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TIAA TMRW

Big ideas. Better retirements.

A letter from Jim Mullery

Retirement industry challenges—straight up

Warren Buffett, a master communicator as well as a master investor, elevates letter-writing to an art form. He’s always believed shareholders deserve to hear the straight story, the bad with the good—no “syrupy mush,” as he put it recently.1

TIAA clients and their advisors deserve the full picture too, so here it is: It’s an unstable operating environment out there for nonprofit organizations. Rising costs, a revolving door of talent and generational demographic shifts all challenge your ability to carry out your organization’s mission.

This is all on top of managing a retirement plan amid sweeping cultural, social, economic, political and policy change. People are living longer, healthier lives and, as a result, are spending more in retirement. Traditional sources of guaranteed retirement income face tremendous uncertainty: Fully 85% of employers say workers need guaranteed income beyond Social Security.2 Defined contribution (DC) plans have helped many people build wealth, but they need to adapt so more people can count on their wealth to provide guaranteed payouts for life.

TIAA was built for these uncertain times. Our nearly $300 billion general account, the second largest in the industry,3 means we can invest for the long term in ways many other insurers cannot. Because of how we’re structured, we can return profits to our participants—not corporate stockholders or private owners—through potentially higher interest (or crediting) rates for savers and higher payouts for retirees who annuitize. That last point is key, since retirees can effectively get more income even in uncertain times. That’s at the crux of the latest TIAA Annuity Payout Advantage.

This edition of TIAA TMRW also examines the differences between retirement plan annuities and those in the retail market, shares ways to protect participants from cyberthreats and discusses the economic pressures facing higher education. We understand how much goes into running a retirement plan, on top of serving the greater good. And it’s our mission to help.

Jim Mullery
Head of Institutional Relationship Management

Next article: A banner year for income.

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1 Berkshire Hathaway annual shareholder letter, 2023.

2 TIAA 2024 Building a Better Retirement survey.

3 As of December 31, 2024.

This material is for informational or educational purposes only and is not fiduciary investment advice, or a securities, investment strategy, or insurance product recommendation. This material does not consider an individual’s own objectives or circumstances which should be the basis of any investment decision.

Any guarantees under annuities issued by TIAA are subject to TIAA’s claims-paying ability.

Converting some or all of your savings to income benefits (referred to as “annuitization”) is a permanent decision. Once income benefit payments have begun, you are unable to change to another option.

TIAA may share profits with TIAA Traditional Annuity owners through declared additional amounts of interest during accumulation, higher initial annuity income, and through further increases in annuity income benefits during retirement. These additional amounts are not guaranteed beyond the period for which they were declared.

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