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Certain employer-sponsored retirement plans you administer feature a new investment option available only within asset allocation programs, such as managed accounts and custom model portfolios – the TIAA Secure Income Account. It offers protected growth while employees are saving for retirement along with the opportunity for income in retirement that never runs out.1
All guarantees are based on the claims-paying ability of TIAA.
Easy access to online fund profiles for the TIAA Secure Income Account.
We have designed an interactive FAQ portal designed to help you effectively service the participants in plans that make the TIAA Secure Income Account available.
The TIAA Secure Income Account (SIA):
The SIA is designed with the goal of providing competitive amounts of lifetime income in retirement for participants who choose lifetime income. Two distinctive benefits not found in other fixed annuity solutions are made possible by TIAA’s sharing the profits approach and include:2
The TIAA Secure Income Account is exclusively available as part of the asset allocation program that your employer has made available under your plan (e.g., managed account or custom model portfolio). Contributions to the TIAA Secure Income Account will be made according to the rules of that program.
Your contributions to the TIAA Secure Income Account receive competitive interest rates, regardless of market conditions. These rates will always be greater than or equal to the guaranteed minimum interest rate, which fluctuates between 1% and 3%.
The TIAA Secure Income Account is fully liquid. This means that you can transfer or withdraw your balance whenever you want (depending on the rules of your employer’s plan). Like any retirement plan investment option, there may be tax penalties if you withdraw any savings before age 59½ in addition to ordinary income tax.
If you leave your current employer, you may be able to keep your balance in their plan and the TIAA Secure Income Account, if it is still available in the plan. If you do, your balance will continue to earn interest until you make a withdrawal.
Importantly, once you have reached retirement age, you typically may make more than one decision regarding your TIAA Secure Income Account balance (depending on your employer’s plan rules). For example, you can:
The TIAA Secure Income Account is designed to:
If you choose to take lifetime income, you will receive a predictable, protected source of income throughout your retirement. The TIAA Secure Income Account also provides a guaranteed minimum amount of lifetime income. TIAA may establish additional amounts of interest and income benefits above contractually guaranteed levels. Additional amounts are not guaranteed beyond the period for which they are declared.
Because the TIAA Secure Income Account is included in your plan, there are no expense loads or commissions paid if you select lifetime income. This means that you may be able to receive more lifetime income than if you were to purchase a retail annuity product outside of your plan.
The TIAA Secure Income Account is typically only available as part of an asset allocation program such as a managed account or custom model portfolio. Contributions to the TIAA Secure Income Account will be made according to the rules of the asset allocation program.
If you want some of your contributions allocated to the TIAA Secure Income Account, you’ll need to subscribe to your employer’s asset allocation program (sometimes referred to as a managed account or model service). Once you subscribe, then depending on the rules of the asset allocation program, some of your contributions and balance may be allocated to the TIAA Secure Income Account. This will occur automatically as a part of the asset allocation program.
If you find that you already have a balance in the TIAA Secure Income Account, your funds were likely defaulted into the plan’s default investment, which includes an allocation to the TIAA Secure Income Account.
No. The TIAA Secure Income Account is not a securities product. It is not registered with the SEC so it does not have a prospectus.
The TIAA Secure Income Account is a guaranteed insurance product. It is subject to oversight by state insurance commissioners including TIAA’s primary state regulator, the New York Department of Financial Services.
The TIAA Secure Income Account offers you the benefits of any fixed annuity: it can provide stability, protection, and flexibility. It offers a solid foundation for your retirement savings because its guaranteed returns do not fluctuate with market volatility, thereby protecting this portion of your retirement savings from losses. This can be especially important as you approach and live in retirement, when market downturns may have a negative impact on your standard of living more so than if market downturns had occurred earlier in your career.
The TIAA Secure Income Account can also provide a foundation of protected lifetime income. You can use this, for example, to help cover your essential living expenses in retirement. Of course, you’re not required to convert any of your account balance to lifetime income, but you have the choice.
Any amounts that you do not convert to lifetime income can remain in the account and continue to earn interest (depending on the rules of your employer’s plan). You can choose to withdraw these amounts in full or in part later, at whatever pace suits your needs.
