SUMMARY PROSPECTUS
OCTOBER 1, 2011
TIAA-CREF GLOBAL NATURAL RESOURCES FUND
of the TIAA-CREF Funds
Class Ticker: Retail TNRLX Retirement TNRRX Premier TNRPX Institutional TNRIX
Before you invest, you may want to review the Fund’s prospectus, which contains more information about the Fund and its risks. You can find the Fund’s prospectus and other information about the Fund online at www.tiaa-cref.org/tcfgnr. You can also get this information at no cost by calling 800 223-1200 or by sending an e-mail request to disclosure@tiaa-cref.org. The Fund’s prospectus and Statement of Additional Information (“SAI”), each dated October 1, 2011, as subsequently supplemented, are incorporated into this Summary Prospectus by reference and may be obtained free of charge at the website, phone number or e-mail address noted above.
INVESTMENT OBJECTIVE
The Fund seeks a favorable long-term total return, mainly through capital appreciation, from investments related to the natural resources sector.
FEES AND EXPENSES
This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy and hold shares of the Fund:
SHAREHOLDER FEES (deducted directly from gross amount of transaction)
Retail | Retirement
| Premier | Institutional | |||||
Maximum Sales Charge Imposed on Purchases | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | ||||
Maximum Deferred Sales Charge | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | ||||
Maximum
Sales Charge Imposed on Reinvested | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | ||||
Redemption or Exchange Fee (on shares held less than 60 days) | 2.00% | 2.00% | 2.00% | 2.00% | ||||
Account
Maintenance Fee | $15.00 | 0% | 0% | 0% |
TIAA-CREF Global Natural Resources Fund ■ Summary Prospectus 1
ANNUAL FUND OPERATING EXPENSES (expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)
|
| Retail Class |
| Retirement Class |
| Premier Class |
| Institutional Class |
|
Management Fees | 0.65% | 0.65% | 0.65% | 0.65% | |||||
Distribution (Rule 12b-1) Fees | 0.25% | — | 0.15% | — | |||||
Other Expenses1 | 0.32% | 0.43% | 0.18% | 0.18% | |||||
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses | 1.22% | 1.08% | 0.98% | 0.83% | |||||
Waivers and Expense Reimbursements2 | 0.08% | 0.08% | 0.08% | 0.08% | |||||
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Fee Waiver and/or Expense Reimbursement | 1.14% |
| 1.00% |
| 0.90% |
| 0.75% |
| |
1 | Other Expenses are estimates because the Fund is newly operational. | ||||||||
2 | Under the Fund’s expense reimbursement arrangements, the Fund’s investment adviser, Teachers Advisors, Inc. (“Advisors”), has contractually agreed to reimburse the Fund for any Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses (excluding Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses and extraordinary expenses) that exceed: (i) 1.14% of average daily net assets for Retail Class shares; (ii) 1.00% of average daily net assets for Retirement Class shares; (iii) 0.90% of average daily net assets for Premier Class shares; and (iv) 0.75% of average daily net assets for Institutional Class shares of the Fund. These expense reimbursement arrangements will continue through at least October 31, 2012, unless changed with approval of the Board of Trustees. | ||||||||
Example
This example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in shares of the Fund with the cost of investing in other mutual funds. The example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then redeem all your shares at the end of those periods. The example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund’s operating expenses, before expense reimbursements, remain the same. The example assumes that the Fund’s expense reimbursement agreement will remain in place through October 31, 2012 but that there will be no waiver or expense reimbursement agreement in effect thereafter. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:
| Retail Class |
| Retirement Class |
| Premier Class |
| Institutional Class |
| ||||
1 Year | $ | 116 | $ | 102 | $ | 92 | $ | 77 | ||||
3 Years | $ | 379 | $ | 336 | $ | 304 | $ | 257 | ||||
PORTFOLIO TURNOVER
The Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when Fund shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in annual fund operating expenses or in the example, affect the Fund’s performance. Because the Fund is newly operational, it does not have a portfolio turnover rate as of the date of this prospectus.
