XML 158 R176.htm IDEA: XBRL DOCUMENT v3.21.2
Label Element Value
TIAA-CREF Lifecycle Index 2065 Fund  
Risk/Return: rr_RiskReturnAbstract  
Risk/Return [Heading] rr_RiskReturnHeading TIAA-CREF Lifecycle Index 2065 Fund
Objective [Heading] rr_ObjectiveHeading Investment objective
Objective, Primary [Text Block] rr_ObjectivePrimaryTextBlock

The Lifecycle Index 2065 Fund seeks high total return over time through a combination of capital appreciation and income.
Expense [Heading] rr_ExpenseHeading Fees and expenses
Expense Narrative [Text Block] rr_ExpenseNarrativeTextBlock

This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy, hold and sell shares of the Fund. You may pay other fees, such as brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the tables and examples below.
Shareholder Fees Caption [Text] rr_ShareholderFeesCaption SHAREHOLDER FEES (fees paid directly from your investment)
Operating Expenses Caption [Text] rr_OperatingExpensesCaption ANNUAL FUND OPERATING EXPENSES (expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)
Portfolio Turnover [Heading] rr_PortfolioTurnoverHeading Portfolio turnover
Portfolio Turnover [Text Block] rr_PortfolioTurnoverTextBlock

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 period between September 30, 2020 (inception date) and May 31, 2021, the Fund’s portfolio turnover rate was 36% of the average value of its portfolio.
Portfolio Turnover, Rate rr_PortfolioTurnoverRate 36.00%
Expense Example [Heading] rr_ExpenseExampleHeading Example
Expense Example Narrative [Text Block] rr_ExpenseExampleNarrativeTextBlock

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 durations noted in the table above. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:

Strategy [Heading] rr_StrategyHeading Principal investment strategies
Strategy Narrative [Text Block] rr_StrategyNarrativeTextBlock

The Fund is a “fund of funds” that invests in Class W 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”). In general, the Fund is designed for investors who have an approximate target retirement year in mind, and the Fund’s investments are adjusted from more aggressive to more conservative over time as the Fund’s target retirement year approaches and for approximately 30 years afterwards. The Fund invests in Underlying Funds according to an asset allocation strategy designed for investors retiring in, or planning to retire within a few years of, 2065 and who may begin taking systematic withdrawals upon retirement. The Fund has a policy of investing at least 80% of its assets (net assets, plus the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes) in Underlying Funds that are managed to seek investment returns that track particular market indices.

Advisors currently expects to allocate approximately 94.75% of the Fund’s assets to equity Underlying Funds and 5.25% of its assets to fixed-income Underlying Funds. These allocations represent targets for equity and fixed-income asset classes. Target allocations will change over time and actual allocations may vary up to ten percentage points from the targets. The target allocations along the investment glidepath, illustrated in the chart below, gradually become more conservative, moving to target allocations of approximately 50% equity/50% fixed-income in the Fund’s target retirement year of 2065 and reaching the Fund’s final target allocation of approximately 20.00% equity/80.00% fixed-income in 2095. Within the equity and fixed-income asset classes, Advisors allocates the Fund’s investments to particular market sectors (U.S. equity, international equity, fixed-income, short-term fixed-income and inflation-protected assets) represented by various Underlying Funds. These market sector allocations may vary by up to 10% from the Fund’s target market sector allocations. The Fund’s current target market sector allocations for June 30, 2022, which will change over time, are approximately as follows: U.S. Equity: 61.43%; International Equity: 33.07%; Fixed-Income: 5.50%; Short-Term Fixed-Income: 0.00%; and Inflation-Protected Assets: 0.00%. The asset class and

market sector names used herein are intended to reflect the primary type of investment of the Underlying Funds within each of these categories.

The Fund’s target market sector allocations to Underlying Funds may include the TIAA-CREF Equity Index Fund (U.S. Equity); TIAA-CREF Emerging Markets Equity Index Fund and TIAA-CREF International Equity Index Fund (International Equity); TIAA-CREF Bond Index Fund (Fixed-Income); TIAA-CREF Short-Term Bond Index Fund (Short-Term Fixed-Income); and TIAA-CREF Inflation-Linked Bond Fund (Inflation-Protected Assets).

