About to transfer from TIAA to Vanguard - any last words?

[OzzieandHarriet]

I have a 401k from my former employer with about $500k in it that's been sitting there for the 5 years since I left that job. I want to move it all to Vanguard funds to lower costs. My question for you all: is there any reason NOT to do this? Is there any benefit to staying at TIAA? The only one I can think of is that they offer the option to convert some or all of the account to an annuity, but not sure I really need one. My husband and together have another $1.5 million saved, we have no kids, house is paid off, no debt. I'm 60 and he's 58 and is planning to retire sometime in the next 6 months.

My TIAA account has done pretty well over the past 5 years - about 8% rate of return.

[brute]

No reason so stick with TIAA. Several months ago we inherited a TIAA retirement account. Moved it to vanguard. It's doing better than the other people who left it at TIAA, it's easier to track, and has lower fees. So yeah, Vanguard all the way.

[DrumAllDay]

The TIAA traditional guaranteed fund and their real estate funds are unique and good options to consider in my opinion. That is if you have access to them.

Other than that I think it's a good call to get the lower fees at Vanguard.

I currently have a 403b I contribute to with TIAA but about a year ago I switched over my entire Roth that I opened with them over to Vanguard and have been happy I did.

[Catica]

I have a 401k from my former employer with about $500k in it that's been sitting there for the 5 years since I left that job. I want to move it all to Vanguard funds to lower costs. My question for you all: is there any reason NOT to do this? Is there any benefit to staying at TIAA? The only one I can think of is that they offer the option to convert some or all of the account to an annuity, but not sure I really need one. My husband and together have another $1.5 million saved, we have no kids, house is paid off, no debt. I'm 60 and he's 58 and is planning to retire sometime in the next 6 months.

My TIAA account has done pretty well over the past 5 years - about 8% rate of return.

I just did exactly that.  Transferred from TIAA to Vanguard all my money except what I had in TIAA Traditional and left a bit in case I decided to invest in Real Estate, which I haven't decided yet. 

[OzzieandHarriet]

I guess I need to educate myself a bit more because I don't know how TIAA Traditional works. I currently have my money invested in a handful of funds, but none of them have that title. I hope this doesn't sound stupid, but my understanding was that I could convert that to either a fixed or variable annuity when I "retire" (am I already retired? not sure!) that is called TIAA Traditional. How is that a unique fund?

[DrumAllDay]

I looked into the details of Traditional like a year ago so take this for what it is worth. Also I am far from retirement...

But, I believe Traditional is only offered by some employers and if you have it it is a guaranteed return. Right now mine is 4%.

The nice thing about it is yes you can convert it to an annuity or keep receiving the rate of return. The thing you should look into (if you have Traditional) is that the more money you put in earlier in your career (the longer it's been in Traditional) the better your annuity will be. Again, this is my understanding of it from looking into it a year or so ago. At the time I decided to use it as a part of my asset allocation because I still have many years until I retire or would choose to withdraw. 

It's a unique fund that you may or may not want to keep considering Vanguard does not have anything like it.

Here are some links for info about it: https://www.tiaa.org/public/offer/products/annuities/retirement-plan-annuities/tiaa-traditional-annuity
https://www.tiaa.org/public/offer/products/annuities/retirement-plan-annuities/tiaa-traditional-annuity/how-will-you-fund-your-retirement