The short answer
Yes. Principal is a real, state licensed United States insurer, and its home office has been in Des Moines, Iowa for well over a century. Life insurance is issued by Principal Life Insurance Company and, outside New York, by Principal National Life Insurance Company, and both are members of the Principal Financial Group. The retirement side of the business and the insurance side are the same family of companies, which is the reason one familiar name turns up on two very different pieces of mail. If that name is on your policy, your statement or your bank record, you are looking at a licensed insurer that your own state can confirm in about a minute.
Principal Financial Group, Inc. is publicly traded on the Nasdaq Stock Market under the ticker PFG, and it files its financial statements with the Securities and Exchange Commission from its home office on High Street in Des Moines, Iowa.
You know the name from work, not from life insurance
Most people who ask this know the name from exactly one place: the retirement plan at work. Principal is one of the larger providers of workplace retirement plans in the country, and for a lot of Americans that 401(k) statement is the only contact they have ever had with the company. So when an envelope arrives about life insurance, or a premium turns up on a bank statement, it reads as the wrong company writing about the wrong thing. The word itself does not help. Principal is an ordinary English word, and it is also the word for the balance of a loan, so a letter headed Principal can look like a mortgage notice, a plan document or a company name depending on how you read it. There is a third reason, and almost nobody knows it. In 2021 the company narrowed its life insurance focus to the business market and stopped selling to retail consumers, which its own annual report states plainly. Policies already in force were not affected and are still serviced, but there is no consumer storefront to walk back through, and the agent who wrote the policy may have moved on years ago. A policy you cannot easily go and re-quote can start to feel like a policy that is not there. It is there.
How to check it yourself in about a minute
You should never have to take our word for it, or the company's. Every one of these is free, public, and works for any insurer you ever want to look up.
- Find which Principal company is named on the contract. Open the policy and look for the insurer, not the logo. It will read Principal Life Insurance Company, or Principal National Life Insurance Company, which issues outside New York. That exact name is the entity that owes the benefit, and it is the name every check below should use.
- Look that insurer up with your own state. Every state department of insurance runs a free public licence lookup, and naic.org points you to the right one. Search the full legal name from your contract rather than the word Principal on its own, which returns banks, schools and loan pages instead of an insurance record.
- Work out which of the three things you actually hold. Principal serves people through workplace retirement plans, through employee benefits bought by an employer, and through individual insurance policies. A 401(k) statement, a group benefit certificate and a life insurance policy look similar and are governed differently. Knowing which one is in your hand answers most of the confusion by itself.
- Match the policy or certificate number to your own records. Compare the number on the letter against a statement, a benefits summary or a policy document you already hold. Letterhead is easy to copy. A number that matches something in your own files is the real confirmation.
- Reach the company through details you found yourself. If you want to call or log in, use the contact route printed on your own policy documents or on the company website you navigated to directly, rather than a number printed on an unexpected letter. That habit is worth keeping with any sender.
- Check financial strength independently. Insurer financial strength is published by rating agencies and can be looked up free at ambest.com. That is a separate question from whether a company is licensed, and it is worth answering separately.
What is actually going on
- One brand, two insurance companies. Principal National Life Insurance Company issues coverage outside New York, and Principal Life Insurance Company issues coverage as well, including in New York. Seeing a name on your contract that is longer than the one on the envelope is normal, not a red flag.
- Retirement and insurance really are the same company family. The group reports its business in three parts: retirement and income solutions, asset management, and benefits and protection. The last of those is where life, disability, dental and vision coverage sit. That is why one name reaches you about a 401(k) one week and a policy the next.
- A lot of this coverage arrived through an employer. Group life, group disability, dental, vision and supplemental health are usually chosen by a business for its employees. If you never shopped for the coverage yourself, you may hold a certificate under an employer plan rather than a policy you bought, and open enrolment years ago is often where it started.
