TIAA-CREF Funds Summary Prospectus

TIAA-CREF Managed Allocation Fund

OCTOBER 1, 2019

Class:	Institutional	Retirement	Retail
Ticker:	TIMIX	TITRX	TIMRX

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, reports to shareholders and other information about the Fund online at www.tiaa.org/tcfma. You can also get this information at no cost by calling 800-223-1200 or by sending an e-mail request to disclosure@tiaa.org. The Fund’s prospectus and Statement of Additional Information (“SAI”), each dated October 1, 2019, as subsequently supplemented, and the sections of the Fund’s shareholder report dated May 31, 2019 from “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.

Beginning on January 1, 2021, as permitted by regulations adopted by the Securities and Exchange Commission, paper copies of the annual and semiannual shareholder reports of the Fund and of the other investment portfolios (collectively with the Fund, the “Funds”) of the TIAA-CREF Funds (the “Trust”) will no longer be sent by mail, unless you specifically request paper copies of the reports. Instead, they will be made available on Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America’s (“TIAA”) website, TIAA.org, and you will be notified by mail each time a report is posted and provided with a website link to access the report.

If you have already elected to receive shareholder reports electronically, you will not be affected by this change and you need not take any action. You may elect to receive shareholder reports and other communications from the Funds electronically anytime by either updating your account settings at TIAA.org/eDelivery, if you invest in the Funds directly or hold your Fund shares through a TIAA-affiliated financial intermediary, account or retirement plan (each, a “TIAA Account”), or by contacting your financial intermediary (such as a broker-dealer or bank) through which you hold Fund shares.

If you invest directly with the Funds or through a TIAA Account, you may elect to continue to receive all future shareholder reports in paper free of charge by updating your account settings at TIAA.org/eDelivery or by calling 800-842-2252 during regular business hours. If you invest through another financial intermediary, you can contact

TIAA-CREF Managed Allocation Fund■Summary Prospectus     1

your financial intermediary to request that you continue receiving paper copies of your shareholder reports. Your election to receive reports in paper will apply to all funds held through your financial intermediary or, if you are a direct investor or invest through a TIAA Account, to all funds held with the Funds and any other investment companies within the same group of related investment companies.

Investment objective

The Fund seeks favorable returns that reflect the broad investment performance of the financial markets through capital appreciation and investment income. The Fund will pursue this goal through a “fund of funds” approach, whereby the Fund will make investments primarily in other mutual funds.

Fees and expenses

This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy and hold shares of the Fund. In addition to the fees and expenses described below, investors may be required to pay a commission to a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary on purchases and sales of Institutional Class shares of the Fund.

SHAREHOLDER FEES (fees paid directly from your investment)

	Institutional Class	Retirement Class	Retail Class
Maximum sales charge imposed on purchases (percentage of offering price)	0%	0%	0%
Maximum deferred sales charge	0%	0%	0%
Maximum sales charge imposed on reinvested dividends and other distributions	0%	0%	0%
Redemption or exchange fee	0%	0%	0%
Account maintenance fee (annual fee on accounts under $2,000)	0%	0%	$15.00

2     Summary Prospectus■TIAA-CREF Managed Allocation Fund

ANNUAL FUND OPERATING EXPENSES (expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)

		Institutional Class	Retirement Class	Retail Class
Management fees		—	—	—
Distribution (Rule 12b-1) fees		—	—	0.25%
Other expenses		0.03%	0.28%	0.07%
Acquired Fund fees and expenses1		0.39%	0.39%	0.39%
Total annual Fund operating expenses		0.42%	0.67%	0.71%
Waivers and expense reimbursements2		(0.03)%	(0.03)%	(0.07)%
Total annual Fund operating expenses after fee
	waiver and/or expense reimbursement	0.39%	0.64%	0.64%
1	“Acquired Fund fees and expenses” are the Fund’s proportionate amount of the expenses of any investment companies or pools in which it invests. These expenses are not paid directly by Fund shareholders. Instead, Fund shareholders bear these expenses indirectly because they reduce Fund performance. Because “Acquired Fund fees and expenses” are included in the chart above, the Fund’s operating expenses here will not correlate with the expenses included in the Financial highlights in this Prospectus and the Fund’s annual report.
2	Under the Fund’s expense reimbursement arrangements, the Fund’s investment adviser, Teachers Advisors, LLC (“Advisors”), 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) 0.00% of average daily net assets for Institutional Class shares; (ii) 0.25% of average daily net assets for Retirement Class shares; and (iii) 0.25% of average daily net assets for Retail Class shares of the Fund. These expense reimbursement arrangements will continue through at least September 30, 2020, 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 fee waivers and/or expense reimbursements, remain the same. The example assumes that the Fund’s fee waiver and/or expense reimbursement arrangements will each remain in place for the duration noted in the table above. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:

	Institutional Class		Retirement Class		Retail Class
1 year	$	40	$	65	$	65
3 years	$	132	$	211	$	220
5 years	$	232	$	370	$	388
10 years	$	527	$	832	$	876

TIAA-CREF Managed Allocation Fund■Summary Prospectus     3

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. During the fiscal year ended May 31, 2019, the Fund’s portfolio turnover rate was 20% of the average value of its portfolio.

