TIAA-CREF or Fidelity for 401A

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nebraskaman
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TIAA-CREF or Fidelity for 401A

Post by nebraskaman »

I work for a university that only offered TIAA-CREF when I started. They started offering Fidelity as well a few years after I started my retirement account. I am going to research which funds are available in the Fidelity account on Monday and I can list the funds on the TIAA-CREF side. They do allow accounts at both and I can move money between them. If you had your choice of the two companies which would you go with? If it is Fidelity, should I move all of my TIAA-CREF over?

Added Info:
I am overly aggressive currently 100% in stocks and REITs between this fund and my Roth. I am very cost-conscious and everything is in index funds. 33 years old.

TIAA-CREF 401A
TIAA-CREF Large-Cap Value Index Fund - Institutional Class TILVX $18,293
TIAA-CREF Small-Cap Blend Index Fund - Institutional Class TISBX $12,284
TIAA-CREF International Equity Index Fund - Instl Class TCIEX $11,390
TIAA-CREF S&P 500 Index Fund - Institutional Class TISPX $8,786
TIAA-CREF Real Estate Securities Fund - Institutional Class TIREX $7,718
TIAA-CREF Emerging Markets Equity Index Fund - Instl Class TEQLX $4,148

Vanguard Roth
VANGUARD GLOBAL EX U S REAL ESTATE INDEX FD ETF VNQI $1,829
VANGUARD REIT INDEX ETF VNQ $1,676
------------------

Available in TIAA-CREF:

GUARANTEED
TIAA Traditional

EQUITIES
CREF Stock
CREF Global Equities
CREF Growth
CREF Equity Index
TIAA-CREF Large-Cap Growth Fund - Institutional Class
TIAA-CREF International Equity Fund - Institutional Class
TIAA-CREF Growth & Income Fund - Institutional Class
TIAA-CREF Large-Cap Value Fund - Institutional Class
TIAA-CREF Social Choice Equity Fund - Institutional Class
TIAA-CREF Mid-Cap Growth Fund - Institutional Class
TIAA-CREF Mid-Cap Value Fund - Institutional Class
TIAA-CREF Small-Cap Equity Fund - Institutional Class
TIAA-CREF International Equity Index Fund - Instl Class
TIAA-CREF Large-Cap Growth Index Fund - Institutional Class
TIAA-CREF S&P 500 Index Fund - Institutional Class
TIAA-CREF Equity Index Fund - Institutional Class
TIAA-CREF Large-Cap Value Index Fund - Institutional Class
TIAA-CREF Small-Cap Blend Index Fund - Institutional Class
TIAA-CREF Real Estate Securities Fund - Institutional Class
TIAA-CREF Emerging Markets Equity Index Fund - Instl Class
TIAA-CREF Emerging Markets Equity Fund - Institutional Class
TIAA-CREF Global Natural Resources Fund - Institutional Cl

REAL ESTATE
TIAA Real Estate

FIXED INCOME
CREF Bond Market
CREF Inflation-Linked Bond
TIAA-CREF High-Yield Fund - Institutional Class
TIAA-CREF Bond Plus Fund - Institutional Class
TIAA-CREF Short-Term Bond Fund - Institutional Class

MONEY MARKET
CREF Money Market

MULTI-ASSET
CREF Social Choice
TIAA-CREF Managed Allocation Fund - Institutional Class
TIAA-CREF Lifecycle 2010 Fund - Institutional Class
TIAA-CREF Lifecycle 2015 Fund - Institutional Class
TIAA-CREF Lifecycle 2020 Fund - Institutional Class
TIAA-CREF Lifecycle 2025 Fund - Institutional Class
TIAA-CREF Lifecycle 2030 Fund - Institutional Class
TIAA-CREF Lifecycle 2035 Fund - Institutional Class
TIAA-CREF Lifecycle 2040 Fund - Institutional Class
TIAA-CREF Lifecycle 2045 Fund - Institutional Class
TIAA-CREF Lifecycle 2050 Fund - Institutional Class
TIAA-CREF Lifecycle Retirement Income Fund - Instl Class
TIAA-CREF Lifecycle 2055 Fund - Institutional Class
Last edited by nebraskaman on Fri Jan 03, 2014 4:46 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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livesoft
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Re: TIAA-CREF or Fidelity for 401A

Post by livesoft »

I have largish retirement accounts at both. I like the TIAA traditional annuity (like a stable value fund), but really not much else. You will read shortly in this thread that some folks own the TIAA Real Estate account, too. I use Fidelity Spartan Advantage index funds in the Fidelity account. I would vote for Fidelity for all equities with a little bit (say 10% to 15%) in the TIAA traditional annuity for some (but not all) of your fixed income allocation.
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Levett
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Re: TIAA-CREF or Fidelity for 401A

Post by Levett »

Would be helpful if you indicated what kind of portfolio you wish to construct and why and how cost-conscious you are.

Both companies offer funds with varying expense ratios.

Both companies offer active and indexed.

In fact, both companies have many happy customers.

Lev
ourbrooks
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Re: TIAA-CREF or Fidelity for 401A

Post by ourbrooks »

Dig deep when you collect the TIAA information; they offer different funds in different plans with similar fund names. Also, their retail funds, the ones listed on the website, are not the same as the ones offered inside of retirement plans. For example, the TIAA-CREF Real Estate Securities Fund is not the same as the TIAA Real Estate Account. Some of their options are available only inside of retirement plans and these tend to be the better deals; look for the TIAA Traditional Annuity and the TIAA Real Estate Account. If you have them available, they are not likely to be matched by funds offered by Fidelity.