The TIAA Secure Income Account guarantees are backed by the financial strength of TIAA (Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America), a New York-based insurance company that has been providing guaranteed lifetime income products for over 105 years.
Like all insurance companies, TIAA is required to hold a certain amount of capital in reserve to help satisfy guarantees. TIAA is also required to maintain sufficient liquidity and adhere to specific investment type and quality standards.
TIAA’s financial strength ratings—a measure of the firm’s claims-paying ability—are among the highest for U.S.-based life insurance companies.
For its stability, claims-paying ability and overall financial strength, Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America (TIAA) is one of only three insurance groups in the United States to currently hold the highest rating available to U.S. insurers from three of the four leading insurance company rating agencies: AM Best (A++ as of July 2024), Fitch (AAA as of August 2024) and S&P Global Ratings (AA+ as of May 2024), and the second-highest possible rating from Moody’s Investors Service (Aa1 as of October 2024). There is no guarantee that current ratings will be maintained. The financial strength ratings represent a company’s ability to meet policyholders’ obligations and do not apply to variable annuities or any other product or service not fully backed by TIAA’s claims-paying ability. The ratings also do not apply to the safety or the performance of the variable accounts, which will fluctuate in value.
TIAA (the Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America) was founded by Andrew Carnegie more than 100 years ago to provide retirement income to college educators. Since 1918, TIAA has paid more than $545 billion in benefits.4 Today, TIAA is a Fortune 500 financial services organization committed to helping institutions and individuals pursue positive outcomes through a long-term investment perspective. With more than $1.4 trillion in assets under management (as of 12/31/2024).5 TIAA is the leading provider of financial services in the academic, research, medical, cultural and government fields.5 TIAA offers a wide range of financial solutions, including investing, advice and education, and retirement services.
You can find additional information about TIAA at TIAA.org.
Additional information:
While you save for retirement, amounts deposited in the TIAA Secure Income Account will earn interest at competitive crediting rates that are declared in advance. Even in the most volatile markets, you will never lose the value of your principal and accrued interest earnings in the TIAA Secure Income Account. In fact, your principal and earnings will grow every day—guaranteed.
Initially, the interest rate in effect in the month you make your first contribution/transfer into the TIAA Secure Income Account will be applied. That rate is guaranteed to be applied to that month’s deposits through the following February. After that, the interest rate on that original month’s contribution may be re-set on March 1, and are guaranteed for a full year.
For example, if you make your first contribution/transfer in June 2025, the interest rate applied to that June 2025 contribution is guaranteed until February 29, 2026—a nine-month initial guarantee period. Similarly, if you make another contribution/transfer in December 2025, the interest rate applied to that December contribution is also guaranteed until February 29, 2026—but in this case it’s a three-month initial guarantee period.
For contributions/transfers into the TIAA Secure Income Account after the current month, TIAA can raise, lower, or keep the interest crediting rate the same based on current market conditions and other factors.
Typically, yes. The TIAA Secure Income Account credits interest based on when you make your contribution or transfer.
Think of it as interest rate “buckets.” Different portions of your account balance that are in different buckets may earn different interest rates. TIAA refers to these buckets as “vintages.” If you contribute regularly over time, you will likely have balances in several different buckets, and your amounts in each of these buckets may be earning different interest rates.
The buckets, or vintages, do more than allow TIAA to credit different interest rates based on the timing of when money was contributed. The split of your savings across buckets can affect the amount of lifetime income you elect to receive. This may happen because the inputs to the formula that TIAA uses to calculate the amount of lifetime income payable can differ by bucket or vintage.
Generally speaking, amounts in older vintages have the potential to provide more lifetime income from TIAA if annuitization is elected, than amounts in newer buckets or vintages. This is known as the TIAA Loyalty Bonus®6.
When setting interest rates, TIAA considers many factors, including the interest rate environment when the funds were contributed or transferred in, changes in interest rates over time, TIAA’s expenses, the financial experience of TIAA’s General Account, and the need to maintain adequate capital.
While the investment returns of TIAA’s General Account do not flow directly to TIAA Secure Income Account participants, crediting rates reflect, in part, the yields and earnings that TIAA obtains on bonds and other investments.
