Third Quarter Update From CEO Roger Ferguson

Roger W. Ferguson, Jr.

Dear TIAA-CREF Participant:

Today marks the start of National Save for Retirement Week, which aims to focus all Americans on the importance of saving for retirement.  Since it is TIAA-CREF’s mission to meet your financial needs, let me share some news that you may find helpful and perhaps even surprising.

Strength and Performance to Help You Achieve Your Goals
You know that TIAA-CREF has a long record of financial strength and stability, as evidenced by TIAA’s capital position and top-rated claims-paying ability.¹  We also take a long-term, risk-managed approach to investing.

TIAA-CREF portfolio managers are committed to delivering consistent growth over time.  The latest data from Morningstar, an independent investment research provider, show that our variable annuity accounts and mutual funds have performed well relative to peers: 72% of our funds and accounts met or exceeded their category median over the past three years, and 62% met or exceeded their category median over the past five years, as of September 30, 2009.  Morningstar also shows that 92% of TIAA-CREF’s variable annuity accounts and mutual funds had an overall rating of three, four or five stars across all asset classes.²

We are delivering this level of performance while charging fees that are generally half the industry average, helping to ensure that more of your money stays in your portfolio, working for you.³

Broad Diversification and Objective Advice
TIAA-CREF offers a broad range of investment options, including stocks, bonds, money market funds, real estate and alternative investments, to help you build a diversified portfolio.  But you may not know that we offer comprehensive advice, education and planning services that are based on your specific needs and life-stage, to help ensure that your portfolio is aligned with your goals.

Using objective advice, which has been praised by Forbes as “the most extensive personalized workplace advice,”⁴ TIAA-CREF’s noncommissioned advisors and consultants can help you invest for a more secure financial future.⁵  And when it comes time to retire, your TIAA-CREF advisor can work with you to develop an income strategy that will provide you with guaranteed income for life.⁶

Environmental Stewardship
We are working on many fronts to hold companies in which we invest accountable for their environmental stewardship, which can produce positive investment results over the long term. But you may not know just how “green” we’ve become. 

In recent years, we launched a program to reduce energy use by 10% among the office properties owned in our real estate portfolio. That’s significant, because TIAA-CREF owns 43 million square feet of office space, as well as industrial and retail properties and apartment buildings, making us one of America’s largest owners of commercial real estate. As a result of our efforts, we were named an Energy Star Partner for two years in a row by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. 

We’ve also become a member of the U.S. Green Building Council, the nonprofit organization that certifies buildings for energy efficiency and environmental design; a number of our properties have been certified by the council. 

TIAA-CREF will continue to play a leadership role in shaping a greener future.  Many of you are already helping us do that by electing to receive your statements, prospectuses, financial supplements and other communications via electronic delivery.  If you have not yet signed up for eDelivery, simply visit our website or follow this link for more information.

A Better Way to Retirement
The events of the past year have prompted many people to wonder what the future of retirement will look like.  I believe our nation must take this opportunity to build a system that assures that people who participate in retirement plans have enough money to cover basic living expenses for the rest of their lives.

How could we do it?  As a TIAA-CREF participant, I think you already know.

First, the system should encourage plan participation to assure that everyone benefits. Second, it should help people manage risk by providing tools to diversify their portfolio without overwhelming them with investment choices. Third, built into the system should be some form of objective, non-commissioned advice. And lastly, once people retire the system should provide access to a low-cost annuity that provides guaranteed income they cannot outlive.

A system like this, implemented on a national scale, could help all Americans save safely during their working years and provide a better way to retirement.  It’s a topic I’ve been discussing frequently, most recently in an op-ed published by The Huffington Post.

We’re Here to Help
If you haven’t spoken with a TIAA-CREF consultant recently to review your plan and ensure that your portfolio is on track, why not use National Save for Retirement Week as the occasion to schedule an appointment?  Simply visit www.tiaa-cref.org/services/retirement-planning-advice to sign up.

TIAA-CREF is available in more places than ever to meet your needs: you can find us on iTunes, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and myretirement.org. Of course, you can always call us at 800 842-2776, meet with us on campus, or visit us at one of more than 60 local offices across the country. 

Thanks for being part of TIAA-CREF.

Sincerely,

Roger W. Ferguson, Jr.
President and Chief Executive Officer