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Principal Financial Group

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LAST UPDATED: February 19th, 2021

Founded in 1879, Principal has stood the test of time and has many years of experience in the insurance industry. The insurance provider has also earned high financial strength ratings. If you're looking for a reliable insurer, Principal is a reliable option.

Principal also offers good policy options for business owners, employers, and individuals. Its individual disability insurance options stand out for the availability of simplified underwriting and policies that offer retirement protection.

Top Ranked Companies

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The Good

  • Robust Offerings for Businesses
  • Group Disability Features
  • Simplified Underwriting for Individual Disability Insurance Policies
  • Policies for Retirement Protection

Robust Offerings for Businesses

Principal offers many kinds of disability policies that benefit business owners. These policies include the following:

  • Overhead Expense (OE) (includes option to add Business Loan Protection Rider)
  • Disability Buy-Out
  • Key Person Replacement

These offerings help protect your business whether you or another key person on your team becomes disabled and cannot work.

Group Disability Features

Employers can offer employees short-term or long-term group disability coverage from Principal. Key features of these policies include:

  • Two qualifying definitions of disability (inability to perform a majority of job's or occupation's responsibilities or inability to earn 80 percent of prior income working in a modified capacity
  • Return to WorkSM Resources (rehabilitation plans, incentives for participating in rehabilitation or returning to work, employer reimbursement for reasonable accommodations)
  • Employee Assistance Program (EAP) (concierge service connecting people to community resources, can include financial and legal services)

These features offer valuable coverage and support to your employees.

It's common for disability insurers to offer programs like Principal's Return to Work Resources with their employer plans. Principal's support programs make it competitive in the industry.

Simplified Underwriting for Individual Disability Insurance Policies

Underwriting is how insurers evaluate the risk of issuing an insurance policy. Simplified underwriting can be faster and less thorough than a fully underwritten policy. For example, it may not include a medical exam.

Principal's simplified underwriting for disability insurance is available on individual disability insurance policies that offer a monthly benefit up to $6,000.

To complete simplified underwriting, you'll work with your advisor and have a phone interview with one of Principal's professionals. In a few days, you'll learn whether you've been approved.

Simplified underwriting can make the insurance buying process easier, which improves the buying experience.

Buying disability insurance usually takes time because of underwriting. It's uncommon to be able to apply and purchase a policy in one sitting. Principal's simplified underwriting makes the application and purchase process faster, which makes it advantageous for people looking to get a disability policy in place quickly.

Policies for Retirement Protection

Principal Financial stands out from other insurers for its DI Retirement Security insurance product. Rather than paying the disability benefit to you directly, the benefit goes into a trust to protect your retirement savings and income. You can choose how your funds are invested.

While these plans don't offer immediate support for your current financial needs, they do help by continuing to grow your retirement savings through investments.

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The Bad

  • Insufficient Customer Reviews
  • Limited Online Information for Individual Disability Insurance Policies

Insufficient Customer Reviews

Principal disability insurance reviews are few on BestCompany.com. Since the insurance company has received so few reviews, conclusions about the customer experience are not available.

Limited Online Information for Individual Disability Insurance Policies

If you're looking for more information on Principal Financial's individual disability insurance coverage, you'll have to work directly with an adviser. It can be frustrating to see so little information online, especially if you're in the research stages.

However, working with an adviser can help you understand more about how disability insurance works and what kind of a policy would best meet your needs.

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The Bottom Line

While there's limited information online about policy specifics and limited customer insight, Principal is worth considering for its industry experience, high financial strength ratings, and quality policies.

Employers can find the protection they need for their business and offer disability insurance in their employee benefits program. Individuals can purchase a policy that protects their retirement. Choosing a policy that qualifies for simplified underwriting makes the purchase process easier.

To see if a Principal disability insurance policy is a good fit for you, work directly with a Principal adviser.

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