As a result of its investments in the Underlying Funds, the Fund’s returns will reflect investments in a mix of domestic and foreign equities of companies of various sizes and market capitalizations and a variety of domestic and foreign fixed-income instruments of private and governmental issuers of varying maturities and credit qualities.

Additional or replacement Underlying Funds for each market sector, as well as additional or replacement market sectors, may be included when making future allocations if Advisors believes that such Underlying Funds and/or market sectors are appropriate in light of the Fund’s desired levels of risk and potential return at the particular time. The Fund’s portfolio management team may also add a new market sector if it believes that will help to achieve the Fund’s investment objective. The relative allocations among Underlying Funds within a market sector may be changed at any time without notice to shareholders. If 10% or more of the Fund’s assets are expected to be invested in any Underlying Fund or market sector not listed above, shareholders will receive prior notice of such change.

As part of the Fund’s ability to invest in other investment pools or investment products noted above, the Fund may invest in exchange-traded funds (“ETFs”) and exchange-traded notes (“ETNs”) to gain exposure to various market sectors or securities in order to effect its asset allocation strategy. Additionally, the Fund may use ETFs or ETNs for cash management, hedging or defensive purposes. ETFs or 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.

The Fund’s current target asset class allocations, market sector allocations within each asset class, and Underlying Fund allocations within each market sector, as of June 30, 2021, are listed in the chart below. These allocations will change over time. Underlying Fund allocations in particular may change from year to year. However, as of the date of this Prospectus, Advisors expects that the allocations among the market sectors and Underlying Funds set forth below will be adjusted over time as Advisors implements an increase to the Fund’s target allocation to the International Equity market sector and a corresponding decrease to the Fund’s target allocation to the U.S. Equity market sector.

 

        

Asset Class

Allocation

  

Market Sector

Allocation

 

Underlying Funds

Allocation

Equity

94.78%

 

U.S. Equity

66.69%

 

 TIAA-CREF Equity Index

66.69%

   

International Equity

28.09%

 

 TIAA-CREF International Equity Index

18.65%

      

 TIAA-CREF Emerging Markets Equity Index

9.44%

Fixed-Income

5.22%

 

Fixed-Income

5.22%

 

 TIAA-CREF Bond Index

5.22%

        

Total

100.00%

  

100.00%

  

100.00%

The following chart shows how the investment glidepath for the Fund is expected to gradually move the Fund’s target allocations over time between the different target market sector allocations. The actual market sector allocations of the Fund may differ from this chart. The Fund seeks to achieve its final target market sector allocations approximately 30 years following the target date.

The Fund is designed to accommodate investors who invest in a fund up to their target retirement date, and plan to make gradual systematic withdrawals in retirement. In addition, investors should note that the Fund will continue to have a significant level of equity exposure up to, through and after its target retirement date, and this exposure could cause significant fluctuations in the value of the Fund depending on the performance of the equity markets generally.

After the Fund reaches its final target allocation, the Board of Trustees may authorize the merger of the Fund into another Lifecycle Index Fund which has also reached its final target allocation or other similar fund designed to maintain a relatively stable asset allocation reflecting the resting point on the glidepath described in the chart above. Fund shareholders will receive prior notice of any such merger.
Risk [Heading] rr_RiskHeading Principal investment risks
Risk Narrative [Text Block] rr_RiskNarrativeTextBlock

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 Fund’s portfolio holdings, 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.

· Index Risk—The risk that an Underlying Fund’s performance may not correspond to its benchmark index for any period of time and may underperform such index or the overall financial market. Additionally, to the extent that an Underlying Fund’s investments vary from the composition of its benchmark index, the Underlying Fund’s performance could potentially vary from the index’s performance to a greater extent than if the Underlying Fund merely attempted to replicate the index.

