Summary Prospectus
MARCH 1, 2014, AS AMENDED AND RESTATED MAY 8, 2014
TIAA-CREF Emerging Markets Equity Index Fund
of the TIAA-CREF Funds
Class Ticker: Retail TEQKX Retirement TEQSX Premier TEQPX Institutional TEQLX
Before you invest, you may want to review the Funds prospectus, which contains more information about the Fund and its risks. You can find the Funds prospectus and other information about the Fund online at www.tiaa-cref.org/tcfxeme. 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 Funds prospectus and Statement of Additional Information (SAI), each dated March 1, 2014, as subsequently supplemented, and the sections of the Funds shareholder report dated October 31, 2013 from Summary Portfolio of Investments through Notes to Financial Statements, 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, by investing primarily in a portfolio of emerging market equity investments based on a market index.
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 Emerging Markets Equity Index Fund ■ Summary Prospectus 1
ANNUAL FUND OPERATING EXPENSES (expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)
|
| Retail |
| Retirement Class |
| Premier Class |
| Institutional |
|
Management Fees | 0.14% | 0.14% | 0.14% | 0.14% | |||||
Distribution (Rule 12b-1) Fees | 0.25% | | 0.15% | | |||||
Other Expenses | 0.34% | 0.40% | 0.15% | 0.15% | |||||
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses | 0.73% | 0.54% | 0.44% | 0.29% | |||||
Waivers and Expense Reimbursements1 | (0.09)% | (0.04)% | (0.04)% | (0.04)% | |||||
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Fee Waiver and/or Expense Reimbursement | 0.64% |
| 0.50% |
| 0.40% |
| 0.25% |
| |
1 | Under the Funds expense reimbursement arrangements, the Funds investment adviser, Teachers Advisors, Inc., has contractually agreed to reimburse the Fund for any Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses (excluding interest, taxes, brokerage commissions or other transactional expenses, Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses and extraordinary expenses) that exceed: (i) 0.64% of average daily net assets for Retail Class shares; (ii) 0.50% of average daily net assets for Retirement Class shares; (iii) 0.40% of average daily net assets for Premier Class shares; and (iv) 0.25% of average daily net assets for Institutional Class shares of the Fund. These expense reimbursement arrangements will continue through at least February 28, 2015, 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 Funds operating expenses, before expense reimbursements, remain the same. The example assumes that the Funds expense reimbursement agreement will remain in place through February 28, 2015, 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 | $ | 65 | $ | 51 | $ | 41 | $ | 26 | ||||
3 Years | $ | 224 | $ | 169 | $ | 137 | $ | 89 | ||||
5 Years | $ | 397 | $ | 298 | $ | 242 | $ | 159 | ||||
10 Years | $ | 898 |
| $ | 673 |
| $ | 551 |
| $ | 364 |
|
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 Funds
2 Summary Prospectus ■ TIAA-CREF Emerging Markets Equity Index Fund
performance. During the fiscal year ended October 31, 2013, the Funds portfolio turnover rate was 13% of the average value of its portfolio.
Principal investment strategies
The Fund seeks a favorable long-term total return from a diversified portfolio of equity securities selected to track publicly-traded stocks in emerging markets, as represented by its benchmark index, the MSCI Emerging Markets® Index (MSCI EM Index). The Fund has a policy of investing, under normal circumstances, at least 80% of its assets in equity securities that comprise MSCI EM Index or in instruments with economic characteristics similar to all or a portion of the MSCI EM Index. The Fund will invest in most but not necessarily all of the stocks that comprise the MSCI EM Index, and will attempt to closely match the MSCI EM Indexs overall investment attributes. For purposes of the 80% investment policy, the term assets means net assets, plus the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes.
Because the return of an index is not reduced by investment and other operating expenses, the Funds ability to match the MSCI EM Index is negatively affected by the costs of buying and selling securities as well as the Funds fees and other expenses. The use of a particular index by the Fund is not a fundamental policy and may be changed without shareholder approval.
From time to time, the Fund may determine not to invest in securities of issuers that do not meet certain corporate governance criteria. The Fund currently does not 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. An investment in the Fund, due to the nature of the Funds portfolio holdings, typically is subject to the following principal investment risks:
· Market RiskThe risk that market prices of portfolio 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 an issuers earnings prospects and overall financial position will deteriorate, causing a decline in the value of the issuers financial instruments over short or extended periods of time.
· Index RiskThe risk that the Funds performance will not correspond to its benchmark index for any period of time and may underperform such index or the overall stock market. Additionally, to the extent that the Funds investments vary from the composition of its benchmark index, the Funds performance could potentially vary from the indexs performance to a greater extent than if the Fund merely attempted to replicate the index.
