Who we are

Our mission

Passion for life, meet money for life

Helping those who help others find confidence in retirement is our mission. Founded 100+ years ago to help teachers retire with dignity, our reach now extends well beyond education. We stand hand-in-hand with 5M+ clients to help fortify their money and ignite their dreams.

Embracing our socially conscious roots

While we’ve evolved into a Fortune 500 organization, we’ve never lost sight of the altruistic premise of our beginnings and live by a set of values that guides the decisions we make. They’re at the core of everything we do—from how we support our clients, interact with each other and give back to our communities.

Our values
Our history

Over a century of serving those who do good in the world

We created a sustainable retirement system for teachers and today we are the leader in serving the financial needs of people in academic, government, medical, cultural and other nonprofit fields. We're committed to do the same for the next 100 years.

"No man becomes rich unless he enriches others."

Andrew Carnegie, Founder

1918

The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching establishes Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America (TIAA) to provide guaranteed retirement income and life insurance to educators.

1952

TIAA establishes College Retirement Equities Fund (CREF), offering the nation’s first variable annuity to help investors fight inflation.

“[It's] the biggest development in the insurance investment business since the passage of the Social Security Act in 1935.” - Fortune editor

1967

TIAA life insurance is #1 in growth according to Fortune magazine

1974

Congressional committee cites TIAA-CREF as an outstanding example of pension fund management and fiduciary responsibility as Congress enacts ERISA legislation to help protect plan participants.

1979

CREF becomes one of the first major pension funds to invest in stocks traded on foreign stock exchanges.

hands shaking

"TIAA-CREF has measured up to the test of change. But we’ve also met the test of time."

Clifton R. Wharton, Jr., Chairman and CEO, 1987-93

1990

CREF introduces CREF Social Choice Account to give our customers a socially responsible investment option.

1992

We introduced Rollover IRAs, to make it easier for people to save for retirement all in one place.

1995

Pensions & Investments named us the largest pension organization in the nation.

1998

TIAA enters the 529 college savings plan market as a service provider to help parents save for education.

2016

TIAA–CREF becomes TIAA. While our name has changed, our commitment to our customers and clients remains the same.

2018

TIAA celebrates 100 years of serving those who make a difference and renews our commitment for the next 100 years.

All guarantees are based on TIAA claims paying ability.

Responsible investing incorporates Environmental Social Governance (ESG) factors that may affect exposure to issuers, sectors, industries, limiting the type and number of investment opportunities available, which could result in excluding investments that perform well.

This material is for informational or educational purposes only and does not constitute fiduciary investment advice under ERISA, a securities recommendation under all securities laws, or an insurance product recommendation under state insurance laws or regulations. This material does not take into account any specific objectives or circumstances of any particular investor, or suggest any specific course of action. Investment decisions should be made based on the investor’s own objectives and circumstances.

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