8 TIAA Clients Recognized for Excellence in Investment and Financial Education

TIAA and eight of the retirement provider’s defined contribution clients across different segments won eight 2021 Eddy Awards for campaigns that excelled at providing investment and financial education to retirement plan participants.

Pensions & Investments, a publication for pension, portfolio and investment management executives, sponsors the annual awards program and announced the honors on March 9. The full list of winners will be published in print and online on March 22.

“Collaborating with our clients to develop creative strategies to support employee financial well-being is why TIAA exists, and it’s what we’ve done for more than 100 years,” said Paul DiCesare, of TIAA’s Workplace Retirement Enrollment and Education team. “It’s great that our clients’ commitment to building participant financial wellness has been recognized in this way.”

Details on the awards

In the special projects category, which showcases special investment education and communication programs through simple engagements or complex multi-pronged campaigns, awards went to: 

• Caltech – First place for its online education campaign that included global and custom webinars and postcard series, with more than 700 participants attending.

• Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University –  Second place for its Savings and Match campaign, in which 15 out of 155 participants (10%) saving at 3% increased contributions to 3.5% or higher to take advantage of the full match; 15 out of 72 participants (12%) saving less than 3% increased contributions; and 69 out of 112 employees not contributing started contributing, a 62% increase.​

 In the conversions and consolidations category, recognizing campaigns devoted to explaining the move to a new record-keeper and the consolidations of record-keepers by 403(b) plans, winners were: 

• Howard University – First place for its sole record-keeping transition in which nearly $300 million in assets were transferred to TIAA.

• Virginia Retirement System – First place for its vendor consolidation. With the removal of the former service provider, the system wanted to ensure participants understood the change and their options. A communication and education campaign began months in advance, leading to an early access period, when participants could choose between TIAA and another service provider. Afterward, TIAA stayed connected with participants until the changes took effect.

• Harvard University – Second place for its sole record-keeping transition of $3 billion in assets and 35,000 accounts, the largest asset transfer in TIAA history.

​In the financial wellness category, which recognizes efforts to take a holistic view of employees’ financial well-being outside of traditional retirement programs, winners were: 

• NYU Langone Health – First place for a three-part program that integrated financial wellness, a new financial education center and a webinar series to help employees: manage daily finances; save, plan and invest for retirement and other goals; and protect against key financial risks. NYU Langone Health and TIAA worked to deliver a financial wellness program designed to help participants receive the best retirement outcomes, while addressing barriers that get in the way of long-term savings. The result was a more engaged and financially educated workforce.

• St. Jude – Third place for its focus on broad financial wellness while improving retirement plan numbers and for its impact on student loan debt through public service loan forgiveness. As a result of the program, participation in the retirement plan increased from 65% to 80%, average savings levels rose by 25%, and projected income in retirement climbed by nearly $2,000 per participant.​

 In pre-retirement preparation, recognizing organizations that have done an exceptional job at educating participants ages 55 and older on the steps needed for a financially secure retirement, winners were:   

• Southeastern Universities Research Association/Jefferson Lab – Second place for its virtual retirement education days. Topics included: retiree medical, income planning, estate planning and long-term care.

 About TIAA

With an award-winning¹ track record for consistent investment performance, TIAA (TIAA.org) is the leading provider of financial services in the academic, research, medical, cultural and government fields. TIAA has $1.3 trillion in assets under management (as of 12/31/2020²) and offers a wide range of financial solutions, including investing, banking, advice and education, and retirement services.

¹ The Refinitiv Lipper Fund Awards are based on the Lipper Leader for Consistent Return rating, which is a risk-adjusted performance measure calculated over 36, 60 and 120 months. Lipper Leaders fund ratings do not constitute and are not intended to constitute investment advice or an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any security of any entity in any jurisdiction. For more information, see lipperfundawards.com.  Lipper Fund Awards from Refinitiv, ©2020 Refinitiv. All rights reserved. Used under license.  The Award is based on a review of risk-adjusted performance of 39 companies for 2016, 36 for 2017, 35 for 2018 & 2019, and 30 for 2020. The award pertains only to the TIAA-CREF mutual funds in the mixed-asset category.  Without such waivers ratings could be lower. Past performance does not guarantee future results. For current performance, rankings and prospectuses, please visit TIAA.org. 

² Based on approximately $1.3 trillion of assets under management across Nuveen affiliates and TIAA investment management teams as of 12/31/2020.

Investment, insurance and annuity products are not FDIC insured, are not bank guaranteed, are not deposits, are not insured by any federal government agency, are not a condition to any banking service or activity, and may lose value. TIAA-CREF Individual & Institutional Services, LLC, Member FINRA, distributes securities products. Annuity contracts and certificates are issued by Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America (TIAA) and College Retirement Equities Fund (CREF), New York, NY. Each is solely responsible for its own financial condition and contractual obligations.

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