Principal investment strategies

The Fund is a “fund of funds” that invests in Institutional Class shares of other funds of the Trust and potentially in other investment pools or investment products, including other funds advised by the Fund’s investment adviser, Teachers Advisors, LLC (“Advisors”), or its affiliates (collectively, the “Underlying Funds”). The Fund invests in Underlying Funds according to a relatively stable asset allocation strategy and will generally seek to meet its investment objective by investing: (1) approximately 60.00% of its assets in equity Underlying Funds, including up to 5.00% of its assets in real estate Underlying Funds; and (2) approximately 40.00% of its assets in fixed-income Underlying Funds (“target allocations”).

The Fund may invest in the following equity Underlying Funds: TIAA-CREF Growth & Income Fund, Large-Cap Growth Fund, Large-Cap Value Fund, Quant Large-Cap Growth Fund, Quant Large-Cap Value Fund, Quant International Equity Fund, Quant International Small-Cap Equity Fund, Quant Small-Cap Equity Fund, Quant Small/Mid-Cap Equity Fund, Emerging Markets Equity Fund, International Equity Fund, International Opportunities Fund and Real Estate Securities Fund.

The Fund may invest in the following fixed-income Underlying Funds: TIAA-CREF Bond Plus Fund, High-Yield Fund, Inflation-Linked Bond Fund, International Bond Fund, Money Market Fund and Short-Term Bond Fund.

As a result of its investments in the Underlying Funds, the Managed Allocation Fund’s returns will reflect investments in a mix of domestic stocks of companies of all sizes, foreign equities, real estate securities and a variety of domestic and foreign fixed-income instruments of private and governmental issuers of varying maturities and credit qualities. To maintain an appropriate allocation among the Underlying Funds, the portfolio managers monitor the foreign and domestic equity markets, as well as overall financial and economic conditions. If the portfolio managers believe that the relative attractiveness of the markets in which the equity and fixed-income funds are invested changes, they can adjust the percentage of investments in the Fund’s market sectors or Underlying Funds up or down by up to 10%; they may also invest in new market sectors or Underlying Funds without prior notice. If 10% or more of the Fund’s assets are expected to be invested in any Underlying Fund or market sector not listed above or in the chart below, shareholders will receive prior notice of such change. At any given time the Fund may hold between 0% to 5% of its assets in real estate funds. The

4     Summary Prospectus■TIAA-CREF Managed Allocation Fund

Fund’s composite benchmark is a composite of three benchmark indices representing three types of market sectors within the equity and fixed-income Underlying Fund asset classes, i.e., domestic equity, international equity and fixed-income. The composite index is created by applying the results of the benchmark for each of these three market sectors in proportion to the Fund’s target allocations among the three market sectors. For more information about the different indices that comprise the Fund’s composite benchmark index, please see “Additional information about the Fund’s composite index” below.

The composition of the Fund’s fixed-income portion will vary depending on the shape of the yield curve. This means that when there is not much difference between the yield on short-term and long-term bonds, the Fund would normally increase its investments in the Short-Term Bond Fund. The Fund will have less than 5% of its assets in the High-Yield Fund.

The Fund might sometimes be even more heavily weighted toward equities or fixed-income, if Advisors believes market conditions warrant. For example, the Fund might increase its holdings in fixed-income funds in periods when Advisors believes equity markets will decline.

As part of the Fund’s ability to invest in unaffiliated investment products or pools noted above, the Board has authorized the Fund to invest in exchange-traded funds (“ETFs”) and exchange-traded notes (“ETNs”). The Fund may use investments in ETFs and ETNs to gain exposure to various market sectors or securities in order to effect its asset allocation strategy. Additionally, the Fund may use ETFs and ETNs for cash management, hedging or defensive purposes. ETFs and ETNs will be subject to the risks associated with the types of securities or sectors that they track, while ETNs, which are structured as fixed-income obligations, will also be subject to the general risks of fixed-income securities, including credit risk.