TIAA Secure Income Account interest is credited every day of the year but is only posted as of the end of each business day. For example, a participant’s accumulation value at the end of a Monday (if it’s a business day and not a holiday) will reflect interest for Saturday and Sunday, as well as for Monday. Similarly, if Monday were a holiday, then a participant’s accumulation value at the end of Tuesday would reflect interest for Saturday, Sunday, Monday, as well as for Tuesday.
During leap years, 365 days of interest is credited over the 366 days of the leap year. Your balance earns interest on February 29.
TIAA guarantees that your balance in the TIAA Secure Income Account will never decline even in a rising interest rate environment. In a rising interest rate environment, it’s likely that newly declared interest rates under the TIAA Secure Income Account would also be rising. This contrasts with a typical bond fund where rising interest rates may result in your bond fund balance decreasing.
Conversely, during a declining interest rate environment, it’s likely that newly declared interest crediting rates for the TIAA Secure Income Account wouldn’t be as high, resulting in your balance growing at a slower rate. However, the declared crediting rate will never go below the current guaranteed minimum rate which is between 1% and 3% and is re-determined annually every March 1st.
You’ll always receive a positive return in the TIAA Secure Income Account and contributing regularly can be thought of as dollar-averaging into many interest rate environments over time.
Not while your employer continues to offer the SIA as an active investment option in your plan. However, if your employer decides to discontinue (terminate) the TIAA Secure Income Account contract by liquidating it and moving the proceeds to a different plan investment option, one of the payout options they may elect could result in a payout of an amount that is less than the full account balance in the TIAA Secure Income Account. This adjusted payout would typically occur if interest rates have been rising and your employer elects to receive the contract’s proceeds on an accelerated basis.
If the adjusted value of the overall contract is elected to be paid out by your employer, you’re still guaranteed to receive the amount of the contributions you made (i.e., your principal), plus interest at a rate of no less than 1%.
Alternatively, to avoid any possible adjustment, your employer may elect to receive the proceeds from the contract in annual installments payable over five years.
The manager of the asset allocation program determines the model that allocates contributions among the underlying investment options, including the TIAA Secure Income Account.
If you are using the asset allocation program, you cannot self-direct your contributions to the underlying investment options.
If you unsubscribe from the asset allocation program—or become unsubscribed, for example, by requesting to transfer among plan investments—you can no longer contribute or transfer additional money to the TIAA Secure Income Account. To do so, you must re-subscribe to the asset allocation program.
Typically, you cannot contribute more to the TIAA Secure Income Account than the amount permitted by the asset allocation program.
However, if you’re not contributing the maximum amount allowed under your retirement plan, you could increase your contributions. As a result, you will increase the overall amount of money deposited into each of the plan’s underlying asset allocation investments, including the TIAA Secure Income Account.
(Subject to plan rules)
If yes:
Your plan allows you to elect to receive lifetime income payments from all or part of your balance in the TIAA Secure Income Account.
If no:
Your plan does not allow you to elect to receive lifetime income payments from your balance in the TIAA Secure Income Account.
You are not required to elect lifetime income payments. This is one of the income options available to you under your plan. You may also make full or partial withdrawals at whatever pace suits your financial circumstances. However, full or partial withdrawals do not guarantee that you’ll have a steady, predictable stream of income that will last throughout your life.
If you’d like to discuss TIAA’s lifetime income options in more detail, I can ask a TIAA Lifetime Income Consultant to join us on the call today.
TIAA Secure Income Account guaranteed lifetime income payments offer the benefit of predicable and protected monthly income that you cannot outlive.
As you review your recurring essential living expenses in retirement (e.g., housing, utilities, food, clothing, insurance premiums), you may find that income from other sources such as Social Security or pension plans doesn’t fully cover your recurring expenses. In this case, you may decide that choosing a stream of lifetime income to help cover this gap is worth exploring.
If you decide to use some or all of your balance in the TIAA Secure Income Account for lifetime income payments, you can be assured that you will have a guaranteed amount of income paid to you no matter how long you live. You can also select a two-life annuity so that payments continue to a loved one if you pass away before they do. You can also elect a guarantee period so that your beneficiary will continue to receive payments until the end of that guarantee period if you pass away before the end of the guarantee period.
