TIAA-CREF today announced that its Growth & Income Fund, Institutional Class, was awarded a 2008 Lipper Fund Award for five year risk adjusted performance in Lipper's large-cap core category.
The Lipper Award for Best Fund over Five Years in the large-cap core category recognizes the fund's strong five-year risk-adjusted performance for the period ended Dec. 31, 2007. The fund's performance, under the direction of portfolio manager Susan Kempler and the domestic large-cap core portfolio management team, ranked number one out of 565 funds in the Lipper category.1
TIAA-CREF helps meet the financial needs of 3.4 million individuals and more than 15,000 institutions in the academic, research, medical and cultural fields. Through TIAA-CREF Asset Management, a division of Teachers Advisors, Inc., TIAA-CREF provides institutional investors and intermediaries with access to the TIAA-CREF organization's 90 years of investing experience.
"This award is further validation of our investment philosophy, which seeks to deliver consistent growth for our investors over the long term," said Scott Evans, Executive Vice President, Asset Management. "While past performance can't guarantee future results, shareholders of the Growth & Income Fund have clearly benefited from our long-term perspective and disciplined stock selection process."
The TIAA-CREF Growth & Income Fund's 2008 Lipper Fund Award is one of several accolades for TIAA-CREF's investment offerings this year. In February, for the second year in a row, TIAA-CREF earned a place among the top 10 mutual fund families according to the annual Lipper/Barron's Fund Family Survey, ranking nine out of 67 fund families based on asset-weighted returns for the 12-month period ending December 31, 20072. In addition, more than 70 percent of TIAA-CREF's mutual funds and variable annuity accounts have exceeded their Morningstar median over the past three and five years as of March 31, 2008.3
The 2008 Lipper Fund Awards were presented in New York on April 9.
All TIAA-CREF mutual funds are subject to various risk factors. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. TIAA-CREF Individual & Institutional Services, LLC and Teachers Personal Investors Services, Inc., members FINRA, distribute securities products.
You should consider the investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses carefully before investing. Please call 877-518-9161, or go to www.tiaa-cref.org for a current prospectus that contains this and other information. Please read the prospectus carefully before investing.
Current performance has been impacted by recent market volatility. Please go to www.tiaa-cref.org/performance for more performance information for the Institutional Class Mutual Funds.
About TIAA-CREF Asset Management
TIAA-CREF Asset Management®, a division of Teachers Advisors, Inc., provides institutional investors and other intermediaries with access to the TIAA-CREF® organization's sophisticated investment management, research and analytical capabilities. Its investment strategies cover a wide spectrum of asset classes, from traditional equity and fixed income to real estate and other alternatives.
With $420 billion in combined assets under management as of March 31, 2008, TIAA-CREF is best known as the leading provider of retirement services in the academic, research, medical and cultural fields and one of the largest institutional real estate investors in the U.S. with more than $69 billion invested in real estate assets.
Teachers Advisors, Inc. is a registered investment advisor and wholly owned subsidiary of Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association (TIAA). TIAA, TIAA-CREF, Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association, TIAA-CREF Asset Management and FINANCIAL SERVICES FOR THE GREATER GOOD are registered trademarks of Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association.
Annuity products are issues by TIAA (Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association), New York, NY.
1The highest Lipper leader for consistent return (effective return) value within each eligible classification determines the fund classification winner over three, five or ten years. Funds must have at least 36 months of performance history as of the end of the evaluation year. The Growth & Income Fund, Institutional Class, ranked in the 4th percentile within its category over one year.
2The Lipper/Barron's Fund Family Survey, published on February 4, 2008, ranks each fund's total return (adding back 12b-1 fees) and weighs the rankings by its proportion of the fund family's offerings and finally by a Lipper category ratio (e.g., general equity). Each fund's score is added up to get the fund family score. TIAA-CREF was ranked 7th (of 67) for the period ending December 31, 2006 and 9th (of 67) for the period ending December 31, 2007 and 38 (of 62) for the five-year period ended December 31, 2006. Please note that due to our recent fund merger in the spring of 2007 and the subsequent change in inception dates for a number of our funds, the TIAA-CREF fund family was not eligible for inclusion in the 5 and 10 year rankings.
3The Morningstar median represents the midpoint of an index of comparable funds/accounts grouped on factors such as investment objective and asset class.
© 2009 and prior years, Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association - College Retirement Equities Fund (TIAA-CREF), New York, NY 10017
