Pension and annuity retirement policies were first implemented as a means to encourage older workers in employment to look for another jobs. Retirement has become a norm, the expected life of the stage, which has an institutionalized part of most modern societies. Workers expect to retire actively choose to withdraw from workforce as quickly as they are financially feasible. Once they are retired, they are expected to enjoy their life and get satisfaction with their lives. (more…)

In developing a retirement plan there are several factors to consider in addition to the amount you need or want to save.

1. Income Taxes.

The above discussion did not take into consideration income taxes. You might have to save more if you have to pay income taxes on all or part of your retirement benefit or your contributions. Distributions from qualified employer plans are always subject to retirement income tax. (more…)

“Portable,” as defined in Webster’s Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary, means “capable of being transported or conveyed.” A portable retirement account would allow you to move it from one employer to another without any discernible detriment to you. As a rule, employers in either the not-for-profit or the for-profit sector rarely permit employees to bring retirement plans from previous employers to their new positions. On occasion, Congress has debated enacting legislation that would allow for the creation of individual pension accounts that could be moved from one employer to another. (more…)

As the name indicates, a Supplemental Retirement Annuity (the “SRA”) operates as an adjunct to your Retirement Annuity. If your employer offers an Supplemental Retirement Annuity, you have the opportunity to augment your retirement stash on a tax-deferred basis through a salary deferral agreement, provided you are within the contribution limitations stipulated by law. Again, your benefits office will be able to advise you as to how large a percentage of your salary you may contribute to your Supplemental Retirement Annuity. Not all institutions offer the SRA. If your employer is one who does, try your hardest to take advantage of this feature of your employer’s plan. (more…)

The Group Retirement Account (or “GRA”) and the Group Supplemental Retirement Account (or “GSRA”) resemble the Retirement Annuity account and the Supplemental Retirement Annuity account in many respects. There are, however, some fundamental differences between the group accounts and their nongroup counterparts.

Both the RA and the Group Retirement Account are contracts with TIAA-CREF. (more…)

Like the peculiar behavior of the dog in the night in the Sherlock Holmes story “Silver Blaze,” one of the obvious but overlooked clues about the insurance orientation of TIAA-CREF appears in the names of the accounts that are given to the various accumulation alternatives available to you. Each account is labeled an “annuity,” and each contribution is called a “premium.” To avoid confusion you should note that what TIAA-CREF labels as an “account,” you probably would call an investment choice or fund.

Stripped to the basics, your Retirement Annuity (or “Retirement Annuity”) boils down to an accumulation agreement between you and TIAA-CREF. (more…)

TIAA offers two investment choices at present: the TIAA Traditional Annuity and the Real Estate Account. Both accounts are relatively stable investments.

The TIAA Traditional Annuity is the only investment option that offers a guaranteed return. The guaranteed level is generally low and can be changed, depending on prevailing market conditions. It provides an absolute bottom for those participants looking for a minimum return level, albeit well below existing market rates. (more…)

During your working career, your TIAA-CREF accounts will probably appear totally portable, subject to the incongruities between a Group Retirement Account and an Retirement Annuity accumulation. You may find that your investment choices at your new employer are more limited than they were formerly. Of course, when you are working at institution A, its rules will control the amounts of contributions and the vehicles available to you within and without TIAA-CREF. TIAA-CREF will keep track of all of your Retirement Annuity accumulations in both TIAA and CREF as you move from one institution to the next. (more…)