If you’d like to discuss TIAA’s lifetime income options in more detail, I can ask a TIAA Lifetime Income Consultant to join us.
You can typically choose to elect to receive monthly, quarterly, semiannual or annual payments. As the annuitant, you have the ability to change the frequency of your payments once income has begun.
If you’d like to discuss TIAA’s lifetime income options in more detail, I can ask a TIAA Lifetime Income Consultant to join us.
Lifetime income payments from the TIAA Secure Income Account have two parts: the guaranteed minimum amount and any additional amounts that TIAA may choose to pay, which are not guaranteed.
Factors affecting the amount of initial lifetime income include your age when you wish to begin payments, the income option you choose, and the interest rate environment when you choose lifetime income.
Each year after payments begin, TIAA reviews its experience and determine if next year’s additional amounts will be increasing, staying the same, or decreasing. Of course, the payment amounts will always be greater than or equal to the guaranteed minimum amount determined according to the contract.
Changes in income, if any, are typically effective on January 1.
If you’d like to discuss TIAA’s lifetime income options in more detail, I can ask a TIAA Lifetime Income Consultant to join us.
Unlike lump-sum or periodic withdrawals, lifetime annuities provide income that never runs out. And, depending on the type of annuity you choose, you can have income continue to loved ones. You can choose what’s good for you and your family.
Subject to plan rules, the standard payment options include:
Importantly, you are also permitted to purchase multiple lifetime income streams over multiple time periods. For example, you can use a portion of your SIA balance to begin an initial stream of lifetime income. Then you can wait a few years while gauging your health status and financial circumstances and if you still have a balance in the SIA, you have the option to elect to use some or all of your remaining balance to begin a second stream of lifetime income.
If you’d like to discuss TIAA’s lifetime income options in more detail, I can ask a TIAA Lifetime Income Consultant to join us.
If you’re married and your plan is subject to ERISA, your spouse must receive at least 50% of your retirement income if you pass away before they do. They can waive these rights by signing a special form in the presence of a notary.
In fact, if you’re married, you can elect a number of options to continue payment to your spouse if you pass away before them. These include 100%, 75% or 50% to your spouse. You can also elect to pay two-thirds of the original payment to whoever survives.
If you’re not married, you can choose to receive income for your life only. You can also add a loved one (e.g., domestic partner, child, or sibling) as a second annuitant. Depending on your age and the age of your non-spouse second annuitant, some of the types of payment to a second annuitant may be limited.
If you’d like to discuss TIAA’s lifetime income options in more detail, I can ask a TIAA Lifetime Income Consultant to join us.
Yes. You can add a guarantee period that guarantees that payments will be made to one or more beneficiaries you select until the end of the period if you pass away before then. Of course, if you live beyond the guarantee period, TIAA continues to pay you. Commonly available guarantee periods include 10, 15, and 20 years. Choosing a guarantee period helps ease concerns that you may pass away shortly after beginning to receive lifetime income.
Similar to adding a loved one as a second annuitant, adding a guaranteed period will affect the amount of your income payments.
If you’d like to discuss TIAA’s lifetime income options in more detail, I can ask a TIAA Lifetime Income Consultant to join us.
If you choose to convert some or all of your balance in the TIAA Secure Income Account to guaranteed lifetime income payments, the cost to provide those payments, called the “purchase price,” will be withdrawn from your TIAA Secure Income Account. The process of beginning lifetime income payments is called “annuitizing.”
You select the form of annuity, the lives that are covered, any guarantee periods, the starting date and the frequency of payment.
For example, if you choose monthly payments, you’ll receive a check every month for life. If you elect to provide your spouse, partner or other loved one with a benefit upon your death, they’ll receive the benefit elected joint life payment for the rest of their life, if they survive you. Of course, each option that you choose can affect the amount of income you receive.
Once payments begin, you’ll receive a check or direct deposit from TIAA according to the frequency you choose.
Knowing that you’ll be receiving this steady protected income can be helpful in your budgeting process in retirement. If you’d like to discuss TIAA’s lifetime income options in more detail, I can ask a TIAA Lifetime Income Consultant to join us.
No. Once the balance is converted to lifetime income, TIAA places it into its reserves to make lifetime income payments. You are entitled to a guaranteed stream of income but you do not have an account balance.
