Investments
Investment-Only Consultants, to learn more about TIAA-CREF investments for your clients' investment platforms, visit our TIAA-CREF Asset Management site.
All TIAA-CREF investment offerings have key points in common: a focus on competitive returns, sound risk management, strict style adherence and low fees.* With our open investment platform, you and your clients can create an investment menu that includes mutual funds from across the universe of fund companies.
TIAA-CREF gives your clients access to
- An open, flexible platform for creating a customized investment lineup
- More than 15,000 no-transaction-fee funds from national and regional investment firms
- Unique TIAA-CREF investment choices, supported by our commitment to consistent, long-term growth
- TIAA-CREF's extensive experience in designing retirement plans that offer potential for both wealth accumulation and guaranteed lifetime income options
Our platform also gives clients access to online planning tools and investment research resources. And our open platform enables employees to consolidate their outside assets with TIAA-CREF easily and efficiently.**
Our Guided Architecture Philosophy
Our guiding principles emphasize assisting plan sponsors with managing their ever-increasing regulatory responsibilities, while offering plan participants products and solutions that will maximize lifetime income.
- A return to simplicity in menu construction reduces the likelihood of confusion and inertia
- The combination of quality TIAA-CREF products and nonproprietary mutual funds offered through our open platform affords your clients the opportunity to meet the needs of all their employees — whether they are investment experts or novices, and whether they are in the accumulation phase or in need of retirement income during the payout phase.
TIAA-CREF Asset Management
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TIER II: OPEN ARCHITECTURE – MUTUAL FUNDS | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| MONEY MARKET | FIXED INCOME | BALANCED | LARGE-CAP VALUE EQUITY | LARGE-CAP BLEND EQUITY | LARGE -CAP GROWTH EQUITY | INT'L EQUITY | REAL ESTATE | ||||||||||||||||||||
| TIAA-CREF Money Market | TIAA-CREF Short-Term Bond TIAA-CREF Bond Plus TIAA-CREF Bond TIAA-CREF Tax-Exempt Bond TIAA-CREF High-Yield TIAA-CREF inflation-Linked Bond | TIAA-CREF Social Choice Equity | TIAA-CREF Large-Cap Value TIAA-CREF Large-Cap Value Index TIAA-CREF Enhanced Large-Cap Value Index | TIAA-CREF Growth & Income TIAA-CREF S&P 500 Index TIAA-CREF Equity Index | TIAA-CREF Large-Cap Growth TIAA-CREF Large-Cap Growth Index TIAA-CREF Enhanced Large-Cap Growth Index | TIAA-CREF Intl Equity TIAA-CREF Intl Equity Index TIAA-CREF Enhanced Intl Equity Index | TIAA-CREF Real Estate Securities | ||||||||||||||||||||
| MID-CAP VALUE | MID-CAP GROWTH | SMALL-CAP BLEND | SMALL-CAP GROWTH | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| TIAA-CREF Mid-Cap Value | TIAA-CREF Mid-Cap Growth | TIAA-CREF Small-Cap Blend Index | TIAA-CREF Small-Cap Equity | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
TIER III: LIFETIME INCOME OPTIONS – ANNUITIES | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| GUARANTEED** | MONEY MARKET | FIXED INCOME | BALANCED | LARGE-CAP BLEND EQUITY | LARGE-CAP GROWTH | GLOBAL EQUITY | REAL ESTATE | ||||||||||||||||||||
| TIAA Stable Return TIAA Traditional | CREF Money Market | CREF Bond Market CREF Inflation-Linked Bond | CREF Social Choice | CREF Equity Index CREF Stock | CREF Growth | CREF Global Equities | TIAA Real Estate | ||||||||||||||||||||
TIER IV: BROKERAGE WINDOW – INDIVIDUAL SECURITIES AND THIRD-PARTY MUTUAL FUNDS*** | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Our Competitive Advantages
- Strict adherence to investment style and a long history of managing across asset classes
- Unique approaches to investment management such as the Dual Investment Management Strategy for equities — for example, we use portfolio management teams instead of the "star" manager approach, which lessens the risk to investors from the affect of changes in fund management, and we use both active management and indexing to manage risk and offer the potential for above average returns
- Low costs, which can contribute to higher returns*
- A broad range of asset classes (equities, fixed income, money market, guaranteed, real estate) ensures efficient asset allocations for all risk tolerance levels
- A triple-A rating that directly supports the returns and principal of TIAA Traditional***
- A corporate philosophy of providing unbiased advice in making important investment decisions such as asset allocation
View TIAA-CREF investment and plan offerings
* Morningstar Direct (June 2009), based on Morningstar expense comparisons by category. This applies to our variable annuity and mutual fund expense ratios.
** Before transferring assets, consider the differences in features, costs, surrender charges, services and company strength, and any tax consequences.
*** The respective highest possible ratings from these independent analysts are A++, A.M. Best Company (as of 9/08); AAA, Fitch (as of 6/09); Aaa, Moody’s Investors Service (as of 10/09); AAA, Standard & Poor’s (as of 6/09). These ratings are for TIAA as an insurance company and do not apply to variable annuities, mutual funds or any other product or service not fully backed by the claims-paying ability of TIAA.
