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TIAA-CREF Real Estate Securities Fund

TIAA-CREF Real Estate Securities Fund

Investment objective

The Fund seeks to obtain a favorable long-term total return through both capital appreciation and current income, by investing primarily in equity securities of companies principally engaged in or related to the real estate industry.

Fees and expenses

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 (fees paid directly from your investment)

Shareholder Fees - TIAA-CREF Real Estate Securities Fund - USD ($)	Institutional Class	Advisor Class	Premier Class	Retirement Class	Retail Class
Maximum sales charge imposed on purchases (percentage of offering price)	none	none	none	none	none
Maximum deferred sales charge	none	none	none	none	none
Maximum sales charge imposed on reinvested dividends and other distributions	none	none	none	none	none
Redemption or exchange fee	none	none	none	none	none
Account maintenance fee (annual fee on accounts under $2,000)	none	none	none	none	$ 15.00

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

Annual Fund Operating Expenses - TIAA-CREF Real Estate Securities Fund		Institutional Class	Advisor Class	Premier Class	Retirement Class	Retail Class
Management fees		0.46%	0.46%	0.46%	0.46%	0.46%
Distribution (Rule 12b-1) fees		none	none	0.15%	none	0.25%
Other expenses		0.01%	0.13%	0.01%	0.26%	0.04%
Total annual Fund operating expenses		0.47%	0.59%	0.62%	0.72%	0.75%
Waivers and expense reimbursements	[1]	none	none	none	none	none
Total annual Fund operating expenses after fee waiver and/or expense reimbursement		0.47%	0.59%	0.62%	0.72%	0.75%

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

Expense Example - TIAA-CREF Real Estate Securities Fund - USD ($)	Institutional Class	Advisor Class	Premier Class	Retirement Class	Retail Class
1 Year	$ 48	$ 60	$ 63	$ 74	$ 77
3 Years	151	189	199	230	240
5 Years	263	329	346	401	417
10 Years	$ 591	$ 738	$ 774	$ 894	$ 930

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 March 31, 2022, the Fund’s portfolio turnover rate was 25% of the average value of its portfolio.

Principal investment strategies

Under normal circumstances, the Fund invests at least 80% of its assets in the securities of companies that are principally engaged in or related to the real estate industry (“real estate securities”), including those that own significant real estate assets, such as real estate investment trusts (“REITs”). The Fund will invest primarily in equity securities of such companies. The Fund is actively managed using a research-oriented process with a focus on cash flows, asset values and Teachers Advisors, LLC’s (“Advisors”) belief in management’s ability to increase shareholder value. The Fund does not invest directly in real estate. The Fund concentrates its investments in the real estate industry. From time to time, the Fund may also invest in debt securities of companies principally engaged in or related to the real estate industry. For purposes of the 80% investment policy, the term “assets” means net assets, plus the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes.

An issuer is principally “engaged in” or principally “related to” the real estate industry if at least 50% of its assets, gross income or net profits are attributable to ownership, construction, management or sale of residential, commercial or industrial real estate, or to products or services related to the real estate industry. The Fund typically invests in securities issued by equity REITs (which directly own real estate), mortgage REITs (which make short-term construction or real estate development loans or invest in long-term mortgages or mortgage pools), real estate brokers and developers, homebuilders, companies that manage real estate and companies that own substantial amounts of real estate. Businesses related to the real estate industry include manufacturers and distributors of building supplies and financial institutions that make or service mortgage loans.

The Fund also may invest up to 15% of its assets in real estate securities of foreign issuers and up to 20% of its assets in equity (including preferred stock) and debt securities of issuers that are not engaged in or related to the real estate industry. The benchmark index for the Fund is the FTSE Nareit All Equity REITs Index.

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 Fund’s portfolio holdings, typically is subject to the following principal investment risks:

· Real Estate Investing Risk—As a result of the Fund’s investment objective, the Fund is subject to all of the risks associated with the ownership of real estate. These risks include, among others, declines in the value of real estate, negative changes in the climate for real estate, risks related to general and local economic conditions, decreases in property revenues,

increases in prevailing interest rates, property taxes and operating expenses, changes in zoning laws and costs resulting from the cleanup of environmental problems.

