Annuities

¹ Guarantees are based on the claims paying ability of the issuing company.

 

² 68% of TIAA-CREF Funds and Variable Annuity Accounts received a Morningstar overall rating of 4- or 5-stars (39.19% 4 stars and 28.38% 5 stars), based on risk-adjusted returns. Morningstar ratings based on the lowest cost share class for each mutual fund, based on U.S. open end mutual funds; CREF Variable Accounts; and the Life Funds. For a fund or account with multiple share classes and the same pricing, the share class with the longest performance history is used. Please note Morningstar rates CREF group variable annuities within the open end mutual fund universe. Morningstar ratings may be higher or lower on a monthly basis. Morningstar is an independent service that rates mutual funds. The top 10% of funds or accounts in an investment category receive five stars, the next 22.5% receive four stars and the next 35% receive three stars. Morningstar proprietary ratings reflect historical risk-adjusted performance and can change every month. They are calculated from the fund or account's three-, five- and ten-year average annual returns in excess of 90-day Treasury bill returns with appropriate fee adjustments, and a risk factor that reflects fund or account performance below 90-day T-bill returns. The overall star ratings are Morningstar's published ratings, which are weighted averages of its three-, five- and ten-year ratings for periods ended December 31, 2015. Past performance cannot guarantee future results. For current performance and rankings, please visit www.tiaa.org/public/investment-performance.

 

³ Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America (TIAA) and its wholly owned subsidiary TIAA-CREF Life Insurance Company (TIAA Life) are one of only three insurance groups in the United States to currently hold the highest possible rating from three of the four leading insurance company rating agencies for stability, claims-paying ability and overall financial strength: A.M. Best (A++ as of 6/15), Fitch (AAA as of 9/15) and Standard & Poor's (AA+ as of 7/15). Each company currently holds the second highest possible rating from Moody's Investors Service (Aa1 as of 8/15). Per S&P criteria, the downgrade of U.S. long-term government debt limits the highest rating of U.S. insurers to AA+ (the second-highest rating available). There is no guarantee that current ratings will be maintained. Ratings represent a company's ability to meet policyholders' obligations and do not apply to variable annuities, mutual funds or any other product or service not fully backed by the issuer's claims-paying ability.

 

TIAA-CREF managed account services provide discretionary investment management services for a fee.