Principal® Reviews

by Skyline1199

New App is good for looking at gross account balances and that’s about it. As I scroll sideways I can only see the first three columns and then the screen shifts back to the first column. So don’t bother trying to check on whether a particular holding us up or down for the day, because you just can’t see it. Principal also only works in the portrait mode which is pretty much useless when your portfolio is in a spreadsheet format many columns wide. Why the developers don’t program Principal to shift to landscape when you turn your phone 90°, I’ll never know. So sad such a large company has such an embarrassing app.

by Gobu Lives

Way too much 2-factor authentication. Today when I logged in then again when I want to access my 401-k. Can’t seem to remember any device of mine for more than 24 hours. Open Principal , then wasn’t to check a balance? Forwarding to our website! What’s the point of having an app? I got better results using the website where the 2-factor authentication actually lasted a week or so sometimes. Deleting and just using the crappy website until they can improve. Maybe it’s time to move all of my investments to Fidelity, where Principal is great and seamless between my different accounts.

by Tunepong

My company asked me to stop 401K contributions because I’ve reached my limit for the year. Principal does not allow setting pre-tax to 0% (slider goes down to 1%) and there is no simple stop button. In addition, the this app deductions do not allow setting limits for the year at all so that it does not require manual intervention. Principal itself gets frequent updates, but usability keeps diminishing with each update. Perhaps this app needs to balance out requests from customers with feedback from regular people. Poor.

by Toonzman

Principal doesn’t work yet again after a recent update. If you guys would forewarn me before I upgrade that Principal may not launch and if it does will randomly shut down for no reason. I’ve never been overly impressed with any version of Principal , but could at the very least check my balance on my retirement account. This is not rocket science because every business on the planet has a mobile app nowadays. How can I feel comfortable with your ability to invest my retirement money if you can’t get someone to develop a decent mobile app that actually works when I need to use it?

by Sfgirl94115

Being able to upload a check is so much easier than having to mail it. Especially given that I’m not comfortable putting a check for 6 figures into an envelope for FedEx.
this app touts their app as making this rollover easy. Hooray right?
No. Apparently you CAN’T do it through Principal .
I even called their customer service and the guy on the line was really annoyed because he thought I was an idiot. But when I literally talked through every single screen I came across following his instructions on the phone, he was genuinely confused by the fact that I had no ability to take a photo and upload my rollover check.
What an absolute disappointment.

by Madone4.5

Touch ID - finally! Overall interface is much improved over previous version - however, half of my account information is missing, showing $.00. When selecting, gives error message “try again later”. This is a major problem! I’m switching back to the older version until this is fixed. Rolling out an updated version without adequate testing is unacceptable. You guys can do better.

Updated version STILL doesn’t work! Unable to see half of my account information. I’ve called multiple times and talked to people at this app to no avail. Principal is worthless. Test stuff before you roll it out. Unbelievable failure - again!

by Ovation246

I would agree with the 3/20 review - there isn’t much to Principal and for any little thing extra (like viewing your loan balance) you need to go to the website. However if you access the website via a smartphone (iPhone in my case) instead of a computer , that isn’t a very pleasant experience either. I had trouble retrieving statements and I finally had to give up looking for my loan balance via the phone and went in through my computer. If you want some quick stats like your account balance and rate of return, then it’s fine. To be fair, i didn’t try to change my investment options so I don’t know how that works.

by Cypher0n7

A pet peeve of mine is when the “new and improved version” of something means lost functionality. Exhibit A would be the fact that you no longer get calculated monthly contribution feedback when you are deciding what percentage to contribute to each account. This was incredibly helpful in the “old” app. And the fact that I cannot see how the varying contributions will affect my family's finances until after I commit my changes is not an improvement. Am I expected to sit there with a calculator next to my phone so that I can make an informed decision. How is that an improvement? Plus I now have to navigate into sub menus to do things that were previously easy and informative. As far as I can see there is nothing new, they just moved stuff around and dumbed down the interface.

