CORRECTING and REPLACING Principal Fund Family Among the Elite in Barr

    Business Editors
    CORRECTION...by The Principal Financial Group

    DES MOINES, Iowa--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 17, 2005--In BW5489 issued March 17, 2005: Please replace the release with the following corrected version due to multiple revisions.

    The corrected release reads:

    PRINCIPAL FUND FAMILY AMONG THE ELITE IN BARRON'S ANNUAL FUND FAMILIES SURVEY; THE PRINCIPAL FUNDS RANK 11TH OUT OF 73 FUND FAMILIES FOR ONE-YEAR PERFORMANCE

    The Principal family of funds received very high rankings in Barron's tenth annual Fund Families Survey. The survey, compiled by Lipper, placed The Principal family of mutual funds 11th out of 73 fund families in the one-year performance category. The Principal family of funds-- offered by Princor Financial Services Corporation, a member of the Principal Financial Group(R), the nation's 401(k) leader and total retirement solutions innovator-- also received high marks for its balanced funds, finishing in the top five in that classification.
    Ranking 11th best out of 73 in the one year category, the Principal family of funds outperformed 80-percent of the fund families in the survey.
    "We're very proud of our high placement in the Barron's survey," said Michael Finnegan, vice president investment services at The Principal. "The ranking affirms that our rigorous due diligence program is delivering strong performance that helps investors achieve their goals."
    The Principal fund family, which includes Principal Mutual Funds and Principal Investors Fund, Inc., total 75 funds sub-advised by 24 different investment managers, including Principal Global Investors and its affiliates and other well-known third party investment managers.

    About Barron's

    Barron's magazine, published by Dow Jones, Inc., is America's premiere financial weekly magazine. Its readership encompasses corporate decision-makers, institutional investors, individual investors and financial professionals. Barron's Fund Families Survey evaluates performance at 73 companies with diversified offerings and considers performance in domestic and international stock funds, balanced funds, taxable bonds and tax-exempt-bond issues.

    About the Principal Financial Group

    The Principal Financial Group(R) (The Principal (R))(1) 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 $168.7 billion in assets under management(2) and serves some 14.9 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.

    Insurance products and plan administrative services are provided by Principal Life Insurance Company. Principal Investors Fund is distributed by and securities are offered through Princor Financial Services Corporation, 800-247-4123, member SIPC. Princor(R) and Principal Life are members of the Principal Financial Group, Des Moines, IA 50392. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

    Before investing in mutual funds, investors should carefully consider the investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses of the funds. 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.

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

    (2) As of December 31, 2004

--30--HB/ms*

CONTACT: Principal Financial Group, Des Moines Terri Shell, 515-283-8858 shell.terri@principal.com or Susan Houser, 515-248-2268 houser.susan@principal.com

KEYWORD: IOWA INDUSTRY KEYWORD: HUMAN RESOURCES BANKING SOURCE: Principal Financial Group

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