· 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 market prices of portfolio investments held by a 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. From time to time, a Fund may invest a significant portion of its assets in companies in one or more related sectors or industries, which would make the Fund more vulnerable to adverse developments affecting such sectors or industries;

· 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;

· 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 have lower liquidity and be more difficult to value than investments in U.S. issuers. To the extent a Fund invests a significant portion of its assets in the securities of companies in a single country or region, it may be more susceptible to adverse economic, market, political or regulatory events or conditions affecting that country or region. Foreign investments may also be subject to risk of loss because of more or less foreign government regulation, less public information and less stringent investor protections and disclosure standards; and

· small- and mid-cap risk—The risk that the stocks of small-capitalization companies often experience greater price volatility than

large- or mid-sized companies because small-cap companies are often newer or less established than larger companies and are likely to have more limited resources, products and markets. Securities of small-cap companies often have lower overall liquidity than securities of larger companies as a result of there being a smaller market for their securities, which can have an adverse effect on the pricing of these securities and on the ability to sell these securities when a Fund’s investment adviser or sub-adviser deems it appropriate. Stocks of mid-capitalization companies often experience greater price volatility, lower trading volume and lower overall liquidity than the stocks of larger, more established companies.

· 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 increases in interest rates can cause the prices of fixed-income investments to decline. This risk is heightened to the extent a Fund invests in longer duration fixed-income investments and during periods when prevailing interest rates are low or negative. As of the date of this Prospectus, interest rates in the United States and in certain foreign markets are at low levels, which may increase a Fund’s exposure to risks associated with rising interest rates. In general, changing interest rates could have unpredictable effects on the markets and may expose fixed-income and related markets to heightened volatility;

· prepayment risk—The risk that, during periods of falling interest rates, borrowers may pay off their mortgage loans sooner than expected, forcing a Fund to reinvest the unanticipated proceeds at lower interest rates and resulting in a decline in income;

· 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 the issuer of fixed-income investments may not be able or willing, or may be perceived (whether by market participants, rating agencies, pricing services or otherwise) as not able or willing, to meet interest or principal payments when the payments become 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 portfolio of fixed-income investments may decline in certain interest rate environments;

· market volatility, liquidity and valuation risk (types of market risk)—The risk that volatile or dramatic reductions in trading activity make it difficult for a Fund to properly value its investments and that a Fund may not be able to purchase or sell an investment at an attractive price, if at all; 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.

· Emerging Markets Underlying Funds 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. Emerging market countries may also have less stringent regulation of accounting, auditing, financial reporting and recordkeeping requirements, which would affect a Fund’s ability to evaluate potential portfolio companies. Because the financial markets of emerging market countries may 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 have lower overall liquidity than those of issuers in more developed countries. In addition, foreign investors such as a Fund are subject to a variety of special restrictions in many emerging market countries. Moreover, legal remedies for investors in emerging markets may be more limited, and U.S. authorities may have less ability to bring actions against bad actors in emerging market countries.

· Illiquid Investments Underlying Funds Risk—The risk that illiquid investments may be difficult to sell for the value at which they are carried, if at all, or at any price within the desired time frame.

· Currency Underlying Funds Risk—The risk that foreign (non-U.S.) currencies may decline in value relative to the U.S. dollar and adversely affect the value of a Fund’s investments in foreign currencies, securities denominated in foreign currencies or derivative instruments that provide exposure to foreign currencies.

· 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.
Risk Lose Money [Text] rr_RiskLoseMoney You could lose money over short or long periods by investing in this Fund.
Bar Chart and Performance Table [Heading] rr_BarChartAndPerformanceTableHeading Past performance
Performance Narrative [Text Block] rr_PerformanceNarrativeTextBlock

Performance information is not available for the Fund because the Fund has less than one calendar year of performance.

