TIAA-CREF Overview
Facts about the company.
TIAA-CREF is a Fortune 100 financial services company that is the leading retirement system for people who work in the academic, research, medical and cultural fields. TIAA-CREF serves 3.6 million active and retired employees participating in more than 27,000 retirement plans and has $363 billion in combined assets under management (as of 12/31/08).
Products and Services
TIAA-CREF offers a range of investment products and services to help investors achieve lifetime financial security.
- TIAA-CREF’s retirement plans provide participating institutions and individuals with a range of options to help meet their retirement plan administration and savings goals as well as income and wealth protection needs. They include variable annuities, mutual funds, tax-deferred and after-tax annuities, IRAs and brokerage accounts.
- 76 percent of TIAA-CREF variable annuities and mutual funds within its fund complex1 rated by Morningstar exceeded their category median over the three-year period and 72 percent exceeded their category median over the five-year period ended December 31, 2008.2
- TIAA-CREF provides comprehensive, personalized advice through consultants who receive no sales commission as part of their total compensation. According to Forbes, "the 3.2 million employees of colleges, hospitals and other not-for-profits whose retirement plans TIAA-CREF serves have access to the most extensive personalized workplace advice."3
- TIAA-CREF Asset Management serves institutional investors and intermediaries, including registered investment advisors, investment-only defined contribution platforms and broker/dealers. Investment options cover a wide spectrum of asset classes from traditional equity and fixed-income to real estate and other specialized portfolios and are offered through multiple investment vehicles.
- TIAA-CREF is one of just three U.S. insurance companies to receive the highest ratings from all major rating agencies.4 Over 500,000 retirees have received a combined $10 billion in annual income from our company.5
- TIAA-CREF is a global leader in socially responsible investing and advocating for sound governing practices at companies in which it invests. The CREF Social Choice Account, a balanced variable annuity account with more than 430,000 investors and nearly $6.89 billion in assets (as of 12/31/08), is the largest comprehensively socially screened investment vehicle available to individual investors in the United States.
In all it does, TIAA-CREF strives to uphold its historic mission: helping to meet the financial needs of the institutions and individuals we serve on the best terms practicable.
Origins of TIAA and CREF
In 1918, Andrew Carnegie and his Carnegie Foundation established Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association (TIAA), a fully-funded system of pensions for professors. Funding was provided by a combination of grants from the foundation and Carnegie Corporation of New York, as well as ongoing contributions from participating institutions and individuals.
After World War II, in reaction to rising inflation and lengthening life expectancies, TIAA recognized the need for its participants to invest in equities in order to diversify their retirement funds. In 1952, TIAA created the College Retirement Equities Fund ("CREF") for that purpose.
Locations
TIAA-CREF has more than 7,000 employees, and is headquartered in New York City. The organization has major operations in Charlotte, North Carolina and Denver, Colorado, as well as nearly 60 local offices nationwide.
1 Fund complex defined as all TIAA-CREF Open-End Mutual Funds, its group variable annuities (e.g. CREF Accounts) and the TIAA-CREF Life Funds as defined by Morningstar Direct.
2 The Morningstar median represents the midpoint of an index of comparable funds/accounts grouped by factors such as investment objective and asset class.
3 Forbes Magazine, December 10, 2007.
4 A++, A.M. Best Company (as of 12/08); AAA, Fitch Ratings (as of 12/08); Aaa, Moody’s Investor Service (as of 12/08); AAA, Standard & Poor’s (as of 12/08) - the highest possible ratings from these independent analysts. These ratings do not apply to variable annuities, mutual funds, or any other product or service not fully backed by TIAA's/TIAA-CREF Life’s claims-paying ability.
5 As of 12/31/07.
* Source: Social Investment Forum, 2007 Report on Socially Responsible Investing Trends in the United States. Based on assets under management among mutual funds and variable annuities that screen across multiple environmental, social and governance criteria (versus those that apply only product-specific screens such as alcohol and tobacco; among all mutual funds and variable annuity accounts categorized as "socially and environmentally screened," CREF Social Choice was the third largest).
Please note TIAA-CREF investment products were negatively impacted by the declining markets in 2008.
All TIAA-CREF investment products are subject to market risk and other risk factors. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.
You should consider the investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses carefully before investing. Please call 877 518-9161 or log on to www.tiaa-cref.org for a current prospectus that contains this and other information.
Please read the prospectus carefully before investing.
TIAA-CREF Individual & Institutional Services, LLC and Teachers Personal Investors Services, Inc., members FINRA, distribute securities products.
