Thanks, folks. Really appreciate the advice. I'm bad at this stuff. Vanguard it is!

Generally TIAA sets up individual annuities for participants and depending on the type of plan, you could be stuck unable to access more than 10% of your account annually - even if you leave and want to rollover to another employer, or fully retire. Given a choice between the two, I'd probably pick Vanguard for flexibility and funds.

TIAA also has changed its funds in the last 2-3 years to increase fees and cut back on rates for new investments. I have never seen Vanguard do this for customers with existing funds.

IMHO, even if you want passive investing, it is worth putting your eggs in more than one basket. For example, you could consider building a target date retirement fund at more than one company.

TIAA-CREF was initially formed and designed to serve the educational community only. They have changed, yet their services IMO are pretty poor in a very competitive market. Use Vanguard.

TIAA CREF apparently have less options and less flexibility. Or so we were told when my employer left their plan recently (after about 5 decades).

Vanguard for the low fees. I've also heard that Tiaa tends to be conservative, so if you are younger, this may be another reason to go with vanguard (if true).

Anonymous wrote:I'm staring at the retirement account options and I have absolutely no idea which I should choose. Both would be accounts tied to my retirement date that would put the investments on autopilot (i.e., Easy Mode).

Does anyone have an opinion? Thanks!

Both are reputable companies. If this is a tax-deferred account, I would max out and go with the one where the funds have the lowest fees (probably Vanguard).

I'm staring at the retirement account options and I have absolutely no idea which I should choose. Both would be accounts tied to my retirement date that would put the investments on autopilot (i.e., Easy Mode).

Does anyone have an opinion? Thanks!