TIAA Traditional: How Does it Work?
TIAA Traditional was the original investment offered by TIAA when it was founded in 1918 as a retirement provider for teachers and professors. While TIAA has evolved into an enormous…
TIAA-CREF Social Choice Equity: A Hidden Gem
TIAA Has historically been a leader in Socially Responsible Investing. Even prior to the inception of CREF Social choice in March of 1990, TIAA was cognizant of the social decisions…
CREF Global Equities: Not International
TIAA invented the variable annuity with the CREF Stock Account in 1952 – a revelation at the time. For almost 40 years, TIAA offered only TIAA Traditional and CREF Stock.…
Identity Crisis: A Fresh Look at TIAA
In the mid-eighties, Subway opened in my small hometown offering a fresh, healthy alternative to traditional fast food. My friend and I would ride our bikes two miles, cross a…
TIAA’s Secret: How to Earn a Higher Interest Rate in TIAA Traditional
Many investors remain complacent with their portfolios. This can be due to many factors including restraints on time, knowledge, or a lack of available information. Although I am not an…
Choices! Choices!
There was a time not too long ago when professors and university employees had one choice for their retirement plan provider – TIAA-CREF. Unlike the private sector, many university employees now…
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…
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…
Avoid Disaster With a Guaranteed Period
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…
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…
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…
My University’s Contribution
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…