· Active Management Risk—The risk that Advisors’ strategy, investment selection or trading execution may cause the Fund to underperform relative to the benchmark index or mutual funds with similar investment objectives.

· Market Risk—The 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. From time to time, the 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.

· 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 as well as armed conflicts 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. Foreign investments may also be subject to risk of loss because of more or less foreign government regulation, less public information, less stringent investor protections and less stringent accounting, corporate governance, financial reporting and disclosure standards. The imposition of sanctions, exchange controls (including repatriation restrictions), confiscations, trade restrictions (including tariffs) and other restrictions by the United States or other governments may also negatively impact the Fund’s investments. The type and severity of sanctions and other measures that may be imposed could vary broadly in scope, and their impact is impossible to predict.

· Issuer Risk (often called Financial 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.

· Industry/Sector Concentration 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.

· Mid-Cap Risk—The risk that the 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.

· Small-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 Advisors deems it appropriate.

· Illiquid Investments 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.

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 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, Advisor, Premier, Retirement and Retail classes over the applicable one-year, five-year, ten-year and since-inception periods ended December 31, 2021, and how those returns compare to those of the Fund’s 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 Advisors to waive, reimburse and/or compensate the Fund for certain fees, expenses and/or costs. Without these reductions and/or compensation, 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 an index. The returns for the benchmark index 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. For information on the effect of compensation paid to the Fund on performance, see the Financial highlights for the Fund in the non-summary portion of the Prospectus.

ANNUAL TOTAL RETURNS FOR THE INSTITUTIONAL CLASS SHARES (%)† Real Estate Securities Fund

^† The year-to-date return as of the most recent calendar quarter, which ended on June 30, 2022, was -23.28%.

Best quarter: 17.29%, for the quarter ended March 31, 2019. Worst quarter: -19.62%, for the quarter ended March 31, 2020.

AVERAGE ANNUAL TOTAL RETURNS For the Periods Ended December 31, 2021

Average Annual Total Returns - TIAA-CREF Real Estate Securities Fund	Label	1 Year	5 Years	10 Years		Inception Date
Institutional Class		39.41%	14.82%	13.00%		Oct. 01, 2002
Institutional Class | After Taxes on Distributions		37.90%	13.37%	11.57%
Institutional Class | After Taxes on Distributions and Sales		23.58%	11.35%	10.16%
Advisor Class		39.24%	14.68%	12.93%	[1]	Dec. 04, 2015
Premier Class		39.22%	14.65%	12.84%		Sep. 30, 2009
Retirement Class		39.05%	14.53%	12.72%		Oct. 01, 2002
Retail Class		39.02%	14.47%	12.65%		Oct. 01, 2002
FTSE Nareit All Equity REITs Index	FTSE Nareit All Equity REITs Index	41.30%	12.46%	12.22%

Current performance of the Fund’s shares may be higher or lower than that shown above.

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.

[1] Under the Fund’s expense reimbursement arrangements, the Fund’s investment adviser, Teachers Advisors, LLC, 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) 0.57% of average daily net assets for Institutional Class shares; (ii) 0.72% of average daily net assets for Advisor Class shares; (iii) 0.72% of average daily net assets for Premier Class shares; (iv) 0.82% of average daily net assets for Retirement Class shares; and (v) 0.96% of average daily net assets for Retail Class shares of the Fund. These expense reimbursement arrangements will continue through at least July 31, 2023, unless changed with approval of the Board of Trustees.

[1] The performance shown for the Advisor Class that is prior to its inception date is based on performance of the Institutional Class. The performance for these periods has not been restated to reflect the actual expenses of the Advisor Class. If these actual expenses had been reflected, the performance of the Advisor Class shown for these periods would have been different because the Advisor Class has different expenses than the Institutional Class.