage of a participant’s pre-retirement income that they are able to maintain at retirement, ranging from zero percent to 100+ percent. The score is based on account balances, contribution levels and benefits in retirement plans (including defined contribution, defined benefit and nonqualified), an estimate of income from Social Security, outside savings entered by the participant, and other assumptions and data.

“It’s important to begin the retirement-planning process with a goal in mind—a desired outcome,” said Jerry Patterson, senior vice president of retirement and investor services at The Principal®. “We believe the Retirement Wellness Score is a great place to begin. This one number, displayed front and center on every participant’s account home page, allows them to know in real time whether they’re on track for a secure retirement.”

The score is embedded in a color-coded band that represents different ranges of income replacement: 70 percent to 100+ percent falls in the green band, 50 percent to 69 percent is in the yellow band and zero percent to 49 percent falls in the red band.

The Retirement Wellness Score is one piece of a broader transformation and redesign of the participant digital experience, including improved account management and educational resources and services. The mobile-friendly functionality and refreshed design is based on feedback from participants, plan sponsors, advisors and experts in behavioral finance and digital design. The new platform will be fully launched by the end of the year.

“The score is straightforward, simple and easy to understand. The resources on the new account home page enable participants to quickly and easily model and implement changes to their savings strategy to improve the score,” Patterson said.

These enhancements to the participant experience are part of a new approach to workplace retirement readiness called Principal® PlanWorks, a platform of capabilities and services designed to make retirement plans work better for both participants and plan sponsors through plan design, participant experience and strategic measures.

“We believe the combination of implementing effective plan designs and delivering resources and education that drive positive savings behaviors will have a material impact on the thousands of plan sponsors we serve and the millions of participants we support,” Patterson said. “This broad-based effort is a game changer for participants and we are excited about the journey ahead.”

For more research, analysis and insights from The Principal®, visit The Principal Knowledge Center and connect with us on Twitter.

About the Principal Financial Group
The Principal Financial Group® (The Principal®)2 is a global investment management leader offering retirement services, insurance solutions and asset management. The Principal offers businesses, individuals and institutional clients a wide range of financial products and services, including retirement, asset management and insurance through its diverse family of financial services companies. Founded in 1879 and a member of the FORTUNE 500®, the Principal Financial Group has $517.9 billion in assets under management3 and serves some 19.4 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 Participants must be in a defined contribution plan to receive a score.
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 June 30, 2014.

Photos/Multimedia Gallery Available: http://www.businesswire.com/multimedia/home/20141016006208/en/