- Some older policies pay dividends, and that is by design. Principal Life Insurance Company converted into a stock life insurance company in 1998, and at that conversion it set up what it calls the Closed Block for the individual participating dividend paying policies that were already in force. Dividends on those policies are still paid and are still carried as a liability in the annual filing. A dividend notice on a decades old policy is the system working exactly as it was built to.
- The existing block is still fully administered. The most recent annual report to the Securities and Exchange Commission states that the United States operations administered roughly 710,000 individual life insurance policies, with more than $570 billion of individual life insurance in force at the end of 2025. Ending retail sales did not end the servicing of what was already written.
Common questions
Is Principal a real insurance company?
Yes. Life insurance is issued by Principal Life Insurance Company and, outside New York, by Principal National Life Insurance Company, both members of the Principal Financial Group in Des Moines, Iowa. The parent company is publicly traded on the Nasdaq Stock Market under the ticker PFG and files with the Securities and Exchange Commission, and your own state can confirm the insurer licence in about a minute.
Why is the company that handles my 401(k) writing to me about life insurance?
Because it is one company doing several things. The same group provides workplace retirement plans, asset management, and employee benefits and life insurance. Mail about a policy and a statement about a retirement plan can carry the same name and have nothing to do with each other. Check the account or policy number on the letter against your own records to see which one it belongs to.
Does Principal still sell life insurance to individuals?
Its annual report states that in 2021 it narrowed its life insurance focus to the business market and stopped selling to the retail consumer market. Coverage is still offered through employers and to business owners, executives and key employees. If you are shopping for personal coverage today, you would be looking at other carriers, but that has no effect on a policy already in force.
What is the difference between Principal Life Insurance Company and Principal National Life Insurance Company?
They are two licensed insurers inside the same group. Principal National Life Insurance Company issues products outside New York, and Principal Life Insurance Company issues products including in New York. Whichever one is printed on your contract is the company that owes the benefit and the one to search in your state licence lookup.
My coverage came through my job. Is that the same as having a policy?
Not quite. Employer coverage is usually a certificate under a group policy that the business holds, so the employer chooses the carrier and the terms, and the coverage is often tied to your employment. An individual policy is yours and follows you. Your benefits summary will say which one you have, and it matters most when you change jobs.
I got a dividend notice on an old Principal policy. Is that normal?
Yes, if it is a participating policy that was already in force when Principal Life Insurance Company converted into a stock life insurance company in 1998. Those policies were placed in what the company calls the Closed Block at that conversion, and dividends on them are still paid and still reported in the annual filing. It is an ordinary feature of an old participating contract rather than a sign that anything is wrong.
Should I keep a Principal policy I already have?
Often yes, and that is a perfectly good outcome. Coverage issued years ago was priced on the health you had then, and permanent policies build value over time, so replacing one can cost more or may not be available on the same terms. Read the schedule, confirm the death benefit and the premium, and only then decide. If the answer is that you should keep it, that is the answer, and there is nothing for you to do.
How can I check that an insurance company is licensed in my state?
Every state runs a free public lookup through its department of insurance, and the National Association of Insurance Commissioners keeps a consumer portal at naic.org that points you to the right one. Search the insurer by name and you will see whether it is authorised to write business in your state. It takes about a minute and it works for any company, not just this one.
I got mail about a policy I do not remember buying. What should I do?
Do not ignore it, and do not act on the letter alone. Match the policy number on the letter against your own records first. If it matches something you hold, the mail is almost certainly a servicing notice or a rebrand notice. If nothing matches, contact the insurer using the details on your own statement or on the company website you looked up yourself, rather than a number printed on an unexpected letter. That habit protects you generally, whoever the sender is.
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This guide is general information, not legal, tax, or financial advice. Licensing and company details change, so confirm anything important with your state department of insurance. Policy Review Center is a free comparison and referral service, not an insurance agency, insurer, or producer, and it connects you with independent licensed agents. Carrier names are used for reference only and do not imply any endorsement or affiliation.