http://www.yobyot.com/general-musings/tiaa-cref-to-customers-please-read-the-letter-if-you-can/2008/02/02/ You know you heard it here first Tue, 06 Jan 2009 08:33:30 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7 hourly 1 http://www.yobyot.com/general-musings/tiaa-cref-to-customers-please-read-the-letter-if-you-can/2008/02/02/comment-page-1/#comment-7792 Retiree Tue, 14 Oct 2008 04:26:06 +0000 http://www.alexneihaus.com/general-musings/tiaa-cref-to-customers-please-read-the-letter-if-you-can/2008/02/02/#comment-7792 TIAA-Cref has been happy to hide that their phones and internet website have not been available from 2 to 4 pm. I wonder why? Has any one else have trouble accessing their accounts? TIAA-Cref has been happy to hide that their phones and internet website have not been available from 2 to 4 pm. I wonder why? Has any one else have trouble accessing their accounts?

]]> http://www.yobyot.com/general-musings/tiaa-cref-to-customers-please-read-the-letter-if-you-can/2008/02/02/comment-page-1/#comment-7754 TIAA Victim 4167836 Mon, 23 Jun 2008 01:01:51 +0000 http://www.alexneihaus.com/general-musings/tiaa-cref-to-customers-please-read-the-letter-if-you-can/2008/02/02/#comment-7754 Typical. It is time to get rid of TIAA-CREF from the American retirement investment landscape. We need to get busy and vote on TIAA-CREF with our feet by: a) stopping our own contributions to this idiot organization, b) stopping our colleagues from giving additional contributions and c) convincing our non-profits to eliminate them from their options lists. I first became in involved with TIAA-CREF in 1977. Looking back, it turned out to be a dismal day. How dismal only became apparent during the past decade or so as I approached retirement! TIAA has never had a useful program for tracking investment returns and paying out lumpsums. Once they've got your money, you are absolutely out of luck. It will be annuitized on a mysterious schedule that favors them, and leaves you sipping gruel. There is no way to track the performance of any asset allocation you may choose in the annuity program. The only thing you can be certain of with TIAA-CREF is that your money will underperform any other way to invest your retirement contributions you can imagine. This explains why TIAA-CREF has no true lumpsum program. If they had one, everyone would use it! Today, with all the options available, any non-profit employee who gives these turkeys even a single additional penny of their retirement contributions is nuts, no spell that NUTS. If you have friends who are using them, get them to stop NOW. Let's vote with our feet. If your non-profit is still using these jerks as one of their options, get them to at least STOP (and move their 403b programs to Fidelity [not AIG!!], and be a hero to your friends by keeping them from getting screwed. It is also a benefit to your non-profit, because their precious funds will magically start doing more, instead of less good. Typical. It is time to get rid of TIAA-CREF from the American retirement investment landscape. We need to get busy and vote on TIAA-CREF with our feet by: a) stopping our own contributions to this idiot organization, b) stopping our colleagues from giving additional contributions and c) convincing our non-profits to eliminate them from their options lists.
I first became in involved with TIAA-CREF in 1977. Looking back, it turned out to be a dismal day. How dismal only became apparent during the past decade or so as I approached retirement!
TIAA has never had a useful program for tracking investment returns and paying out lumpsums. Once they’ve got your money, you are absolutely out of luck. It will be annuitized on a mysterious schedule that favors them, and leaves you sipping gruel. There is no way to track the performance of any asset allocation you may choose in the annuity program. The only thing you can be certain of with TIAA-CREF is that your money will underperform any other way to invest your retirement contributions you can imagine. This explains why TIAA-CREF has no true lumpsum program. If they had one, everyone would use it!
Today, with all the options available, any non-profit employee who gives these turkeys even a single additional penny of their retirement contributions is nuts, no spell that NUTS. If you have friends who are using them, get them to stop NOW. Let’s vote with our feet.
If your non-profit is still using these jerks as one of their options, get them to at least STOP (and move their 403b programs to Fidelity [not AIG!!], and be a hero to your friends by keeping them from getting screwed. It is also a benefit to your non-profit, because their precious funds will magically start doing more, instead of less good.

]]> http://www.yobyot.com/general-musings/tiaa-cref-to-customers-please-read-the-letter-if-you-can/2008/02/02/comment-page-1/#comment-7714 Thinking aloud » Blog Archive » TIAA-CREF to Alex: we’re reading your blog about us Mon, 04 Feb 2008 22:14:29 +0000 http://www.alexneihaus.com/general-musings/tiaa-cref-to-customers-please-read-the-letter-if-you-can/2008/02/02/#comment-7714 [...] About « TIAA-CREF to customers: Please read the letter (if you can) [...] [...] About « TIAA-CREF to customers: Please read the letter (if you can) [...]

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