If you’d like to discuss TIAA’s lifetime income options in more detail, I can ask a TIAA Lifetime Income Consultant to join us.
No. Once you convert to lifetime income, you cannot revoke that decision or change any second annuitant that you’ve already elected.
However, if you’ve chosen a guarantee period, you may change the beneficiary who would receive the remaining payments if you pass away before the end of the guaranteed period.
If you’d like to discuss TIAA’s lifetime income options in more detail, I can ask a TIAA Lifetime Income Consultant to join us.
If you don’t choose an annuity partner or a guarantee period, payments end at your death and TIAA retains any remaining amount in its reserves to support lifetime income payments for those who survive. If you choose an annuity partner, payments will continue to them if you pass away before they do.
If you choose a guarantee period and die before it ends, your beneficiaries will receive payments until the end of the guaranteed period according to the provisions of the contract/certificate. Some participants choose a guarantee period of up to 20 years to ease concerns about passing away shortly after beginning lifetime income payments.
If you’d like to discuss TIAA’s lifetime income options in more detail, I can ask a TIAA Lifetime Income Consultant to join us.
TIAA will send all payments after you convert to lifetime income. TIAA will also handle address changes, bank changes, tax paperwork, and customer support related to the lifetime income payments.
However, if you still have an account balance with us and you change your residence address with TIAA, you will also need to notify us separately of that change if you haven’t already.
If you’d like to discuss TIAA’s lifetime income options in more detail, I can ask a TIAA Lifetime Income Consultant to join us.
The SIA is designed with the goal of providing competitive amounts of lifetime income in retirement for participants who choose lifetime income. Two distinctive benefits not found in other fixed annuity solutions are made possible by TIAA’s sharing the profits approach and include:7
If you’d like to discuss TIAA’s lifetime income options in more detail, I can ask a TIAA Lifetime Income Consultant to join us.
Yes, if your plan allows for lifetime income as a distribution option. The only way for your savings to get access to the TIAA Secure Income Account is to subscribe to your plan’s asset allocation program. If you subscribe, then your balance will be allocated among investments included in the program, including, if applicable, the TIAA Secure Income Account. Be sure that you understand how your balance will be apportioned among plan investments before choosing to subscribe.
Then, once you have a balance in the TIAA Secure Income Account, you can convert some or all of the balance to lifetime income.
Keep in mind that although you may be able to subscribe to your plan’s asset allocation program late in your career, the amount of your lifetime income you can receive typically won’t be as much as if you had accumulated the same amount in the TIAA Secure Income Account over many years.
Generally speaking, the longer you invest and maintain those contributions in the TIAA Secure Income Account, the more lifetime income you can typically receive from TIAA if annuitization is elected. This is known as the TIAA Loyalty Bonus®8. If you’d like to discuss TIAA’s lifetime income options in more detail, I can ask a TIAA Lifetime Income Consultant to join us.
No, assuming your employer’s plan rules don’t state otherwise. In this case, you are free to convert only a portion of your account balance in the TIAA Secure Income Account to lifetime income. Your remaining balance will continue to receive crediting interest just as before annuitizing.
If you’d like to discuss TIAA’s lifetime income options in more detail, I can ask a TIAA Lifetime Income Consultant to join us.
Yes, “laddering” of lifetime income is allowed, depending on your employer’s plan rules. An approach that some employ is to convert a portion of the balance to lifetime income, then wait a few years to get a better handle on their budget and health condition before deciding whether to convert additional amounts to streams of lifetime income.
If you’d like to discuss TIAA’s lifetime income options in more detail, I can ask a TIAA Lifetime Income Consultant to join us.
I can ask a TIAA Lifetime Income Consultant to join us on this phone call, and they can walk you through the process to develop a customized lifetime income illustration for you.
Our first step is to ask a TIAA Lifetime Income Consultant to join our call to prepare a lifetime income illustration, showing you the estimated amount of income you can receive under several different options.
We can also request that a lifetime income initiation form be sent to you at the time the illustration is provided.
You can review the illustration, and if you decide to proceed, you can complete the form and return it based on the instructions provided in the form. Keep in mind that a member of your employer’s benefits office may need to sign the form before it’s submitted. In some cases, we, as the recordkeeper, can sign off.
