Principal Expands Solutions to Encourage Hispanics’ Retirement Plan Engagement

Principal Financial Group has announced it has expanded its suite of retirement solutions for Hispanic workers by adding a Spanish-language option to its mobile retirement application.

The enhancement is designed to help increase retirement savings and management access for the thousands of Hispanic workers Principal serves, as many face a retirement savings gap made worse by the pandemic, Principal says.

“Cultural and language barriers can often limit the engagement of Hispanic workers and hinder retirement outcomes, particularly during times of economic uncertainty,” says Joleen Workman, vice president of customer care, retirement and income solutions at Principal.  “By adding a full-service Spanish-language retirement mobile app to our solutions for Hispanic workers, we are focused on helping even more people feel secure and confident in their retirement planning.”

Principal brings the Spanish-language mobile app to participants at a time when it says mobile use for retirement saving and planning has increased significantly. According to Principal, in 2019, more than 21% of participants used the retirement app via a mobile device, with that rate jumping to 37% of participants on mobile devices this year.  

The Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) has found fewer than half as many (25.5%) families with Hispanic heads reported having retirement plan assets compared with families with white, non-Hispanic heads. Principal says its app’s bilingual capability helps employers reach more Hispanic workers.

The app provides the appropriate language in Spanish or English based on a user’s phone language setting, allowing Spanish-speaking users to:

• Check retirement account balances;
• Make contribution decisions;
• Monitor their retirement progress; and
• Get immediate assistance from bilingual customer support.

The Spanish-language app is available to all Principal customers and adds to the company’s Principal Hola Futuro, a free educational and financial wellness resource for the Hispanic community. It will also be an immediate resource for Spanish-speaking workers who onboard with Principal Real Start en Español, a bilingual digital enrollment platform.