Asking retirees with TIAA-Cref accounts ..

[cyber888]

Hi ..This question is for people who are already retired and withdrawing from TIAA-Cref.

I have a 403B account with TIAA-Cref and I have cash parked in "Tiaa-Cref Traditional". The 403B is a supplemental pre-tax account when I add more to my Tiaa-cref 401K. Can you selectively just withdraw from Tiaa-Cref Traditional cash account during a market downturn and leave the equities/stocks untouched? Since i have not withdrawn from Tiaa-cref, just wanted to ask. Thanks in advance.

 

[pjm-7]

You can designate what investments you want the withdrawal to come from. I retired prior to age 59.5 and needed the funds to live in for a couple of years. I used my supplemental TIAA Traditional as my liquid account. If I did any rebalancing the funds went there to earn interest until my next withdrawal. I did not establish any regular paymwnts. I just submitted my paperwork twice a year when I needed to replenish my bank account. It was very easy to handle.

 

[cyber888]

You can designate what investments you want the withdrawal to come from. I retired prior to age 59.5 and needed the funds to live in for a couple of years. I used my supplemental TIAA Traditional as my liquid account. If I did any rebalancing the funds went there to earn interest until my next withdrawal. I did not establish any regular paymwnts. I just submitted my paperwork twice a year when I needed to replenish my bank account. It was very easy to handle.

Thanks! This is very helpful for my AA and planning to ride out on any downturn in the equities market.

 

[LRDave]

It could depend on the vintages of your TIAA traditional accounts. Some accounts have to be annuitized to cash them out. It doesn't have to be a lifetime annuity - can be a Transfer Payout Annuity.

 

[ls99]

I used to have TIAA. At one point wanted to change beneficiaries, they sent me about 5 pages of stuff to fill out. Instead I closed out the accounts and moved the $ to vanguard. There was not much there after the annuity payout was completed after ten years.

At Vanguard I can change beneficiaries online in about 5 minutes. Including the phone call from them for verification.

 

[Happyras]

Can the Creef annuity account be rolled over into an IRA or does it have to be liquidated as a cash settlement/annuitized? It does earn a steady interest rate, but my wife turns 65 in a few months and we need to decide what we can do with this.

 

[ls99]

AFIK, no. I had to take it as a 10 year payout.

 

[fosterscik]

Can the Creef annuity account be rolled over into an IRA or does it have to be liquidated as a cash settlement/annuitized? It does earn a steady interest rate, but my wife turns 65 in a few months and we need to decide what we can do with this.

It depends on your contract with TIAA/CREF. I was able to rollover 100% of my holdings to an IRA without any delay. You really need to read your contract.

 

[Happyras]

It depends on your contract with TIAA/CREF. I was able to rollover 100% of my holdings to an IRA without any delay. You really need to read your contract.

Thanks for that thought, but finding a contract is likely not going to happen. I went to the account web site and they do not offer such terms. They do say to call to discuss starting withdrawals, but no offer to call for rollover. I guess we start dialing.....

 

[Out-to-Lunch]

Thanks for that thought, but finding a contract is likely not going to happen. I went to the account web site and they do not offer such terms. They do say to call to discuss starting withdrawals, but no offer to call for rollover. I guess we start dialing.....

You can probably tell by looking for a link called "Fact Sheet" for your investment. There is a section in the fact sheet called something like "Withdrawals and disbursements." They have about 6 or 8 VERY similar sounding accounts that differ in this section. For some, you are locked in for a 10-year minimum payout, for others you can cash out in a day.

To distinguish, I find it easiest to look at the returns of the funds. If they list a 10-year return of about 3.75%, you cannot just cash it out. If they list a 10-year return of about 3.2%, this is probably an account you can transfer out of immediately.

 

[Bamaman]

TIAA/CREF is a huge company with teachers, hospitals and governmental instutions' funds. Unfortunately they've never performed as well as some of the budget, large operations like Fidelity, Vanguard and others. So many people kept their money in TIAA's annuities rather than playing the equities for the long run.

There are many account holders that are critical of the telephone sales persons at TIAA/CREF getting answers to their questions. It's hard to get a straight answer out of them.

Most of my wife's funds there are in the 403B stock account. But she also has a minor annuity account that she's left there as the really conservative part of her portfolio.

 

[Octogirl]

Agree- It depends on your contract with TIAA/CREF.
I have 3 different contracts bec I ve worked for 3 Universities.

My in person sales rep is good and I met with him the day before my state shut down for COVID. Have not tried telephone meeting - so YMMV