by Yrmdt

I don’t understand how these medical insurance companies don’t have the ability to develop apps that are actually useful. If you are trying to find dental care with Principal, good luck. It’s probably one of the worst that I have ever used. The search function is really wonky and difficult to use, not to mention the availability of dentists that take this insurance is incredibly limited. When I do find one like 20 miles away, and I go off Principal to check their reviews and ratings, not only are ALL of them rated three stars and under, but if I take more than one minute to locate the practice and check them out online before making an appointment, I’m logged out of Principal “for my privacy”. It’s already such a pain trying to find appropriate care, Principal is making it infinitely harder than it needs to be. It’s gotta to be my sixth or seventh time having to log back in this morning going back-and-forth to check out different dental providers. There should be an option to keep you logged in, by your own choice - not by Principal deciding you’ve been away too long because you take a minute to check someone out on Yelp. Ridic.

by MMH MMH

I find Principal is slow to respond (just like their website) and it lacks some helpful information that I used to get from my previous plan custodian.
1. I have yet to find a place in Principal where it tells you your “cost” by investment (ie: how much you paid vs how much your investment is worth). This was extremely helpful in identifying which investments were making or losing money. Now all you get is an overall percentage of your gain or loss.
2. Retirement planning resources will only let you project your true retirement income when you have a pension when you retire at normal retirement age. There is no option to include or even calculate your pension benefit for special early or even just standard early retirement.
3. Adding retirement resources is severely lacking. You can link accounts which is great but manually adding leaves a lot to be desired.

As much as I disliked my previous plan custodian because of their reputation, I have to give them props for their app and website and the functionality. this app’s has so far been a disappointment.

by Desrve Better

Lacks major financial aspects and planning tools: only total account value listed without separate listings for traditional and Roth holdings (really?!?), and in retirement planner no way to designate when one will start taking SS payments (which is huge for planning!!), or to designate upcoming inheritance and date, and only one entry provided for additional retirement elements outside of linked accounts. I’d rate their app and website a C- given that this is supposed to be a major financial institution; very disappointing. Our company’s 401K plan was recently purchased from Wells Fargo to manage and the PFG app, website, and customer service lacks in comparison. Step up your game PFG!

by ElBarto247

Disclosure, I have a 401k with self trading ability within the account.

Account is much more iPhone screen friendly. Layout is better and more information with less clicks then previous app. But app is still lacking options to make changes to my self trading account. In fact it missing all information of the account (at least previous app opened a web browser). This “NEW” app doesn’t even acknowledge I have the ability.

Overall I would say better but not the were it should be.

by Glanche

Principal is really nice and easy to use to set up a 401k through your job, I didn’t make one for the longest time thinking it was a huge process until I got Principal, and with a few simple buttons I was already on my way to saving. The only downside I have with Principal are the loading problems it seems to have at times, if I’m not on WiFi it takes a bit longer for stuff to pop up but it’s not a huge ordeal.

by Bellgrl

Great improvements over the prior app, linking in more account types as well as seamless links without logging in again to the full website on a mobile browser for content not included in Principal .
The only thing I miss: Personalized Rate of Return for each investment subaccount within 401(k) plans. It is available for the composite portfolio, just not for the individual investments used like it is on the full site. I REALLY miss this feature in Principal !

by Newer Itouch User

Gives limited information. Had 2 minutes to look at what Principal does before it asked for a rating and review.

Updated review:
I’d like to see my positions, i.e. Symbol, quantity, last price, change, current value, YTD gain/loss, and overall gain.

I’d like to see a summary view in graphical form showing gain/loss, for YTD or a date range.

What would be extraordinary would be to show my asset allocation by large, mid and small cap, as well as domestic/international, developed/emerging, REITs, etc.

Also show me the dollars paid for fees and the percentage cost to me, as the 401K owner.