For current performance information of each share class, including performance to the most recent month-end, please visit www.tiaa.org.
Performance One Year or Less [Text] rr_PerformanceOneYearOrLess Performance information is not available for the Fund because the Fund has less than one calendar year of performance.
Performance Availability Website Address [Text] rr_PerformanceAvailabilityWebSiteAddress www.tiaa.org
TIAA-CREF Lifecycle Index 2065 Fund | Institutional Class  
Risk/Return: rr_RiskReturnAbstract  
Maximum sales charge imposed on purchases (percentage of offering price) rr_MaximumSalesChargeImposedOnPurchasesOverOfferingPrice none
Maximum deferred sales charge rr_MaximumDeferredSalesChargeOverOfferingPrice none
Maximum sales charge imposed on reinvested dividends and other distributions rr_MaximumSalesChargeOnReinvestedDividendsAndDistributionsOverOther none
Redemption or exchange fee rr_RedemptionFeeOverRedemption none
Maximum account fee rr_MaximumAccountFeeOverAssets none
Management fees rr_ManagementFeesOverAssets 0.15% [1],[2]
Distribution (Rule 12b-1) fees rr_DistributionAndService12b1FeesOverAssets none
Other expenses rr_OtherExpensesOverAssets 1.93% [1],[2]
Total annual Fund operating expenses rr_ExpensesOverAssets 2.08%
Waivers and expense reimbursements rr_FeeWaiverOrReimbursementOverAssets (1.98%) [3],[4]
Total annual Fund operating expenses after fee waiver and/or expense reimbursement rr_NetExpensesOverAssets 0.10%
Fee Waiver or Reimbursement over Assets, Date of Termination rr_FeeWaiverOrReimbursementOverAssetsDateOfTermination September 30, 2022
Expenses Restated to Reflect Current [Text] rr_ExpensesRestatedToReflectCurrent Restated to reflect estimates for the current fiscal year.
1 Year rr_ExpenseExampleYear01 $ 10
3 Years rr_ExpenseExampleYear03 459
5 Years rr_ExpenseExampleYear05 935
10 Years rr_ExpenseExampleYear10 $ 2,252
TIAA-CREF Lifecycle Index 2065 Fund | Advisor Class  
Risk/Return: rr_RiskReturnAbstract  
Maximum sales charge imposed on purchases (percentage of offering price) rr_MaximumSalesChargeImposedOnPurchasesOverOfferingPrice none
Maximum deferred sales charge rr_MaximumDeferredSalesChargeOverOfferingPrice none
Maximum sales charge imposed on reinvested dividends and other distributions rr_MaximumSalesChargeOnReinvestedDividendsAndDistributionsOverOther none
Redemption or exchange fee rr_RedemptionFeeOverRedemption none
Maximum account fee rr_MaximumAccountFeeOverAssets none
Management fees rr_ManagementFeesOverAssets 0.15% [1],[2]
Distribution (Rule 12b-1) fees rr_DistributionAndService12b1FeesOverAssets none
Other expenses rr_OtherExpensesOverAssets 2.01% [1],[2]
Total annual Fund operating expenses rr_ExpensesOverAssets 2.16%
Waivers and expense reimbursements rr_FeeWaiverOrReimbursementOverAssets (1.98%) [3],[4]
Total annual Fund operating expenses after fee waiver and/or expense reimbursement rr_NetExpensesOverAssets 0.18%
Fee Waiver or Reimbursement over Assets, Date of Termination rr_FeeWaiverOrReimbursementOverAssetsDateOfTermination September 30, 2022
Expenses Restated to Reflect Current [Text] rr_ExpensesRestatedToReflectCurrent Restated to reflect estimates for the current fiscal year.
1 Year rr_ExpenseExampleYear01 $ 18
3 Years rr_ExpenseExampleYear03 484
5 Years rr_ExpenseExampleYear05 977
10 Years rr_ExpenseExampleYear10 $ 2,336
TIAA-CREF Lifecycle Index 2065 Fund | Premier Class  
Risk/Return: rr_RiskReturnAbstract  
Maximum sales charge imposed on purchases (percentage of offering price) rr_MaximumSalesChargeImposedOnPurchasesOverOfferingPrice none
Maximum deferred sales charge rr_MaximumDeferredSalesChargeOverOfferingPrice none
Maximum sales charge imposed on reinvested dividends and other distributions rr_MaximumSalesChargeOnReinvestedDividendsAndDistributionsOverOther none
Redemption or exchange fee rr_RedemptionFeeOverRedemption none
