Enhanced Returns: Timing TIAA Real Estate

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

Read More »

The Value of a TIAA Wealth Management Advisor

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”

Read More »

TIAA-CREF’s New Ticker Symbols!

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,

Read More »

Big Changes in CREF: Higher Fees and More Decisions

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

Read More »

Financial Planning: It’s Academic

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

Read More »