If you’d like to discuss TIAA’s lifetime income options in more detail, I can ask a TIAA Lifetime Income Consultant to join us.
Typically, you cannot annuitize more from the TIAA Secure Income Account than the amount dictated by the asset allocation program in which you are invested.
You can withdraw or transfer your balance from the TIAA Secure Income Account any time and in any amount (depending on the rules of your employer’s plan). Keep in mind that withdrawals and transfers behave differently:
Withdrawals. If you make a partial withdrawal from your plan, you remain subscribed to the asset allocation program and rebalancing will continue. If you are still eligible under the plan to make contributions, you can continue to contribute to the program, and your contributions will be allocated according to the program’s rules.
Transfers. If you make a full or partial transfer out of the TIAA Secure Income Account, you are no longer subscribed to the asset allocation program. This means that you cannot contribute or transfer money to the TIAA Secure Income Account. If any money remains in the TIAA Secure Income Account after your voluntary transfer out, it may remain in the account and will continue to earn interest. However, you cannot contribute any more money to the TIAA Secure Income Account unless you re-subscribe to the asset allocation program.
Note that you will also not be able to contribute to the TIAA Secure Income Account if you transfer among any of the investment options in the asset allocation program. This type of transfer also unsubscribes you from the asset allocation program.
If your employer provides a plan loan program, you may take money out of the TIAA Secure Income Account to fund the loan, subject to the rules of your plan, the rules of the asset allocation program and applicable regulations.
Unless your plan requires liquidating your plan balance if you terminate employment, you could retain your balance in the TIAA Secure Income Account and have access to all of the benefits of the current structure, including the ability to elect lifetime income.
If your plan does require you to liquidate your balance upon termination, then you can rollover to a TIAA IRA that includes a similar TIAA fixed annuity.
Let me check your plan’s specific rules.
An annuity is a contract issued by an insurance company where the insurance company agrees to make regular payments to someone for life or for a fixed period. You can use an annuity to contribute and then receive lifetime income in retirement. There are different types of annuities.
The insurance company that issues the annuity backs the guarantee. For this reason, an important indicator of an insurance company's current financial health is its "claims-paying ability."
This is expressed as the financial strength rating assigned by independent rating agencies: Standard and Poor's, A.M. Best, Fitch, and Moody's. You can usually find an insurance company's financial strength ratings on their website. [Consider referring to the FAQs above that specify that TIAA is the insurance company offering the SIA and laying out TIAA’s ratings.]
Additional information:
You can use fixed annuities and mutual funds together as part of an integrated retirement savings and income strategy. A fixed annuity can provide a safe foundation along with the option to receive guaranteed income for life.
Mutual funds can complement this by offering the opportunity for additional growth through market exposure consistent with the strategy for the mutual fund. Importantly, fixed annuities like the SIA are insurance products, whereas mutual funds are SEC-registered and are considered securities.
Like most financial products, there are different types of annuities
With some, you contribute one amount and then you receive guaranteed income payments for life. You can begin receiving income right away or sometime later, depending on the type of annuity.
The TIAA Secure Income Account is designed to allow for ongoing contributions while you're contributing for retirement, which builds up an accumulated savings balance, along with the opportunity for lifetime income. While you're contributing, it protects your principal and credits a guaranteed rate of return to your account balance. When you retire, you can choose to convert some or all of your account balance to income payments you can’t outlive.
If you choose to take lifetime income, you have the flexibility to continue your payments to a loved one if you pass away before them.
Whatever amount you don't convert to lifetime income will continue to earn interest. You can withdraw at whatever pace suits your needs, depending on the rules of your employer's plan. Keep in mind that withdrawals made prior to age 59½ may be subject to a 10% federal tax penalty, in addition to ordinary income taxes.
If you’re required to take required minimum distributions (RMD), each full year of lifetime income payments will automatically satisfy this requirement in regard to the portion of your account applied to this benefit. Payments in the year you start to receive lifetime income will count toward satisfying the calculated RMD for that year.
Although we can’t provide tax or financial advice, the following guidance may be helpful. We encourage you to speak with your personal tax advisor.
