All about annuities
Profits go to you.
Not shareholders.
We don't have public shareholders, so we can return money to our participants by sharing profits with you. We do it in a variety of ways that all add up to additional income and bigger retirement checks.
TIAA was founded in 1918 to provide guaranteed income and retirement security for teachers.
We now serve educators, healthcare workers and many others in the nonprofit sector. Increasingly, we’re reaching public sector workers as well. Millions of Americans have retired with TIAA. For as much as we've changed, one thing has stayed the same: No public shareholders stand between you and your money.
When we make more than we need to cover our expenses and spending, we don't pass it on to outside investors. Instead, we can share our profits with our participants. This allows TIAA to create unique benefits for the retirement plan participants we serve. This article shares three ways we can share profits.
More interest while you save
When you save with TIAA Traditional,* your savings are guaranteed to grow by earning interest every single day.1 The guaranteed interest rate calculation is in your contract, and with most fixed annuities, this is all you get.
One way TIAA can share profits is by providing additional amounts of interest to savers in TIAA Traditional. While profit sharing isn’t guaranteed, we have given out TIAA Loyalty Bonuses for over 30 consecutive years.2
*TIAA Traditional is issued by Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America (TIAA), New York, NY.
Profits go to you, not shareholders
After our expenses and spending, we can share profits with our participants.1
The Exclusive TIAA Loyalty BonusSM
When you save with TIAA Traditional, you have the opportunity to build a TIAA Loyalty Bonus over time.1 That means higher monthly retirement checks from the same amount of savings—on average, 15% higher amounts, in fact.1,4 Here’s how it works:
- Build: You start earning your TIAA Loyalty Bonus as soon as you begin saving in TIAA Traditional.
- Maintain: The longer you hold and grow savings in TIAA Traditional, the more your TIAA Loyalty Bonus opportunity increases.
- Receive: Any TIAA Loyalty Bonus is automatically added to your payment when you activate your retirement checks.
The longer you've saved with TIAA Traditional, the higher your bonus tends to be. By consistently putting money into TIAA Traditional you're setting up the potential for more income when you choose to receive lifetime income retirement checks.
15% higher payouts
Long-term TIAA Traditional savers received 15% higher payout rates compared with savers who transferred money to TIAA Traditional at retirement.4
When we make extra money, we don't give it to investors. Instead, we can share profits with our participants.
Bigger retirement checks
When our investment engine does well, so do our plan participants. A third way TIAA shares profits is to boost monthly retirement checks for retirees receiving lifetime income.3
Over the past 30 years, TIAA increased the amount of people's retirement checks 19 times.5 It’s like getting a raise in retirement—and it’s only available at TIAA.
While we can't guarantee profit sharing, it's core to TIAA and we have a strong track record of giving money back to participants. Over the past ten years we've shared more than $3 billion a year with our participants.
By saving with TIAA Traditional you're setting yourself up for guaranteed growth while you save, the potential for bigger retirement checks that will last as long as you live, and even the potential to receive raises in retirement. Now, that’s good planning.
Keep learning
How long will you live in retirement?
The number of Americans aged 90 or older is rising quickly.6 Do you know your life expectancy in retirement?
Lifetime income
We’ve created a brand-new way to learn about lifetime income.
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.
Annuity contracts may contain terms for keeping them in force. We can provide you with costs and complete details.
TIAA Traditional is a fixed annuity product issued through these contracts by Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America (TIAA), 730 Third Avenue, New York, NY, 10017: Form series including but not limited to: 1000.24; G-1000.4; IGRS-01-84-ACC; IGRSP-01-84-ACC; 6008.8. Not all contracts are available in all states or currently issued.
Transfers and withdrawals from TIAA Traditional are restricted by its underlying agreements that can affect the liquidity of the product. 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. TIAA Annual Statement (2013 -2022), Page 4, Line 30.
- All guarantees are based on TIAA's claims-paying ability. TIAA Traditional is a guaranteed insurance contract and not an investment for federal securities law purposes. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.
- TIAA may provide a Loyalty BonusSM that is only available when electing lifetime income. The amount of the bonus is discretionary and determined annually.
- TIAA Traditional Annuity interest and income benefits include guaranteed amounts plus additional amounts as may be established on a year-by-year basis by the TIAA Board of Trustees. The additional amounts, when declared, remain in effect through the "declaration year," which begins each March 1 for accumulating annuities and January 1 for payout annuities. Additional amounts are not guaranteed beyond the period for which they are declared.
- Based on an analysis of income benefits available to participants who have made level monthly contributions for 30 years to TIAA Traditional, relative to participants who deposited the same accumulated balance into TIAA Traditional just before converting to lifetime income. Assumes a participant aged 67, singlelife annuity with a 10-year guaranteed period, and average payment differentials each month for retirement dates over the last 30 years ending Dec. 31, 2023.
- Refers to raises from 1994 to 2024.
- Source: U.S. Census Bureau, "90+ in the United States: 2006-2008," Nov. 1, 2011.