TIAA-CREF

UAHuntsville offers the following through TIAA-CREF as an additional retirement program:

1. Retirement Annuities (RA's)
2. Supplemental Retirement Annuities (SRA's)

Faculty, Administrators, and Exempt staff employees are eligible to participate in either or both the RA or the SRA.

Non-exempt employees are eligible to participate in the SRA.

Costs: Employees may contribute a percentage of salary or a fixed dollar amount. The University matches the employees' contribution up to a maximum of 5% for faculty, administrators, and exempt staff.

Vesting: Vesting is immediate!!

Benefits: This is a defined contribution plan. The amount of retirement income is determined by the number of years of participation, the amount of premiums paid each year, age at time of retirement, the investment experience of TIAA and CREF, the income option selected at retirement and other factors.

Taxes: Participation in an RA is on either a tax reduction basis (pre-tax) or a salary deduction (after tax basis). All SRA contributions are done on a tax-deferred basis. If employees contribute on a tax-deferred basis, the result is less tax withheld and more take-home dollars in each paycheck. These contributions are not taxed until they are withdrawn, which usually occurs at retirement when the applicable tax rate will be lower for most individuals.

Tax Limits: The IRS limit on 403 (b) tax deferrals is $15,500 per year. If over age 50 one can tax-defer and additional $5,000 or $20,500 total.

Investment Options: TIAA-CREF participants have a wide variety of investment options. They may allocate their contributions between TIAA (a fixed dollar annuity) or CREF (a variable annuity). Participants choose how to invest their contributions and any matching contributions. Future allocation of premiums can be changed at any time. Quarterly reports provide participants with information regarding their annuity contributions, performance evaluations and information on the various accounts offered.

To learn more about TIAA-CREF visit their web site at: tiaa-cref.org/uah or tiaa-cref.org