Guidance for Your University Retirement Account — Whatever Plan You're In

Your university retirement account is likely the largest asset you'll ever manage. Whether your institution uses TIAA, Fidelity, Vanguard, or a combination of all three, we help university employees, administrators, and nonprofit hospital physicians understand what they have, what their options are, and how to make decisions they'll feel confident about for years to come. We receive no compensation from any retirement plan provider — our only obligation is to you.

We Know These Plans from the Inside Out

Most financial advisors treat a 403(b) like a slightly different 401(k). We don't. University and nonprofit hospital retirement plans have structures, investment options, and distribution rules that don't exist anywhere else in the financial planning world — and getting the details wrong can be costly. Our advisors have spent careers working within these plan ecosystems, including direct professional experience with TIAA, and that background shapes how we read a plan statement, evaluate an investment lineup, and think through income-phase decisions.

We work with clients across all three major plan providers:

• TIAA — including TIAA Traditional annuity mechanics, accumulation-phase allocation decisions, and income options at retirement
• Fidelity — including 403(b) investment selection, contribution strategy, and rollover analysis
• Vanguard — including low-cost index fund allocation, consolidation planning, and distribution sequencing

Whatever your institution uses, we can work with it.

What We Actually Help You Figure Out

The questions we hear most often from university employees and nonprofit hospital physicians aren't abstract — they're specific, high-stakes, and often time-sensitive. Here's where we spend most of our time:

• Reviewing your current investment allocations across TIAA, Fidelity, or Vanguard and identifying whether they still fit your timeline and income needs
• Modeling retirement income scenarios so you can see what different distribution strategies actually produce month to month
• Analyzing rollover decisions — including when rolling out of a plan makes sense and when staying put is the smarter move
• Explaining TIAA Traditional annuity options in plain language, including the Retirement Transition Benefit, Transfer Payout Annuity, and lifetime income elections
• Coordinating your retirement account strategy with your pension, Social Security timing, and any other income sources
• Reviewing beneficiary designations and account titling as part of a complete financial picture

The TIAA Traditional Annuity — Explained Clearly

TIAA Traditional is one of the most valuable assets a university employee can hold — and one of the most misunderstood. It credits a guaranteed minimum interest rate with the potential for additional amounts, and it offers lifetime income options that few other products can match. But it also comes with transfer restrictions and distribution rules that can catch people off guard if they haven't planned ahead. 

The decision of what to do with TIAA Traditional at retirement, whether to annuitize, use a Transfer Payout Annuity, or take a different path, is one of the most consequential choices you'll make. It's also largely irreversible once initiated. We walk through every available option with you, model the income implications of each, and help you decide what fits your situation before any election is made. As fiduciaries, we're obligated to act in your best interest regardless of which option you choose. That obligation matters here more than almost anywhere else in the planning process.

Why Fiduciary Advice Changes the Calculation

Every major retirement plan provider employs financial consultants who are available to participants at no direct charge. That service has genuine value — but it also has a structural limit. A consultant employed by your plan provider can only advise within that provider's products and platform. They cannot tell you whether rolling assets to a different institution makes sense, compare your plan's investment options against outside alternatives, or evaluate your full financial picture across multiple accounts and income sources. 

We operate as fiduciaries, obligated to act in your best interest rather than any plan provider's. We receive no referral fees, no platform compensation, and no provider bonuses of any kind. Our fee comes from you, and our recommendations are accountable only to your financial goals. That structure allows us to give you advice your in-house plan consultant structurally cannot, including the honest answer when we believe the best move is to stay exactly where you are.

Frequently Asked Questions About University Retirement Accounts