This would demonstrate that this app is interested in showing account holders what’s being done on an individual basis and the organization is then more accountable to the 401K owners.

by Linkingham

I tried logging out from 401K view and it said I was logged out; however, when I Hit back arrow it went back into my 401k account without making me log in again. The only way I could “permanently “ logout was to go to settings and then select log out. This bug should be fixed in Principal. To protect people’s accounts Principal should fully log out when it says it has!

by SVbearcat97

this app is whom my employer selected as 401k provider, but I sure am lucky to have this app selected if only in regards to Principal . Very easy to navigate account, check balances, and explore options/tools. I would highly recommend.

by Good Fast Easy Transfer

I recently tried to get on the this app app, after resetting my password, and the mobile app would not let me login. I call this app to see if they could resolve the issue, and they were unable to help me. I can login into my account on my laptop, but not the mobile app. Someone help please!

by OllieollieollieO

While it doesn’t have all the functionality of the desktop website (which is also quite good!) the this app mobile app never let me down. Super easy to use when you want to adjust your investment choices in your retirement funds, and the vision/dental portion worked just fine for me though my needs were few. I wish more financial apps were of this quality.

by Gadonas

I had very few issues with the prior app, but in the past three weeks, I can’t get Principal to even launch. I select the this app icon and then after 25 seconds of nothing, it kicks me back to my main phone screen.

Touch ID used to work but I don’t even get that far now. I’ve deleted and reinstalled the this app app several times with no success. I’m forced to use a browser to get my account balances. Too bad!

by DiggyJohn

Apps like this actually aren't allowed on Principal Store. Not sure why it was allowed to slip by. If all ypur app does is iframe your website, it's better served as a mobile friendly website (from the Apple Developer Guidelines). They already have a website, and if I realized that all Principal was going to do was ask me for my credentials, 2 factor authentication, then forward me to the website where it asks me for two factor AGAIN as soon as I selected my plan, I woulda just opened the website to begin with!

by Betchface

Seems for the last few updates I am unable to change my contribution rates via Principal . I keep getting an error that “something requires further attention” but there is nothing else to look at. There a 2 contribution rates to see on my end, 401k and Roth. Neither will change. Sometimes I’m unable to access my accounts and it doesn’t give a reason.
FYI , I have sizable rollover that I’m afraid to rollover into your company due to limited access nature of my account.

by GADog5

There was limited access to data and no access to my profile. Had to click on separate link to internet access of the main website. Had to re-sign in to access the details of my account so easy of access is ridiculous.
Also have to give up right to receive a hard copy of your account just to access your information online. This seems shady.

by Mike Brown (Bassist)

I have an iPhone 7. I click on Principal , it pulls up a blue screen that says this app, stays on that screen for maybe 7-10 seconds...AND THEN CLOSES!! I try about a dozen times and give up. Some days it opens and other days it doesn’t. Pretty useless app if it doesn’t work.

Update: They fixed the bug and I can log in now so I changed my rating from 1 to 3 stars. I will update if this continues to happen.

by Comically Sad

It doesn’t work. Can’t even sign in. Saw others say the same thing in early June. Still not fixed. I’ve reviewed the old app with a poor score. This is even worse. I can’t understand how a company that size could consistently sell their customers short. SMH.

Update: it opens now. Raised to 3 stars. However, it’s not very interactive. At least I can see a balance. You have to go to the website if you want to look at any details.

by Ralph Of SC

PFG is an extremely professional company. They offer excellent 401K plans and their website is very user friendly. PFG is not typically out in front for new and innovative ideas, but they do provide those items after they have been proven in the marketplace!

by Shawnporter

I use Principal to look at my 401k account. I can easily see: balances, transaction history, fund allocation, contribution rate. I changed my contribution rate and it was super easy. First login was so smooth thanks to iOS remembering my password and the auto-filing of the text confirmation number.

by CarolinaBill

I have not been able to open Principal for about 2-3 weeks. I click on Principal and wait and it simply closes and I am back at my phone home screen looking at Principal icon. What has happened Principal is now trash and worthless.