Maximum account fee rr_MaximumAccountFeeOverAssets none
Management fees rr_ManagementFeesOverAssets 0.15% [1],[2]
Distribution (Rule 12b-1) fees rr_DistributionAndService12b1FeesOverAssets 0.15%
Other expenses rr_OtherExpensesOverAssets 1.94% [1],[2]
Total annual Fund operating expenses rr_ExpensesOverAssets 2.24%
Waivers and expense reimbursements rr_FeeWaiverOrReimbursementOverAssets (1.99%) [3],[4]
Total annual Fund operating expenses after fee waiver and/or expense reimbursement rr_NetExpensesOverAssets 0.25%
Fee Waiver or Reimbursement over Assets, Date of Termination rr_FeeWaiverOrReimbursementOverAssetsDateOfTermination September 30, 2022
Expenses Restated to Reflect Current [Text] rr_ExpensesRestatedToReflectCurrent Restated to reflect estimates for the current fiscal year.
1 Year rr_ExpenseExampleYear01 $ 26
3 Years rr_ExpenseExampleYear03 508
5 Years rr_ExpenseExampleYear05 1,017
10 Years rr_ExpenseExampleYear10 $ 2,419
TIAA-CREF Lifecycle Index 2065 Fund | Retirement Class  
Risk/Return: rr_RiskReturnAbstract  
Maximum sales charge imposed on purchases (percentage of offering price) rr_MaximumSalesChargeImposedOnPurchasesOverOfferingPrice none
Maximum deferred sales charge rr_MaximumDeferredSalesChargeOverOfferingPrice none
Maximum sales charge imposed on reinvested dividends and other distributions rr_MaximumSalesChargeOnReinvestedDividendsAndDistributionsOverOther none
Redemption or exchange fee rr_RedemptionFeeOverRedemption none
Maximum account fee rr_MaximumAccountFeeOverAssets none
Management fees rr_ManagementFeesOverAssets 0.15% [1],[2]
Distribution (Rule 12b-1) fees rr_DistributionAndService12b1FeesOverAssets none
Other expenses rr_OtherExpensesOverAssets 2.19% [1],[2]
Total annual Fund operating expenses rr_ExpensesOverAssets 2.34%
Waivers and expense reimbursements rr_FeeWaiverOrReimbursementOverAssets (1.99%) [3],[4]
Total annual Fund operating expenses after fee waiver and/or expense reimbursement rr_NetExpensesOverAssets 0.35%
Fee Waiver or Reimbursement over Assets, Date of Termination rr_FeeWaiverOrReimbursementOverAssetsDateOfTermination September 30, 2022
Expenses Restated to Reflect Current [Text] rr_ExpensesRestatedToReflectCurrent Restated to reflect estimates for the current fiscal year.
1 Year rr_ExpenseExampleYear01 $ 36
3 Years rr_ExpenseExampleYear03 539
5 Years rr_ExpenseExampleYear05 1,069
10 Years rr_ExpenseExampleYear10 $ 2,522
[1]

Portions of the Management fees and Other expenses are based on expenses that will be originally incurred by Class W shares of the Underlying Funds of the Trust, which will be incurred directly by the Fund pursuant to certain contractual arrangements intended to reallocate directly to the Fund certain fees and expenses that will be paid by the Underlying Funds of the Trust. For additional information, please see the “Management of the Funds” section of the Fund’s Prospectus.
[2]

Restated to reflect estimates for the current fiscal year.
[3]

Advisors has contractually agreed to waive 0.056% of the Fund’s Management fee. This waiver will remain in effect through September 30, 2022, unless changed with the approval of the Board of Trustees.
[4]

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, extraordinary expenses and any expenses originally attributable to Class W shares of the Underlying Funds of the Trust that were incurred directly by the Fund) that exceed: (i) 0.044% of average daily net assets for Institutional Class shares; (ii) 0.194% of average daily net assets for Advisor Class shares; (iii) 0.194% of average daily net assets for Premier Class shares; and (iv) 0.294% of average daily net assets for Retirement Class shares of the Fund. These expense reimbursement arrangements will continue through at least September 30, 2022, unless changed with approval of the Board of Trustees.