For your amusement, that guy, Ben, who just retired from the big bank in Washington, keeps his money in a TIAA-CREF account.
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ResearchMed
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Re: TIAA-CREF or Fidelity for 401A

Post by ResearchMed »

Are you able to purchase funds from *any* fund family (Vanguard or others) in either the TIAA-CREF or Fidelity account?
And if so, what are the fees, if any, to do so?

We are among those livesoft was referring to, in that we hold TREA at TIAA-CREF, a considerable amount.
We are in the process of spinning out the Traditional Annuity over 10 annual payments.
(Some plans or individual accounts don't have any restriction on withdrawals of the Traditional Annuity. Check your plan before putting any money in that.)

There aren't really equivalents elsewhere for the T-C Trad Annuity or TREA.
For the other T-C mutual funds, there are generally similar funds at Fidelity or offered by other fund families, but they aren't necessarily identical.

Our Employer used to require that all 403b monies be at TIAA-CREF only. Some time ago, Vanguard and Fidelity were added.

While the available choices at TIAA-CREF were scaled back dramatically, the choices at Vanguard and Fidelity include most (not all) other fund families.

RM
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nebraskaman
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Re: TIAA-CREF or Fidelity for 401A

Post by nebraskaman »

Levett wrote:Would be helpful if you indicated what kind of portfolio you wish to construct and why and how cost-conscious you are.

Lev
Thanks Levett, I updated my original post with more info.
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jjustice
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Re: TIAA-CREF or Fidelity for 401A

Post by jjustice »

TIAA-CREF offers one valuable product that Fidelity does not: annuity accounts. I suggest that you think about what portion of your funds you would like to have in the form of annuities at your retirement. You cannot do better than TIAA-CREF annuities. There are two TIAA annuities: Traditional and Real Estate. Both of these are quite good accounts. There are eight CREF annuities: the CREF Stock Account is probably the best of these. If I were you, I would think about building a personal retirement plan out of these three annuity accounts.

Any money that you want to hold in mutual funds should probably go to Fidelity. TIAA-CREF is a mediocre late comer to the mutual fund business. Their forte is the annuity business. They've been at that for about a century, and no one is better.

John

Edit: Your update suggests that you don't have access to the TIAA-CREF annuity accounts. If that is so, I wouldn't bother with TIAA-CREF.
livesoft
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Re: TIAA-CREF or Fidelity for 401A

Post by livesoft »

The OP's update shows what they are invested in and not what is available. TIAA TA and TREA may be available, but we do not know.

I also own shares of the TIAA Real Estate account. Here are my thoughts on that: http://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtop ... 1&t=123075
Basically, only use it if you are willing to market-time it because otherwise everyone else will market-time it right out from under you. I can also say that many folks are emotionally attached to this fund and thus their opinions are tainted.
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sscritic
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Re: TIAA-CREF or Fidelity for 401A

Post by sscritic »

I have money at Vanguard and at TIAA-CREF. All of my TIAA-CREF money is in annuities. I used to have a small cap value fund just for livesoft, but they merged it out from under me. I got mad, so I went back to all annuities (I also figured there was less chance of them eliminating an annuity). It may not be a good reason, but I do lots of things because I get mad.
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nebraskaman
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Re: TIAA-CREF or Fidelity for 401A

Post by nebraskaman »

I added to my original post the funds available on the TIAA-CREF side. I will not be able to add those available on the Fidelity side till Monday. Thank you all for the help.
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livesoft
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Re: TIAA-CREF or Fidelity for 401A

Post by livesoft »

So the 2 "favorite" annuities TA and TREA are available.
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Brian2d
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Re: TIAA-CREF or Fidelity for 401A

Post by Brian2d »

I have the institutional international, large cap value, and S&P index funds from TIAA-CREF. Expense ratios on the institutional class TIAA-CREF funds, which you indicate you have, are .07% for S&P and .08% for the large cap value and international, and .15% for the small cap blend.
jasg
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Re: TIAA-CREF or Fidelity for 401A

Post by jasg »

I was heading towards a Vanguard or Fidelity index fund portfolio with my tIRA and 401k when I realized I could use an old TIAA-CREF account and get Traditional and TREA as well as institutional class index funds. TIAA-CREF won - and my plan still has a brokerage window where I can still buy outside funds.
MN Finance
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Re: TIAA-CREF or Fidelity for 401A

Post by MN Finance »

If it's a 401a, then the TIAA Trad option will have limited liquidity, for a higher rate, which may make that more/less attractive depending on your take.
Levett
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Re: TIAA-CREF or Fidelity for 401A

Post by Levett »

nebraskaman,

I'm glad you have access to the very inexpensive institutional class TIAA mutual funds.

You can easily and inexpensively put together a nicely diversified portfolio whether you do, or don't, use either TIAA Traditional or TIAA Real Estate.

I'd say you are sitting pretty.

Good luck.

Lev

P.S. Like sscritic, sometimes I get mad at fund companies--in my case it was back in the 1990s and it was with Fidelity, so I decided that Vanguard and TIAA were plenty good enough. :D
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nebraskaman
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Re: TIAA-CREF or Fidelity for 401A

Post by nebraskaman »

Thanks to all of you for your replies! I will post an update tomorrow on what funds that are available with Fidelity and morph this to an asset allocation recommendation thread (which I think is OK to do?).
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