2 Summary Prospectus ■ TIAA-CREF Global Natural Resources Fund
PRINCIPAL INVESTMENT STRATEGIES
Under normal circumstances, the Fund invests at least 80% of its assets in securities of issuers that are primarily engaged in the ownership, development, exploration, production, distribution or processing of natural resources, as well as in securities of companies that are suppliers to firms producing natural resources, in instruments with economic characteristics similar to natural resources securities or in direct holdings of natural resources. The Fund will primarily invest in equity securities, but, from time to time, the Fund may also invest in debt securities of issuers engaged in or related to the natural resources sector. The Fund generally defines “natural resources” as energy, metals, agriculture and other commodities, as well as related products and services.
The Fund is considered to be “non-diversified,” which means it may invest in fewer issuers than a “diversified” fund. Due to the Fund’s substantial investment in issuers within the natural resources sector, the Fund’s investments are considered to be “concentrated” in this sector.
Under normal circumstances, the Fund will invest over 40% of its assets in foreign issuers, including investments in issuers listed in at least three countries outside the United States. The investment selection of Advisors drives country and regional asset allocations for the Fund. However, Advisors regularly compares the Fund’s issuer, natural resource sub-sector and country exposure against its benchmark index, the MSCI All Country World Commodity Producers Sector Capped Index (the “Index”), to assess the Fund’s relative investment exposures. Advisors looks to invest the Fund’s assets globally in financial instruments of well-positioned companies in the natural resources sector, both in developed and emerging markets. In selecting the Fund’s investments, Advisors generally favors companies that are resource-rich, have growth potential and trade at attractive valuations, regardless of their geographical location. The Fund may also invest in companies that Advisors believes are well-positioned as suppliers to the natural resources sector. The Fund may also hold certain natural resources directly, such as precious metals or timberland, subject to regulatory illiquidity limits. The Fund may invest in issuers with various levels of market capitalization. For purposes of the 80% investment policy, the term “assets” means net assets, plus the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes.
At times the Fund will not invest in securities of issuers that do not meet certain corporate governance criteria adopted by the Fund. Under this policy, the Fund currently has determined not to invest in certain companies with operations in Sudan.
PRINCIPAL INVESTMENT RISKS
You could lose money over short or long periods by investing in this Fund. Accordingly, an investment in the Fund, or the Fund’s portfolio holdings, typically is subject to the following principal investment risks:
TIAA-CREF Global Natural Resources Fund ■ Summary Prospectus 3
· Market Risk—The risk that market prices of investments held by the Fund may fall rapidly or unpredictably due to a variety of factors, including changing economic, political or market conditions. Market risk may affect a single issuer, industry or sector of the economy, or it may affect the market as a whole.
· Issuer Risk (often called Financial Risk)—The risk that the issuer’s earnings prospects and overall financial position will deteriorate, causing a decline in the value of its financial instruments over short or extended periods of time.
· Industry/Sector Risk—The risk that focusing on investment in specific industries or sectors makes a fund more vulnerable to developments particularly affecting those industries or sectors than a more broadly diversified fund would be.
· Special Risks of Investing in Natural Resources—The value of the Fund’s investments in financial instruments of natural resources issuers and directly in natural resources may be affected by various factors, including increased market volatility, natural events, inflationary pressure and national and international politics, causing the Fund to perform poorly. In addition, direct investments in natural resources, such as holding precious metals, are generally more illiquid than securities holdings, which could result in difficulty in their disposal in a timely and favorable manner.
· Non-Diversification Risk—The Fund is considered to be “non-diversified,” which means that it can invest a greater percentage of its assets in the securities of a single issuer than a “diversified” fund. Investing in a non-diversified fund involves greater risk than investing in a diversified fund because a loss in value of a particular security may have a greater effect on the Fund’s return since it may represent a larger portion of the Fund’s total portfolio assets.
· Active Management Risk—The risk that the strategy, investment selection or trading execution of Advisors could cause the Fund to underperform its benchmark index or mutual funds with similar investment objectives.
