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Principal
  Financial                                              Principal Life
  Group                                                  Insurance Company


April 24, 2002

RE:      PRINCIPAL LIFE'S EXECUTIVE VARIABLE UNIVERSAL LIFE
         INSURANCE POLICY

Dear Sir or Madam:

In my capacity as Senior Actuary of Principal Life Insurance Company ("Principal
Life"), I have provided actuarial advice concerning and participated in the
design of Principal Life's Executive Variable Universal Life Insurance Policy
(the "Policy"). I also provided actuarial advice concerning the preparation of a
registration statement on form S-6 for filing with the Securities and Exchange
Commission under the Securities Act of 1933 in connection with the Policy. In my
opinion:

a)                the federal tax charge of 1.25% of premium for deferred
                  acquisition costs is reasonable in relation to Principal
                  Life's increased tax burden under Section 848 of the Internal
                  Revenue Code of 1986 as amended. In addition, it is my
                  professional opinion that the 15% rate of return and the
                  assumptions on which that rate is based is reasonable for use
                  in calculating such charges.

b)                the illustrations of death benefits, account values, surrender
                  values and accumulated premiums in the prospectus are based on
                  the assumptions stated in the illustrations, consistent with
                  the provisions of the Policy. Such assumptions, including the
                  assumed current charge levels are reasonable. The Policy has
                  not been designed so as to make the relationship between
                  premium and benefits, as shown in the illustrations, appear to
                  be correspondingly more favorable to a prospective purchaser
                  of the Policy at the ages, genders and underwriting classes
                  shown than to prospective purchasers at other ages, genders
                  and underwriting classes. Nor were the particular
                  illustrations selected for the purpose of making this
                  relationship appear more favorable.

I hereby consent to the use of this opinion as an exhibit to the registration
statement and to the reference to my name under the heading "Experts" in the
prospectus.

Respectfully,

/s/Lisa Butterbaugh

Lisa Butterbaugh
Senior Actuary
Phone:  (515) 248-3792
Fax: (515) 362-0056


Mailing Address: es Moines, Iowa USA 50392-0001 (515) 247-5111