OK. I get it. TDA in my case = 403b. What I don't get is why what I see different plans when I look at my TIAA account. The money the employer contributes to my account goes into DEFINED CONTRIBUTION RETIREMENT PLAN and the money I contribute go to TAX-DEFERRED ANNUITY PLAN. Why is that? what's the difference?
That's a great question for whoever generates the statements with those labels. Otherwise, no way to determine if those are merely arbitrary and confusing labels, or if there is real meaning behind them.
That's my point, I don't know if these labels are something that's a common knowledge to everyone here and it's me who just I doesn't understand or if it's something that just makes everyone even more confused!
And would I be better off if I told my employer to send my contributions to Vanguard rather than TIAA?
Maybe. To understand better, we would need to see the list of your investment options using the format suggested in https://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/investor-alley/what-to-do-with-my-money-89254/msg1939276/#msg1939276.
Ok, I followed the format you posted in that message and here is what I've got:
Emergency funds: right now $40K since it’s in a savings account, but want to make it more like $10K and invest the $30K into something
Debt: $0
Tax Filing Status: Single
Tax Rate: 22% Federal, 5.1% State
State of Residence: MA
Age: 41
Desired Asset allocation: No idea
Desired International allocation: No idea
Current retirement assets
Taxable
I don’t have any %, I have $30K in savings account
xx% cash (for investing – do not include emergency funds)
xx% fund name (ticker symbol) (expense ratio)
xx% stock company name (ticker symbol)
401k
NONE
Roth IRA at Vanguard
NONE
Rollover IRA at Schwab
NONE
403b
xx% fund name (ticker symbol) (expense ratio) - Where do I find this??????
Company match? Flat 9.5%, no matching
SIMPLE IRA at Fidelity
NONE
IRA at Vanguard
NONE
Total of All Accounts Together (not each account individually) should equal 100%.
Contributions
New annual Contributions
$9300 403b
Available funds
Funds available in 403(b)
Fund Name: CREF Money Market Account (R3), Ticker symbol: QCMMIX, Expense ratio: 0.23%
Fund name: CREF Stock Account (R3), Ticker symbol: QCSTIX, Expense ratio: 0.32%
Fund name: TIAA Real Estate Account, Ticker symbol: QREARX, Expense ratio: 0.85%
Fund name: TIAA-CREF International Equity Fund (Institutional), Ticker symbol: TIIEX, Expense ratio: 0.49%
Fund name: TIAA-CREF Lifecycle Index Retirement Income Fund (Institutional), Ticker symbol: TRILX, Expense ratio: 0.10%
Fund name: TIAA-CREF Mid-Cap Value Fund (Institutional), Ticker symbol: TIMVX, Expense ratio: 0.41%
Fund name: TIAA-CREF S&P 500 Index Fund (Institutional), Ticker symbol: TISPX, Expense ratio: 0.06%