SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

PRINCIPAL FINANCIAL GROUP, INC.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

Check the appropriate box below if the Form 8-K filing is intended to simultaneously satisfy the filing obligation of the registrant under any of the following provisions:

PRINCIPAL FINANCIAL GROUP, INC. ANNOUNCES OUTLOOK FOR 2013

(Des Moines, Iowa) – Principal Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:PFG) today announced certain business unit revenue metrics and an update on capital deployment plans for 2013. These metrics will provide greater clarity of earnings growth for each of the business unitsⁱ. There is a 45-minute conference call at 4:30 p.m. ET today, Nov. 27, 2012. Company senior leaders will provide additional detail on our 2013 outlook and answer questions. Slides are now available at www.principal.com/investor.

Outlook for 2013 incorporates certain assumptions including:

• Interest rates as of Sept. 30, 2012 remain unchanged throughout 2013;
• S&P 500 Index estimated at 1,400 in mid-November then grows at 2 percent total return per quarter;
• Future foreign exchange rates follow broker consensus;
• Tax rate of 24 percent;
• $400 to $600 million of total capital deployed for common stock dividend, strategic acquisitions and opportunistic share repurchase; and
• Diluted weighted average number of common shares outstanding ranging from 295 – 297 million.

The call at 4:30 p.m. EST today (Nov. 27) can be accessed the following ways:

Forward looking and cautionary statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, statements as to operating earnings, net income available to common stockholders, net cash flows, realized and unrealized gains and losses, capital and liquidity positions, sales and earnings trends, and management's beliefs, expectations, goals and opinions. The company does not undertake to update these statements, which are based on a number of assumptions concerning future conditions that may ultimately prove to be inaccurate. Future events and their effects on the company may not be those anticipated, and actual results may differ materially from the results anticipated in these forward-looking statements. The risks, uncertainties and factors that could cause or contribute to such material differences are discussed in the company's annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended Dec. 31, 2011, and in the company’s quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended Sept. 30, 2012, filed by the company with the Securities and Exchange Commission, as updated or supplemented from time to time in subsequent filings. These risks and uncertainties include, without limitation: adverse capital and credit market conditions may significantly affect the company’s ability to meet liquidity needs, access to capital and cost of capital; continued difficult conditions in the global capital markets and the economy generally; continued volatility or further declines in the equity markets; changes in interest rates or credit spreads; the company’s investment portfolio is subject to several risks that may diminish the value of its invested assets and the investment returns credited to customers; the company’s valuation of securities may include methodologies, estimations and assumptions that are subject to differing interpretations; the determination of the amount of allowances and impairments taken on the company’s investments requires estimations and assumptions that are subject to differing interpretations; gross unrealized losses may be realized or result in future impairments; competition from companies that may have greater financial resources, broader arrays of products, higher ratings and stronger financial performance; a downgrade in the company’s financial strength or credit ratings; inability to attract and retain sales representatives and develop new distribution sources; international business risks; the company’s actual experience could differ significantly from its pricing and reserving assumptions; the company’s ability to pay stockholder dividends and meet its obligations may be constrained by the limitations on dividends or distributions Iowa insurance laws impose on Principal Life; the pattern of amortizing the company’s DPAC and other actuarial balances on its universal life-type insurance contracts, participating life insurance policies and certain investment contracts may change; the company may need to fund deficiencies in its “Closed Block” assets that support participating ordinary life insurance policies that had a dividend scale in force at the time of Principal Life’s 1998 conversion into a stock life insurance company; the company’s reinsurers could default on their obligations or increase their rates; risks arising from the company's ability to obtain regulatory approval and consummate the acquisition of A.F.P. Cuprum S.A. and from other acquisitions of businesses; changes in laws, regulations or accounting standards; a computer system failure or security breach could disrupt the company’s business, and damage its reputation; results of litigation and regulatory investigations; from time to time the company may become subject to tax audits, tax litigation or similar proceedings, and as a result it may owe additional taxes, interest and penalties in amounts that may be material; fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates; and applicable laws and the company’s certificate of incorporation and by-laws may discourage takeovers and business combinations that some stockholders might consider in their best interests.