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How to make changes to your Principal 401(k) portfolio

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CheckmarkReviewed by Sam Swenson

CheckmarkReviewed by

Sam Swenson

CFA, CPA, CFP

Sam Swenson is a financial planner, New York State CPA, CFA charterholder, and freelance writer/editor. After nearly a decade in various Wall Street roles, Sam found a niche in creating objective, accessible, and actionable financial plans for everyday people. Sam has also published long- and short-form personal finance and investment planning content on various websites across the internet. Outside of work, Sam enjoys running, biking, reading, and philosophy, as well as spending time with his wife, daughter, and goldendoodle.

, CFA, CPA, CFP

Updated on January 13, 2022

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Make sure your Principal 401(k) is working for you

Making changes to your Principal 401(k) portfolio can help you make sure that your investments are in line with your unique financial situation and goals. As a general principle, financial planning experts suggest investors should be:

  • more aggressive when you have a long time horizon until retirement, because you’ll be able to ride out market fluctuations to increase your potential for higher returns
  • increasingly conservative as you approach retirement, to protect your returns

Before making changes, make sure you’ve considered all of the investment options in your 401(k) plan (your employer usually chooses around 20 options).

We want to make it easy for you to make changes to your Principal 401(k) portfolio – check out the guide below to get step-by-step instructions.

Step-by-step guide to make changes to your Principal 401(k) portfolio

  1. Log in to your Principal account.
  2. Select “Investments” and then “Change investments”.
  3. You’ll need to change the current investments in your portfolio, as well as change your investment elections for any future contributions to this account.
  4. In the “Choose Where To Invest Your Paycheck Contributions” section, choose “Invest Contributions”.
  5. Select “Build your portfolio”.
  6. On the “Choose my own investments” page, input the desired % allocation to each of the funds. Make sure to save your changes.
  7. Navigate back to the “Change Investments” page, and select “Move Balances” in the “Transfer Balances Between Investments” section.
  8. On the “Choose Transfer Type” page, select “Transfer multiple investments”.
  9. On the “Transfer balances between investment options” page, input the desired % allocation to each of the funds. Make sure to save your changes.

Screenshots

Select “Investments” and then “Change investments”.
In the “Choose Where To Invest Your Paycheck Contributions” section, choose “Invest Contributions”.
Select “Build your portfolio”.
On the “Choose my own investments” page, input the desired % allocation to each of the funds. Make sure that this matches Capitalize’s recommendation! Make sure to save your changes.
Navigate back to the “Change Investments” page, and select “Move Balances” in the “Transfer Balances Between Investments” section.
On the “Choose Transfer Type” page, select “Transfer multiple investments”.
On the “Transfer balances between investment options” page, input the desired % allocation to each of the funds. Make sure that this matches Capitalize’s recommendation! Make sure to save your changes.

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