For flexibility in meeting redemptions, expenses and the timing of new investments, and as a short-term defense during periods of unusual volatility, the Fund may invest in government securities (as defined in the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “1940 Act”)), short-term paper or shares of the Money Market Fund. For temporary defensive purposes, the Managed Allocation Fund may invest without limitation in such securities. The Fund cannot guarantee that this strategy will be successful.

The Fund’s asset class allocations, market sector allocations within each asset class, and Underlying Fund allocations within each market sector, as of June 30, 2019, are listed in the chart below. These allocations may change over time. Underlying Fund allocations in particular may change from year to year.

TIAA-CREF Managed Allocation Fund■Summary Prospectus     5

Asset Class	Allocation	Market Sector	Allocation	Underlying Funds	Allocation
Equity	60.65%	U.S. Equity	43.54%	ŸQuant Large-Cap Growth Fund	8.99%
				ŸGrowth & Income Fund	8.93%
				ŸLarge-Cap Growth Fund	8.07%
				ŸLarge-Cap Value Fund	7.81%
				ŸQuant Large-Cap Value Fund	5.84%
				ŸQuant Small-Cap Equity Fund	2.19%
				ŸQuant Small/Mid-Cap Equity Fund	1.71%
		International Equity	17.11%	ŸInternational Equity Fund	3.93%
				ŸInternational Opportunities Fund	3.93%
				ŸQuant International Equity Fund	3.74%
				ŸEmerging Markets Equity Fund	3.10%
				ŸQuant International Small-Cap Equity Fund	2.41%
Fixed-Income	39.35%	Fixed-Income	39.35%	ŸBond Plus Fund	39.35%

Total 100.00% 100.00% 100.00%

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 Underlying Funds typically is subject to the following principal investment risks:

·Asset Allocation Risk—The risk that the Fund may not achieve its target allocations. In addition, there is the risk that the asset allocations may not achieve the desired risk-return characteristic or that the selection of Underlying Funds and the allocations among them will result in the Fund underperforming other similar funds or cause an investor to lose money.

·Underlying Funds Risks—The Fund is exposed to the risks of the Underlying Funds in which it invests in direct proportion to the amount of assets the Fund allocates to each Underlying Fund.

·Equity Underlying Funds Risks—The risks of investing in equity Underlying Funds include risks specific to their investment strategies, as well as risks related to the equity markets in general, such as:

·market risk—The risk that the price of equity investments may decline in response to general market and economic conditions or events, including conditions and developments outside of the financial markets;

·issuer risk—The risk that an issuer’s earnings prospects and overall financial position will deteriorate, causing a decline in the value of the issuer’s financial instruments over short or extended periods of time; and

·foreign investment risk—The increased risks of adverse issuer, political, regulatory, currency, market or economic developments compared to investments in U.S. issuers, which can result in greater market and price volatility.

6     Summary Prospectus■TIAA-CREF Managed Allocation Fund

·Fixed-Income Underlying Funds Risks—The risks of investing in fixed-income Underlying Funds include risks specific to their investment strategies, as well as risks related to the fixed-income markets in general, such as:

·interest rate risk—The risk that the value or yield of fixed-income investments may decline if interest rates change, which could adversely affect a Fund’s income or the value of its holdings;

·extension risk—The risk that during periods of rising interest rates, borrowers may pay off their mortgage loans later than expected, preventing a Fund from reinvesting principal proceeds at higher interest rates and resulting in less income than potentially available;

·issuer risk—The risk that an issuer’s earnings prospects and overall financial position will deteriorate, causing a decline in the value of the issuer’s financial instruments over short or extended periods of time;

·credit risk—The risk that a decline in an issuer’s financial position may prevent it from making principal and interest payments on fixed-income investments held by a Fund when due;

·credit spread risk—The risk that credit spreads (i.e., the difference in yield between securities that is due to differences in each security’s respective credit quality) may increase when market participants believe that bonds generally have a greater risk of default, which could result in a decline in the market values of a Fund’s debt securities;

·income volatility risk—The risk that the level of current income from a Fund’s portfolio of fixed-income securities may decline due to rapid and unpredictable changes in prevailing market interest rates; and

·call risk—The risk that, during periods of falling interest rates, an issuer may call (or repay) a fixed-income security prior to maturity, resulting in a decline in a Fund’s income.

·Active Management Risk—The risk that the strategy, investment selection or trading execution of Advisors could cause the Fund or an Underlying Fund to underperform its benchmark index or mutual funds with similar investment objectives.

