When there is fear in the markets, there are opportunities. It’s time to take a proactive approach to managing your investments. At this point, the markets seem irrational. Although there are headwinds in the economy, there are also many positives. Employment is strong and housing is appreciating. I’m not saying
The U.S. stock market got off the worst start this year in almost a century. This prompted fear from investors, and Warren Buffett compared the stock market with a “drunken psycho”. Coming off the first correction in four years this last fall, with little more than a minor recovery, the
Many professors, researches, and employees take jobs at universities without the knowledge that their institution does not withhold Social Security taxes from their salary. This may apply to an entire university, such as Colorado State University or in the case of the University of Colorado, it may only apply to
TIAA Real Estate is a unique account which provides direct ownership interest in commercial real estate. It offers an asset class not widely available to individual investors. The returns of TIAA Real Estate and the corresponding unit values are affected by the value of the underlying commercial properties along with
TIAA and Fidelity offer Wealth Management Advisors (WMAs) to university employees with $500,000 or more in investible assets with their company. Wealth Management Advisors provide a very basic financial plan and peace of mind to their clients in the beginning – best of all, there is no charge. A “Free”
TIAA-CREF offers multiple income options heading into retirement. These decisions include various options from rolling over an accumulation to an IRA to taking a lifetime annuity. When looking at the latter, there are also multiple decisions to be made surrounding lifetime annuity options. After deciding to use a lifetime annuity
TIAA-CREF invented the first variable annuity with the CREF Stock Account in 1952. They subsequently offered nine additional variable annuities along with TIAA Traditional to form ten core investment options available at almost every university across the United States. Although these accounts act and perform very much like mutual funds,
TIAA-CREF recently announced a change to the expense structure of the CREF variable annuities. Since the inception of CREF Stock in 1952, TIAA-CREF has had a single class low-cost structure for all CREF variable annuities. Beginning April 24, TIAA-CREF is expanding each variable annuity from one class to three classes
Investors who start to research TIAA-CREF’s investments usually ask something right away. Why do some of the funds have ticker symbols and others do not? A ticker symbol in relation to a mutual fund is a five digit abbreviation used to identify a specific fund. It is very common to
I recently met with prospective clients. We had a great conversation and ended an hour and a half meeting with handshakes and a smile. After the meeting, I felt really great about our conversation and the caliber of the couple I had just met with. They had done well for
Many of TIAA-CREF’s variable annuities are broad funds that cover several asset classes. Investors who place money in these accounts must be careful to understand which asset classes are included. After all, if you want a large-cap growth fund, it should be invested in large-cap growth. Otherwise, the integrity of the
Introduction Often, individuals with substantial accumulations manage their own money or work with a financial advisor more inclined to sell a product than add value. Many of these individuals are “leaving” money on the table. However, this opportunity cost lost is often not realized. Here are the biggest mistakes made
TIAA-CREF has multiple withdrawal and transfer rules which are different depending on the type of contract, type of accounts, and amount in each account. This makes it very difficult for their own investors and advisors to make informed investment decisions. In this article, I will address one unique option for
Financial Planning for employees who work at a university (or hospitals associated with a university) can be complex not only to the employees, but also to financial advisors not used to working with clients in this arena. Navigating through the complexities of this niche market requires the experience of working
University Contributions I have traveled to universities across the United States each with different contribution amounts. I have found college and university contributions can vary widely. The information below provides the contributions of several randomly selected public and private colleges and universities. You will see the organization, followed by the