TIAA-CREF - stay put or transfer to Vanguard

[PartTime]

I have a little over $3,300 in a 403b from a previous employer.

I was thinking about rolling it over into an IRA at Vanguard. However, when I went to look at the current fund in which it is invested: TLQIX seems pretty good with a low expense of 0.12% and the annualized 5yr return of 8.62%. I would have liked to see a 10yr return, but it seems the fund hasn't been around that long.

If I keep the money invested for 10 more years, is it worthwhile to bother transferring to Vanguard? The current 0.12% seems pretty low already and the fund seems like it is doing OK.

Thanks

[Holyoak]

Hey PartTime,

I really see nothing compelling to do the move, at least not like your hair is on fire.  I had just north of $100k in an IRA with TIAA-CREF that I did roll over to Vanguard, and glad I did.  Overall fee structure was a lot better, and it got me to Flagship status with Vanguard. 
Now, if it were like I see with some folks who have ridiculous high cost options (Index 500 funds pegged at 1.35% ER), then yeah, I would be singing another tune.  I do have to wonder, would you even get that good of an ER with Vanguard, for a similar target dated fund, investing under $10k (non-admiral shares)?

Good luck.

[Shane]

.12% expenses are pretty low, so as Holyoak said, you may not qualify for a better rate at Vanguard unless you've already got an IRA there that you could potentially roll the TIAA-CREF money into. I think the total has to be >$10K in one fund at Vanguard to qualify for the "Admiral Shares," which just means you get a lower rate.

If it were me and I could, I would take the money out of TIAA-CREF and move it to Vanguard, just on principle. TIAA-CREF sends me so much crap in the mail every month, mostly ads for insurance or other stuff I don't want/need, that I've grown to dislike them. Vanguard never sends me anything in the mail. They send me solicitations by email, but on those I can just hit delete. Every time I get some glossy brochure in the mail from TIAA-CREF all I can think of is that I am paying for their crappy ads in the form of higher than necessary expenses on their funds. As soon as I can get all of my money out of TIAA-CREF, I am going to!

[nereo]

Because the fees are low in either case, my advice is not to let the cart drive the horse.  In other words, you should base your decisions on what you want to be asset allocation to be.  TLQIX is a mixed fund that has a mixture of stocks (70%) and bonds (30%).  If that's what your IPS, keep the money there. IF not, roll it over and invest it in what you want.

If you don't have an IPS - now's a good time to make one.  Let that guide your financial decisions.

[seattlecyclone]

There's nothing wrong with your current fund. I would personally be inclined to roll it over into my IRA so I have fewer accounts to keep track of, but there's no compelling financial reason why moving the money should be a high priority.

[mizchief]

Verify that the expense ratio is really .12% and that TIAA-CREF isn't imposing an additional fee.  I just discovered an additional 1% in my 403(b) account that I was not aware of !  I would look a the information on-line at your institution and also ask the TIAA-CREFF rep at your institution. 

[BarkyardBQ]

There's nothing wrong with your current fund. I would personally be inclined to roll it over into my IRA so I have fewer accounts to keep track of, but there's no compelling financial reason why moving the money should be a high priority.

What about the possible custodial fees or management fees usually imposed on employer sponsored plans.

TIAA takes a nice chunk out of my dads old 403b every quarter, and I keep trying to get my parents to roll it over to a Vanguard IRA.

[Trudie]

We have most of our retirement with TIAA-CREF due to my husband's employment with a college.  I do know that TIAA-CREF just implemented a new fee structure with a couple of tiers.  Since my funds were rolled in from outside I pay a bit higher in fees.  I haven't looked at them in a wee bit.

If your fees are already pretty darn good I wouldn't split fine hairs.  I appreciate some of the other service I get from TIAA-CREF, like a free advisor (since our net worth is over 500K).  He doesn't do things we don't wish him to do, but it's nice to have a point of contact when we need something done and don't want to navigate the phone tree.  I also like some of their tools and econometric modeling packages, so I feel like we get extra value.

We have not had the problem of them hitting us with all kinds of materials to buy other products.  In fact, since we signed up for electronic statements a couple of years ago we hardly get anything from them at all.

I do keep most of our unqualified money with Vanguard.