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Principal Financial Group is an online company. Based on 50 reviews on TrustPlane, it has an average rating of 1.2 out of 5 stars. Last reviewed March 9, 2026.
Legalized theft. I left a company after 6 months and it's 50.00 to move money out of the account for Roth account AND 401K. THANK GOD I HAVE MY MONEY IN TWO OTHER investment firms. If you are starting a company that offer principal as their 401k manager do yourself a favor and open an IRA. P
Terrible customer service. Update below:I received an email that I would have a call w/ a financial advisor (Windy Seto) scheduled for 2/13/26. Awesome! Then, the day before, she has to reschedule- no biggie, life happens. Then, I receive an email later that day that "I am cancelling our one-on-one advice meeting for the following reason: your employer sponsor plan does not offer In Plan Advice services."Why would you reach out to me in the first place? Incompetent preparation that led to a false hope. It worries me that these people are "managing" my money when they can't manage this.UPDATE, 3/4/26:I was contacted by one Sean McConnell, I presume Windy's manager. He apologized for the back-and-forth, but followed with "based on how your plan's access tool is configured, we're unable to conduct one-on-one advice meetings for your plan" (a masterful display of obfuscating jargon). It's disappointing to see a professional of any level (let alone a leader like him) lose sight of the bottom line: the customer's experience. I will update this engagement as it progresses.
Principal mishandled a 401k to IRA transfer, sent the wrong tax documents two years too late, withheld money that they shouldn't have, and then when I called support they hung up on me.
My employer, following my departure, rolled my 401K into an IRA with one company, then that company, after I set my investments, transferred my account to Principal. It took me a bit to find out about the transfer, but only after getting an annual statement from Principal. Well, none of my investment transferred. They placed my funds into savings-like account to earn 0.4% yearly. Needless to say, they charged me more in fees than earned interest. So once I advised of this, they said this is what my employer chose. Then I advised that I wanted them to send me a check, made payable to my other broker, with BFO listing me, so I could move it. They can't do that. Claim it's not possible without withdrawal penalties, and that they can't even close transfer the account at my request. Says I have to initiate a transfer from my broker. Then told me there was a transfer fee, a check fee to send to broker, and then a close account fee. In the end, the fees charged on the account over about 9 months total around $400 and the account only earned about $22 in interest.
Oh hell no. The "no frills" financial management company. My employer has this plan. The plan and its offerings are downright paltry with little selection and the software tools to manage your money are weak. The site seems to experience issues on a weekly basis too. They charge $25 per check to do a rollover, which is pretty terrible; no way around it. Transferred my assets to a big league player, like Fidelity. Light years more professional in every facet.
Poor attitude, too many hoops and logistics, not helpful at all. I would never recommend this company foor anything.
It’s taken me awhile to write this review but my experience has gotten to be so stressful and unbearable, I’ve gotten to a point of actually wanting to not be here because of Principal’s roadblocking to prevent me from being able to access my long term disability benefits that I’m entitled to and eligible for. The transition from STD to LTD (including final STD payment) has been the most stressful, anxiety provoking experience I’ve ever navigated. I have expertise in this space and I can’t imagine how people navigate it without some knowledge and support. Deadlines change arbitrarily and without ample notice causing distress (ie: finding out the week benefits are due to be paid that more information is needed which now allows them to disregard the earlier deadline and extend it), all information was provided ahead of time but they still request more (even information that doesn’t apply to the date of treatment which again creates unnecessary delays), I’ve had emails go ignored and have had to follow up multiple times to get a response. I’ve had the analyst intimidate and basically verbally reprimand me via phone to not send emails by being forced to answer calls on the spot when I’ve said my diagnosis does not support this. It does absolutely seem that they are only trying to delay payment (it’s now been 3 weeks and counting since ANY payment and prior to that the payment was also delayed at least 3+ weeks), and looking for any little thing they can find to deny you, all while your financial stress grows and they require you to continue treatment (ie: basically putting you into debt by requiring you to incur healthcare costs without stable income), yet you’re also not supposed to work as that jeopardizes the claim, so you’re in a constant limbo where they can request anything even when it doesn’t apply, change deadlines and tell you at the last minute, give themselves extensions whenever it serves them with no regard for the real life impact of what that means for you in terms of your ability to address even basic needs.
