Episode summary
A CEO Talks AI, Retirement Planning, and Privates | At Barron's
At Barron's
· · Hosts: Andy Serwer · Guests: Deanna Strable
Summary
Deanna Strable says Principal Financial Group is built around diversification across retirement, benefits and protection, and asset management, with about $800 billion in assets under management and customers in 80 countries. She argues that the company’s mix helps offset fee pressure in retirement and asset management, where clients are moving toward lower-cost products, and that growth depends on making complex financial products simpler for everyday customers.
A major theme is private assets. Strable says Principal already has deep exposure to real estate, private credit and infrastructure, but she thinks private investments will take time to enter 401(k)s broadly because most plan participants do not ask for them and many do not understand them. She says advice will be critical, especially because many workers rely on their 401(k) as their only retirement nest egg.
Strable also makes the case for AI as a company-wide productivity tool. Principal is training all 20,000 employees on AI and embedding it in new-hire orientation, while using it to improve coding, service-center work and other manual processes. On shareholder returns, she says the stock’s recent flatness reflected business mix and divestitures, but that Principal is now leaning back into growth and dividends.
Key takeaways
- Strable says Principal’s diversification across retirement, benefits and protection, and asset management helps produce more consistent results despite fee compression.
- She says Principal has nearly $800 billion in AUM, with roughly $300 billion to $400 billion supporting retirement assets and a meaningful share supporting insurance liabilities.
- Strable argues private assets belong in the long-term retirement conversation, but says broad 401(k) adoption will take time because most participants do not understand or request them.
- She says AI is a top priority and that Principal is training all 20,000 employees, expecting productivity gains rather than immediate headcount cuts.
- Strable says Principal’s stock plateau reflected prior divestitures and product-mix changes, and that the company is now focused on growth and dividends.
Notable quotes
“we're positioned really well in all three of them and we benefit greatly from diversification”
“we have a nearly 800 billion AUMumumumumumumumumumumumumumumumumumumum”
“AI is a tool that I think is going to be so significantly impactful to every person in every company”
“we are really doubling down on employee education and literacy”
How the episode opens
Hello everyone and welcome to At Barrens. I'm Andy Serwarter and welcome to our guest Deanna Strabel, CEO of Principal Financial Group. Diana, great to see you. Thanks for joining us. — Andy, thanks for having me here today. — So principal is in four lines of business if you include international, you've got asset management, you've got retirement, and then group insurance as well. What else should we know about Principal Topline?
Yeah, a couple things I'd mention there. First of all, we're 145 year old company. We're headquartered in De Moine, but we actually have more of our customers and more of our employees outside of the US around the globe.
Um, you mentioned again four main businesses. We have consolidated asset management international. So, three main businesses, retirement, um, benefits and protection with which primarily is group employee benefits, and then our asset management business, 20,000 employees, um, 70 million customers plus and customers in 80 countries around the globe.
What parts of the business have the most opportunity, Deanna, right now? — Yeah. The great news is, I'd say we're positioned really well in all three of them and we benefit greatly from diversification. And so ultimately they're not all um being propelled at the same rate at the same time, but in when we put them together and really focus on those things that can drive growth, it allows us to have much more consistent results, but also having um very strong results relative to our peers as well.
You've been CEO since January of 2025. What's your vision? What's your strategy? What are you hoping to accomplish? Yeah, I'll start with I've been at the company for 35 years and so and was humbled and honored to be stepping into the role as CEO after my predecessor and and a great line of of former CEOs as well.
From the episode’s captions: roughly the first two minutes, lightly cleaned. Keep watching on YouTube →
Topics
- ai
- retirement planning
- private markets
- stock performance
- financial products
Companies and tickers mentioned
- PFG
- Principal Financial Group
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Summary, takeaways and quote selection by Octagon. Quotes are short excerpts; the full conversation is in the episode.
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