· Foreign Investment Risk—Foreign markets can be more volatile than the U.S. market due to increased risks of adverse issuer, political, regulatory, currency, market or economic developments and can result in greater price volatility and perform differently from financial instruments of U.S. issuers. This risk may be heightened in emerging or developing markets. Foreign investments may also be less liquid and more difficult to value than investments in U.S. issuers.
· Emerging Markets Risk—The risk of foreign investment often increases in countries with emerging markets. For example, these countries may have more unstable governments than developed countries, and their economies may be based on only a few industries. Because their financial markets may
4 Summary Prospectus ■ TIAA-CREF Global Natural Resources Fund
be very small, share prices of financial instruments in emerging market countries may be volatile and difficult to determine. Financial instruments of issuers in these countries may be less liquid than those of issuers in more developed countries. In addition, foreign investors such as the Fund are subject to a variety of special restrictions in many such countries.
There can be no assurances that the Fund will achieve its investment objective. You should not consider the Fund to be a complete investment program. Please see the non-summary portion of the prospectus for more detailed information about the risks described above.
PAST PERFORMANCE
Performance information is not yet available for the Fund because the Fund is newly operational.
PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT
Investment Adviser. The Fund’s investment adviser is Teachers Advisors, Inc.
Portfolio Manager. The following person manages the Fund on a day-to-day basis:
Name: | Navaneel Ray | |
Title: | Managing Director | |
Experience on Fund: | since inception in 2011 |
PURCHASE AND SALE OF FUND SHARES
Retail Class shares are available for purchase through certain financial intermediaries or by contacting the Fund directly at 800 223-1200 or www.tiaa-cref.org. Retirement Class and Premier Class shares are generally available for purchase through employee benefit plans or other types of savings plans or accounts. Institutional Class shares are available for purchase directly from the Fund by certain eligible investors or through financial intermediaries.
· The minimum initial investment for Retail Class shares is $2,000 for Traditional IRA, Roth IRA and Coverdell accounts and $2,500 for all other account types. Subsequent investments for all account types must be at least $100.
· There is no minimum initial or subsequent investment for Retirement Class shares. Retirement Class shares are primarily offered through employer-sponsored employee benefit plans.
· There is a $100 million aggregate plan size and $1 million initial minimum plan-level investment requirement for Premier Class shares. Premier Class shares are primarily offered through certain financial intermediaries and employer-sponsored employee benefit plans.
TIAA-CREF Global Natural Resources Fund ■ Summary Prospectus 5
· The minimum initial investment is $2 million and the minimum subsequent investment is $1,000 for Institutional Class shares, unless an investor purchases shares by or through financial intermediaries that have entered into an appropriate agreement with the Fund or its affiliates.
Redeeming or Exchanging Shares. You can redeem (sell) or exchange your shares of the Fund at any time. Exchanges may be made for shares of the same share class of other funds offered by the TIAA-CREF Funds. If your shares are held through a third party, please contact that entity for applicable redemption or exchange requirements. If your shares are held directly with the Fund, contact the Fund directly in writing or by telephone. Redemptions or exchanges involving shares of the Fund held less than 60 calendar days may be subject to the Redemption Fee, addressed in “Fees and Expenses” above.
If you invest in the Fund through a financial intermediary or plan, you may be subject to additional market timing or excessive trading policies implemented by the intermediary or plan. Please contact your intermediary or plan sponsor for more details.
TAX INFORMATION
The Fund intends to make distributions to shareholders that may be taxed as ordinary income or capital gains. Distributions made to tax-exempt shareholders or shareholders who hold Fund shares in a tax-deferred account are generally not subject to income tax in the current year, but redemptions made from tax-deferred accounts may be subject to income tax.
PAYMENTS TO BROKER-DEALERS AND OTHER
FINANCIAL INTERMEDIARY COMPENSATION
If you purchase the Fund through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank), the Fund and/or its related companies may pay the intermediary for the sale of Fund shares and related services. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the broker-dealer or other intermediary and your salesperson to recommend the Fund over another investment. Ask your salesperson or visit your financial intermediary’s website for more information.
6 Summary Prospectus ■ TIAA-CREF Global Natural Resources Fund
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