TIAA-CREF Emerging Markets Equity Index Fund ■ Summary Prospectus 3
· Foreign Investment RiskForeign 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 RiskThe 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 be very small, share prices of financial instruments in emerging markets 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 emerging markets countries.
Please see the non-summary portion of the Prospectus for more detailed information about the risks described above.
Past performance
The following chart and table help illustrate some of the risks of investing in the Fund by showing changes in the Funds performance from year to year. The bar chart shows the annual total returns of the Institutional Class of the Fund, before taxes, in each full calendar year since inception of the Institutional Class. Because the expenses vary across share classes, the performance of the Institutional Class may vary from the other share classes. Below the bar chart are the best and worst returns of the Institutional Class for a calendar quarter during the period covered by the bar chart. The performance table following the bar chart shows the Funds average annual total returns for the Institutional Class, Retirement Class, Premier Class and Retail Class over the one-year, five-year, ten-year and since-inception periods (where applicable) ended December 31, 2013, and how those returns compare to those of the Funds benchmark index. After-tax performance is shown only for Institutional Class shares, and after-tax returns for the other classes of shares will vary from the after-tax returns presented for Institutional Class shares.
The returns shown below reflect previous agreements by the Funds investment adviser, Teachers Advisors, Inc. (Advisors), to waive or reimburse the Fund for certain fees and expenses. Without these waivers and reimbursements, the returns of the Fund would have been lower. Past performance of the Fund (before and after taxes) is not necessarily an indication of how it will perform in the future. The benchmark index listed below is unmanaged, and you cannot invest directly in the benchmark index. The returns for the benchmark index reflect no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes.
4 Summary Prospectus ■ TIAA-CREF Emerging Markets Equity Index Fund
For current performance information of each share class, including performance to the most recent month-end, please visit www.tiaa-cref.org.
ANNUAL TOTAL RETURNS FOR THE INSTITUTIONAL CLASS SHARES (%)
Best quarter: 14.12%, for the quarter ended March 31, 2012. Worst quarter: -24.07%, for the quarter ended September 30, 2011.
AVERAGE ANNUAL TOTAL RETURNS
For the Periods Ended December 31, 2013
|
| Inception Date |
| One Year |
|
| Since Inception |
|
Institutional Class | 8/31/2010 | |||||||
Return Before Taxes | 3.21 | % | 2.85 | % | ||||
Return After Taxes on Distributions | 3.62 | % | 2.52 | % | ||||
Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of | ||||||||
Fund Shares | 1.44 | % | 2.26 | % | ||||
Retail Class | 8/31/2010 | |||||||
Return Before Taxes | 3.57 | % | 2.45 | % | ||||
Retirement Class | 8/31/2010 | |||||||
Return Before Taxes | 3.44 | % | 2.61 | % | ||||
Premier Class | 8/31/2010 | |||||||
| Return Before Taxes |
|
| 3.39 | % |
| 2.70 | % |
MSCI Emerging Markets® Index |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
(reflects no deductions for fees, expenses or taxes) |
|
| 2.60 | % |
| 3.47 | % | |
Current performance of the Funds shares may be higher or lower than that shown above. | ||||||||
| Performance is calculated from the inception date of the Institutional Class. | |||||||
After-tax returns are calculated using the historical highest individual federal marginal income tax rates in effect during the periods shown and do not reflect the impact of state and local taxes. Actual after-tax returns depend on the investors tax situation and may differ from those shown. The after-tax returns shown are not relevant to investors who hold their Fund shares through tax-deferred arrangements such as 401(a), 401(k) or 403(b) plans or Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs). After-tax returns are shown for only one class, and after-tax returns for other classes will vary. | ||||||||
TIAA-CREF Emerging Markets Equity Index Fund ■ Summary Prospectus 5
Portfolio management
Investment Adviser. The Funds investment adviser is Teachers Advisors, Inc.
Portfolio Managers. The following persons manage the Fund on a day-to-day basis:
Name: | Anne Sapp, CFA* | Philip James (Jim) Campagna, CFA | Lei Liao, CFA |
Title: | Managing Director | Director | Director |
Experience on Fund: | since 2010 | since 2010 | since 2014 |
* As of May 30, 2014, Anne Sapp will no longer be a portfolio manager for the Fund.
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 $5 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.
· The minimum initial investment is $10 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 on any day that the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) is open for business. Exchanges may be made for shares of the same share class of other funds offered by the Trust. 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.
6 Summary Prospectus ■ TIAA-CREF Emerging Markets Equity Index Fund
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 shares of 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 or for other investor 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 intermediarys website for more information.
TIAA-CREF Emerging Markets Equity Index Fund ■ Summary Prospectus 7
Printed on paper containing recycled fiber | A12221 (5/14) |
A12221 (5/14) |