The Principal Financial Group Enhanced Variable Universal Life Product Designed for Business Owners' Unique Needs; VUL Income Plus Offers Early Access to Cash Values

Business Wire, Feb 22, 2006

DES MOINES, Iowa -- The Principal Financial Group(R) can help today's business owners overcome several challenges, including death benefit protection, attracting and retaining key employees, planning for the long-term future of the business and supplementing personal income in later years. Created to allow easy access to cash values, Principal Variable Universal Life Income Plus(SM) (VUL Income Plus) is the Principal VUL Income life insurance product with Surrender Charge Adjustment Rider(1) and offers a 90 - 95 percent cash value-to-premium ratio in the first year.

This high early cash value potential makes VUL Income Plus well-suited for providing executive benefits to selected key employees, as well as for serving as a business succession/planning tool and supplementing income planning as business owners age. The Surrender Charge Adjustment Rider waves part of the surrender charges for a limited time. This can help business owners avoid the large hit to earnings that is commonly associated with business-owned life insurance.

"Principal VUL Income Plus represents another important and exciting addition to our suite of turn-key business solutions," said Jerry Patterson, vice president and chief marketing officer of the Life and Health Division at The Principal(R). "This product was specifically designed to provide an attractive funding mechanism for our S-Corp Owner Plus, Bonus Plus and Split Dollar Plus solutions. These solutions are especially attractive to closely held businesses, S-Corps and LLCs, where our deferred compensation solutions may not be the right fit for the client."

Additional features of Principal VUL Income Plus include:

--Tax-free death benefit to heirs

--A Return of Cost of Insurance (COI) Rider, which provides income out of the policy. When policy owners reach the later of their 20th policy year or their attained age 60 policy anniversary, they receive a refund of 100 percent of the COI charges they have paid up to that point.

--A Death Benefit Advance Rider that allows policy owners to take partial advances from their policy face amount if they are diagnosed as terminally ill, confined to a nursing home or incur a catastrophic health condition.

--Automated income distribution for a hassle-free way for policy owners to receive supplemental retirement payments from their VUL Income Plus policy on a monthly, quarterly, semi-annual or annual basis.

--A Life Paid-Up Rider to keep the policy from lapsing under certain circumstances when there is a large policy loan (or loans outstanding).

--The options of choosing from one of six Principal LifeTime Accounts that target a specific retirement year or more than 40 other investment options with well-known fund families and money managers across many style categories.

"As the Baby Boomer generation continues to age, we expect to see continued product development and innovation targeting the specific lifetime needs of this important segment," noted Patterson. "We see the Death Benefit Advance Rider as one big step forward for The Principal in trying to address these developing lifetime needs through our life insurance solutions."

VUL Income Plus is part of a total VUL portfolio from The Principal that also includes Principal VUL Income and Principal VUL Accumulator II. Additional information is available on www.principal.com or by calling the National Sales Desk of The Principal at 1.800.654.4278.

About The Principal Financial Group

The Principal Financial Group(R) (The Principal (R))(2) is a leader in offering businesses, individuals and institutional clients a wide range of financial products and services, including retirement and investment services, life and health insurance, and banking through its diverse family of financial services companies. A member of the Fortune 500, the Principal Financial Group has $195.2 billion in assets under management(3) and serves some 15.6 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.

Before investing in variable life insurance investors should carefully consider the investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses of the contract and the underlying investment options. This and other information is contained in the free prospectus, which can be obtained from your local representative. Please read the prospectus carefully before investing.

Past performance is not a guarantee of future results. Values will fluctuate and are subject to risk, including the loss of principal invested.

Insurance issued by Principal Life Insurance Company. Securities offered through Princor Financial Services Corporation, 800/247-4123, member SIPC. Principal Life and Princor(R) are members of the Principal Financial Group(R), Des Moines, IA 50392.

(1) For full details see the description of Surrender Charge Adjustment rider in the policy.

(2) "The Principal Financial Group" and "The Principal" are registered service marks of Principal Financial Services, Inc., a member of the Principal Financial Group.