My father passed away this past year. Withdrawing the funds into an estate have been a nightmare. You go through the normal pile of paperwork, but they attempt to roadblock you along the way at multiple points. They need certain legal documents from previous employers, security pass keys (that my father would have never known), start of employment, end of employment, contract numbers for his 401k. All at different stages to differ you from going further to avoid paying out his 401k. This company will make it as hard as possible for you to just give up, move along and keep money that isn't theirs. Sadly, allot of other financial groups operate in the same manner.
Worst financial services ever
This is a garbage bank. They charged my a $15 fee for my account, which I didn't ask to be put in. When I went to close my account, they charged my an additional $30 for closing the account. This bank must be poorly run and broke to steal money for individuals.
All I needed was help rolling my retirement account with my previous employer to my roth IRA. Do not call 800-986-3343. The lady on the phone was curt, interrupted me two-three different times, and became aggressive with me when I told her I did not know my beneficiary because I was with the company for a very short period of time and knew I would be leaving that company in 5-6 months. I had to hang up on her before I said things I would have regretted. 855-739-2859 was the second number that I called. They were very kind and patient and able to assist me. I never leave reviews and have never hung up on a customer service representative till dealing with this company's customer service.
Worst company EVER! Do not invest with this COMPANY
This is the absolute worst company to do business with. Do not use them for any of your financial needs. Their fees are exorbitant, their returns poor, and their customer service truly the worst that I've ever experienced. 9 years as a customer, with multiple remarkably horrendous experiences, seriously, avoid this company at all costs!
Terrible service, ancient technology, their systems are old/break, long waiting times. Can't wait to get my money away from these morons.
I moved to a different company and decided to just cash out my 401K (it was less than $300). I decided to go with a direct deposit. Unfortunately, I was in a rush and I switched the last two numbers of my bank account. Honest mistake. I reached out to Principal to let them know what happened to get it fixed. At first they refused to help me. It was been seven business since my request. They have a 5 business day policy where after the 5th business day, they can’t reverse the deposit. I had the call EIGHT times to get a representative that would help me and I’m still not guaranteed to get my money. What they don’t know is that I was planning to open a Roth IRA with my nest egg that I have built and I’m researching companies. Principal will not have my business after this.
I needed to take a loan on my 401K to pay for my father's funeral. The first guy told me they couldn't transfer it to my account electronically so they sent me a paper check which no one would cash in Tn the bank had been black listed. So I called back an another guy tells me oh yeah we can transfer it electronically an he says it will be 10 business days so basically two weeks before the check can be canceled an a transfer done. I am still waiting I called yesterday they said it would be in my bank with in 2 day now today they call an say it may be a few more days I just need to pay for my father's funeral this has been a nightmare with this company
i will acknowledge that i mistakenly entered the wrong account. however trying to get them to resolve this mistake by either recalling or now disputing the funds has been a disaster. i and multiple people at chase have told them that they need to file a dispute or a claim, but they say there is nothing they can do. they've been told what they should do, they just don't know how to do it.
Compared to Fidelity, Principal has the most primitive and rudimentary website I've ever used for investments. It's pretty much useless. Do better.
my experience is James Walton is a principal of a Financial Group for people to give out there out Business Card's for him to have customer's to pay for him.
I attempted to complete a wire transfer of funds, which took an astonishing 30 days; despite paying for a premium service. It would have been faster to send the payment via regular mail. I requested a refund, but no resolution or follow-up was ever communicated to me.Principal handled the situation poorly, both in communicating with me and in coordinating with the receiving agency. I endured multiple three-way calls where Principal disconnected, was transferred repeatedly to different agents (each time starting from scratch to re-explain the issue), and spoke with several supervisors who showed little concern. The overall experience was unprofessional and extremely frustrating.
According to TrustPlane, Principal Financial Group has a 1.2/5 rating based on 50 verified reviews as of April 2026. Source: trustplane.app/company/principalfunds-com
