I should probably start opening mail I get from them. Thanks.
I still have the Vanguard account from my previous university (I'm on the state pension plan at my new place). I haven't checked it in 5 years. My plan is to just ignore and hope that I'll be pleasantly surprised when I finally check it out.
I have an ancient TIAA-CREF account that keeps reminding me that they aren't taking any new customers in that account, and I keep not figuring out if it's worthwhile to put money in it.
Uh, WTF is an "adjustable rate guarantee"? We guarantee your return will be some number we choose! We'll pick a good number, we promise!
What are they trying to say in the part starting "provides the potential for higher total credited rates"? My best guess is it's muddying the waters, and the truest part is that if one rolls over amounts from other higher-earning accounts, they'll be able to falsely calculate performance as >3%.
Big picture connection: whenever companies talk about something letting them be more efficient, flexible, etc. that should be presumed to mean accruing to them in profit, not their customers, unless proven otherwise beyond a reasonable doubt.
An adjustable rate guarantee doesn't sound like a guarantee at all (OK, it's a guarantee of 1%, at least until they decide to close that to new contributions).
What are they trying to say in the part starting "provides the potential for higher total credited rates"?
Most favourable reading - no longer having to ensure a minimum yield of 3% means they can invest a larger proportion of the portfolio in assets with greater variability in returns, but higher returns on average.
My company had full healthcare coverage on an HMO plan with no employee contribution that included spouse and all dependents--until two weeks after I started. We now have to contribute for spouse and dependents. The saddest part, as it's an employee "owned" company (ESOP), was listening to coworkers justify it as the only responsible thing to do to ensure the longterm fiduciary health of the company aka the value of their options. One woman threw in that the previous policy incentivized indiscriminate baby-making.
I have an employer-paid health plan with no employee contribution for dependents, laydeez.
That should have been in quotes. I have nice health insurance, but the employee contribution is hundreds of dollars a month, even if I didn't have any dependents I like enough to pay for their coverage.
Surely you're not locked into having all of your retirement funding in annuities? TIAA-CREF has all sorts of different funds; I put most of my retirement in some of their index funds that get much higher returns than the TIAA Traditional account that letter is about.
You people used to be punk rock.
Second 10. An annuity product like TIAA Traditional is awesomely conservative. My impression of TIAA-CREF is that they're basically the good guys. Be glad your college doesn't do Fidelity or Vanguard!
Let's all post our SAT scores and annualized rates of return.
You guys are getting interest on your SAT scores?
In three more decades, I'll have a perfect score.
12: why do you think TIAA-CREF is better than Vanguard?
I put my money in whatever thing it was that had the highest matched contributions by my employer. I do remember having to make some choices and splitting stuff up according to how risky I felt like being. But I have no idea without looking it up how much of my retirement is in this particular thing, if I was given the choice to split. All these fund names are just unmemorable mumbo jumbo.
I can pick any TIAA-CREF or Vanguard fund for a 150% match. I think this explains why there's almost nobody over 60 working here.
12, 16: I had thought (without actually looking it up) that TIAA-CREF had higher fees than Vanguard.
16) nothing specific, perhaps some poor interactions with Vanguard reps at my last workplace. It also is nice to have a not-for-profit in charge of this stuff.
I have a cash balance plan that used to guarantee 6.5%. They sent out a letter saying that under new IRS rules they could guarantee no more than 5.
I currently contribute to my 403 b, but since there's no matching I sometimes wonder whether it wouldn't be better to max out my Vanguard IRA. My 403(b) is with Fidelity, and their fees are outrageous. Somebody is actually dying MIT, arguing that by failing to aggressively negotiate on retirement account fees they were breaching their fiduciary duties.
Somebody is actually dying MIT
Red and gray (blood on concrete) are the school colors.
Suing. I yet have typed the d and then Apple autocorrected.