TIAA-CREF Advice and Planning Services is a large, fee-based financial advisor firm. It employs more than $1,000 advisors throughout the U.S. to manage funds, primarily for individual investors. The firm is headquartered in New York, and it also has offices around the U.S. in California, Washington, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Texas, Colorado, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Illinois and Connecticut.
TIAA-CREF Advice and Planning Services Background
Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America, or TIAA, was founded by legendary American industrialist Andrew Carnegie in 1918. Since then, the company has grown massively.
TIAA’s extensive team of affiliated advisors boasts a wide range of advisory certifications. Its team includes Certified Financial Planners™ (CFP®), accredited asset management specialists (AAMS), chartered financial analysts (CFA) and more.
TIAA-CREF Advice and Planning Services Client Types and Minimum Account Sizes
TIAA-CREF Advice and Planning Services has thousands of individual clients. It works with individuals both with and without a high net worth. Although it’s safe to say that the firm primarily serves individual investors, TIAA also works with businesses and charitable organizations.
The majority of the services offered by TIAA-CREF Advice and Planning Services call for a minimum investment of $50,000. However, the firm does vary its requirements depending on the service you’re looking for. Its minimums range as low as $5,000 for its Personal Portfolio Program, which offers web-based investment management. Private asset management accounts carry a minimum of $1 million.
Services Offered by TIAA-CREF Advice and Planning Services
TIAA-CREF offers three advisory programs that focus on different styles of investment management:
- Personal Portfolio Program
- Digital discretionary management service
- Designed for clients with at least a three-year timeline
- Portfolio Advisor Program
- Customized, model-based investment portfolios
- Regular rebalances
- Private Asset Management
- Discretionary portfolio management
- Asset allocation models
- Regular rebalances
The rest of the firm’s offerings revolve around financial planning and investment management. In addition to the above programs, the firm provides the following services:
- Financial planning
- Personal financial plan creation
- Insurance needs and risk management
- Estate planning
- Education funding
- Stock option and deferred compensation analysis
- Alternative cash flow analysis
- Retirement planning
- Tax planning for the future
- Life goals analysis
- Annual financial review
- Personal financial plan creation
- Investment advisory services
- Review of existing investments
- Rebalances
- Investment planning
- Brokerage education
- Information for retirement and investment planning
- Investment-type education for mutual funds, life insurance, annuities and more
- IRA rollover walkthroughs
TIAA-CREF Advice and Planning Services Investment Philosophy
In its Form ADV brochure, TIAA-CREF Advice and Planning Services describes its investment strategy as “consistent with prudent, long-term investing.” TIAA utilizes strong diversification principles in conjunction with asset allocation modeling to form clients’ portfolios based on their risk tolerance and ultimate financial or retirement goals.
TIAA’s asset allocation models range from “very aggressive” to “very conservative.” The level of risk that you choose to adhere to will directly inform which investments are included in your portfolio, as well as your portfolio’s expected level of return. Still, the firm has a variety of investments that it typically uses in client portfolios, including fixed-income, equities, cash equivalents, money market funds and guaranteed income investments.
Fees Under TIAA-CREF Advice and Planning Services
TIAA offers a number of financial advisory and management services, and it has distinct fee schedules for each. The firm has a fee schedule for each of its three portfolio programs (the Portfolio Manager Program, the Portfolio Advisor Program and the Personal Portfolio Program) and for its financial planning services.
For the Portfolio Advisor Program, which offers model-based investment portfolios, the firm charges an annual fee that ranges from 0.40% to 1.15% of assets under management. Your exact rate will depend on how much money you’ve invested with TIAA. The firm’s Portfolio Manager Program, which offers discretionary portfolio management and asset allocation models, is slightly cheaper. For each of these programs, the firm charges clients a wrap fee, meaning that all of its service fees are bundled into one comprehensive rate.
| Portfolio Advisor Blended Fees | |
| Portfolio Value | Annual Fee |
| First $150,000 | 1.15% |
| $150,000 - $300,000 | 1.00% |
| $300,000 - $750,000 | 0.85% |
| $750,001 - $1,000,000 | 0.75% |
| $1,000,000 - $1,500,000 | 0.70% |
| $1,500,000 - $3,000,000 | 0.65% |
| $3,000,000 - $4,000,000 | 0.60% |
| $4,000,000 - $5,000,000 | 0.50% |
| Over $5,000,000 | 0.40% |
| Private Asset Management Exclusively Fixed-Income Program Fees | |
| Portfolio Value | Annual Fee |
| First $1,000,000 | 0.50% |
| Next $2,000,000 | 0.35% |
| Next $2,000,000 | 0.25% |
| Next $5,000,000 | 0.20% |
| Over $10,000,000 | 0.15% |
| Private Asset Management Blended Program Fees | |
| Portfolio Value | Annual Fee |
| First $1,000,000 | 0.90% |
| Next $2,000,000 | 0.70% |
| Next $2,000,000 | 0.50% |
| Over $5,000,000 | 0.40% |
TIAA offers all of its financial planning services free of charge. However, should you decide to enact your financial plan and invest in one of the products it recommends, TIAA and its affiliates will likely receive compensation.
What to Watch Out For
TIAA-CREF Advice and Planning Services has some disclosures on its Form ADV. As a result of these disclosures, the firm has had to pay fines, submit to censure and more. For more information, see the firm's Form ADV.
As a fee-based financial advisor firm, TIAA-CREF Advice and Planning Services has compensatory conflicts of interest. TIAA advisors who recommend clients to one of the firm’s affiliated insurance agencies have the opportunity to earn additional compensation depending on how long the client remains with the firm and what the client’s premiums are. While this is a potential conflict of interest, the firm is a fiduciary, so it is legally bound to act in clients’ best interests.
TIAA also may receive additional fees when advisory clients invest in its affiliated funds, creating a conflict of interest.
Opening an Account With TIAA-CREF Advice and Planning Services
If you live near a TIAA-CREF Advice and Planning Services branch, you can stop by and speak to an advisor to learn about the firm’s services. On the firm’s website, there’s an advisor locator tool that will show you TIAA’s advisors nearest to your address. Another option is to call TIAA at (800) 842-2252 to discuss becoming a client.
All information is accurate as of the writing of this article.
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