The income you receive under a lifetime income election purchased with pretax contributions is generally fully taxable as ordinary income. However, if you have made after-tax contributions to the plan, all or part of your lifetime income may be tax free. The tax-free portion depends on how much you have contributed and the structure of the lifetime income.
The income you receive under a lifetime income election, purchased exclusively with post-tax contributions in a designated Roth (401(k)) account, can be excluded from your income for tax purposes if you satisfy the requirements for a qualified Roth distribution. Generally, this requires you to have participated in the Roth account for five taxable years, and to be at least age 59½ when income begins. Special rules apply in cases of distributions on account of death, disability, first-time home purchase (up to $10,000) or of amounts transferred from non-Roth accounts.
In general, yes, for payments within the United States. However, if you do not make an available election to withhold, federal income tax will be withheld from lifetime income as if you were married, claiming zero withholding allowances. Your state may also require its income tax be withheld. Special withholding rules apply to payments made overseas or to non-resident alien individuals.
Yes. TIAA can provide a Verification of Annuity letter upon request. This letter details your recurring payments from TIAA.
The TIAA Secure Income Account is not an investment for purposes of federal securities laws. It’s a guaranteed insurance contract backed by the claims-paying ability of TIAA, where TIAA credits guaranteed interest rates.
TIAA aims to invest the contributions it receives in investments that earn more than the guaranteed interest rates. TIAA retains the difference (if any) between investment earnings and the guaranteed crediting rates. This difference is used to help offset TIAA’s expenses and risks, and provide a return on the capital TIAA holds to support the guarantees. The amount of the difference that TIAA may earn is not guaranteed and may change.
The TIAA Secure Income Account does not include an identifiable “expense ratio” or “fee” like you might see published for a mutual fund or a variable annuity.
Under some contracts, TIAA collects a recordkeeping fee. The amount of this recordkeeping fee is subtracted from the gross interest rates that TIAA credits under the contract. The amount of the recordkeeping fee is then paid to us for servicing the plan and participant accounts.
If you have questions or need additional information, please contact TIAA_DCIO_Support@tiaa.org. TIAA will be happy to help you. Please do not provide this e-mail address to participants, nor include any participant personally identifiable information in any e-mails you send to TIAA at this address.
* TIAA Secure Income Account is issued by Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America (TIAA), New York, NY.
1 TIAA Secure Income Account is a guaranteed insurance contract and not an investment for federal securities law purposes. Any guarantees under annuities issued by TIAA are subject to TIAA's claims-paying ability.
2 TIAA may share profits with TIAA Secure Income Account owners through 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. Lifetime income payments may include a TIAA Loyalty Bonus® which is discretionary and determined annually.
3 Results based on averages for retirement dates each month from 1/1/1994 to 4/1/2025. This compares “long-term contributors” vs. “new contributors” to highlight the difference in initial income. The “long-term contributor” represents a participant who has accumulated savings in TIAA Traditional. The “new contributor” represents a participant who has accumulated savings outside of TIAA Traditional. The new contributor annuitizes the same dollar amount as a long-term contributor when both participants reach retirement. The new contributor deposits their savings into TIAA Traditional the day before annuity payments begin, when both the new and long-term contributors are age 67. Both select a single life annuity with a 10-year guaranteed period. 376 individual retirement month cohorts were analyzed. The long-term contributor assumes level monthly premiums over the stated investment periods. Percentage represents the average difference in initial income over each of the time periods for a long-term contributor vs. a new contributor. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.
4 As of December 31, 2024, assets under management (AUM) across Nuveen Investments affiliates and TIAA investment management teams were $1,387 billion.
5 As of December 31, 2024, assets under management (AUM) across Nuveen Investments affiliates and TIAA investment management teams were $1,387 billion.
6 TIAA may share profits with TIAA Secure Income Account owners through 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. Lifetime income payments may include a TIAA Loyalty Bonus® which is discretionary and determined annually.
7 TIAA may share profits with TIAA Secure Income Account owners through 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. Lifetime income payments may include a TIAA Loyalty Bonus® which is discretionary and determined annually.
8 TIAA may share profits with TIAA Secure Income Account owners through 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. Lifetime income payments may include a TIAA Loyalty Bonus® which is discretionary and determined annually.
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