·Fund of Funds Risk—The ability of the Fund to achieve its investment objective will depend in part upon the ability of the Underlying Funds to achieve their investment objectives. There can be no guarantee that any Underlying Fund will achieve its investment objective.

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, including the risks of the Underlying Funds.

TIAA-CREF Managed Allocation Fund■Summary Prospectus     7

Past performance

The following chart and table help illustrate some of the risks of investing in the Fund by showing changes in the Fund’s 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 for the last ten years. 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 full calendar-year periods covered by the bar chart. The performance table following the bar chart shows the Fund’s average annual total returns for the Institutional, Retirement and Retail classes over the applicable one-year, five-year, ten-year and since-inception periods ended December 31, 2018, and how those returns compare to those of a broad-based securities market index and a composite index based on the Fund’s target allocations. After-tax performance is shown only for the 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 Advisors to waive or reimburse the Fund and certain Underlying Funds 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 indices listed below are unmanaged, and you cannot invest directly in an index. The returns for the indices reflect no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes.

For current performance information of each share class, including performance to the most recent month-end, please visit www.tiaa.org.

ANNUAL TOTAL RETURNS FOR THE INSTITUTIONAL CLASS SHARES (%)^†

^†The year-to-date return as of the most recent calendar quarter, which ended on June 30, 2019, was 13.22%.

Best quarter: 12.65%, for the quarter ended June 30, 2009. Worst quarter: -10.49%, for the quarter ended September 30, 2011.

8     Summary Prospectus■TIAA-CREF Managed Allocation Fund

AVERAGE ANNUAL TOTAL RETURNS

For the Periods Ended December 31, 2018

		Inception date	One year		Five years		Ten years
Institutional Class		3/31/2006
	Return before taxes		–6.82	%	4.29	%	8.71	%
	Return after taxes on distributions		–8.36	%	2.62	%	7.34	%
	Return after taxes on distributions and sale of
	Fund shares		–3.32	%	2.92	%	6.68	%
Retirement Class		3/31/2006
	Return before taxes		–6.99	%	4.03	%	8.43	%
Retail Class		3/31/2006
	Return before taxes		–6.96	%	4.03	%	8.47	%
Morningstar Moderate Target Risk Index
(reflects no deductions for fees, expenses or taxes)			–4.76	%	4.08	%	7.97	%
Managed Allocation Fund Composite Index‡
(reflects no deductions for fees, expenses or taxes)			–4.69	%	4.61	%	8.29	%
Current performance of the Fund’s shares may be higher or lower than that shown above.
‡	As of the close of business on December 31, 2018, the Managed Allocation Fund Composite Index consisted of: 42.0% Russell 3000® Index; 40.0% Bloomberg Barclays U.S. Aggregate Bond Index; and 18.0% MSCI All Country World Index ex USA Investable Market Index. The Fund’s composite benchmark, the components that make up a composite benchmark and the method of calculating a composite benchmark’s performance may vary over time.
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 investor’s 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.

Portfolio management

Investment Adviser. The Fund’s investment adviser is Teachers Advisors, LLC.

Portfolio Managers. The following persons are primarily responsible for the management of the Fund on a day-to-day basis:

Name:	John Cunniff, CFA	Hans Erickson, CFA
Title:	Managing Director	Senior Managing Director
Experience on Fund:	since 2006	since 2006

Purchase and sale of Fund shares

Institutional Class shares are available for purchase directly from the Fund by certain eligible investors (which include employee benefit plans and financial intermediaries). Retirement Class shares are generally available for purchase through employee benefit plans. Retail Class shares are available for purchase

TIAA-CREF Managed Allocation Fund■Summary Prospectus     9

through certain financial intermediaries or by contacting the Fund directly at 800-223-1200 or www.tiaa.org.

·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. Employee benefit plans, fee-based managed account programs (“wrap accounts”), state sponsored 529 college savings plans, collective trust funds, investment companies or other pooled investment vehicles, thrifts and bank and trust companies that have entered into agreements to offer Institutional Class shares held in omnibus accounts on the books of the Fund are exempt from initial and subsequent investment minimums.

·There are no minimum initial or subsequent investment requirements for Retirement Class shares.

·The minimum initial investment for Retail Class shares is $2,000 per Fund account 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.

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”) or its affiliated exchanges, NYSE Arca Equities or NYSE American, are open for trading (each such day a “Business Day”). 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.

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 financial intermediary for providing investor services. The Fund’s related companies may also pay the financial 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 financial intermediary and your salesperson to recommend the Fund over another investment. Ask your salesperson or visit your financial intermediary’s website for more information.

10     Summary Prospectus■TIAA-CREF Managed Allocation Fund

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