PRINCIPAL FINANCIAL GROUP

AM Best Grade: A+ (Superior) 5 stars

Company Info: 

Address: 711 High Street, Des Moines, IA 50392

Phone: 800-986-3343

Website: www.principal.com

Also known as: Principal Life Insurance Company, Principal National Life Insurance Company

Principal Financial Group was founded as Banker’s Life Association by a Chariton, IA banker named Edward Temple in 1879.  By 1889, the company already had $29 million dollars of Life Insurance policies in effect, this resulted in Banker’s Life needing to relocate it’s operations to a larger building in Des Moines.  Banker’s Life continued it’s steady growth and in 1939 they relocated again to their current headquarters on 711 High Street, which was the first fully air-conditioned building in Des Moines.  In 1985, Banker’s Life Association changed it’s name to Principal Financial. In the 1990’s Principal Financial started to expand into Asia, Latin America, Europe, and Australia. On October 23, 2001 Principal Financial filed the paperwork for its Initial Public Offering and still remains a publicly traded company.

Ranked number 282 on the Fortune 500 list in 2015, Principal Financial serves 19.9 million customers worldwide and currently has $530.0 Billion dollars of assets under management. In 2013, Principal Financial reported to have a net income of $878.7 Million dollars.  Principal Financial currently employs 14,900 people worldwide, and 9,800 of those employees are in the United States.

By Randy McClintick,  September, 2015