Our Mission
Thought Leadership Spotlight
You can read these and related reports following the links below.
The 2018 TIAA Institute-GFLEC Personal Finance Index
Potential vs. Realized Savings Under Automatic Enrollment
Research Reports
Original research produced by the TIAA Institute—both independently and in collaboration with noted scholars—examines topics of interest to the academic, nonprofit and public sectors. The reports combine statistical findings with thoughtful, data-driven observations and conclusions to provide in-depth analyses that are informative and appropriate for both technical and more academic audiences.
Most retirement plans let participants allocate their contributions among a menu of investment options – and this decision can have a substantial effect on a retirement portfolio’s ultimate value.
Many Americans lack the personal finance knowledge needed for sound financial decision making.
A retirement plan’s default investment portfolio is optimal for some employees. But for others, the default has some drawbacks.
Insights
Also produced by the TIAA Institute, Insights features reports addressing prominent issues in financial security, higher education, and philanthropy. While typically written for a primarily non-technical audience, Insights are prepared using the same level of academic rigor found in our other research publications, and can serve as valuable sources of information for a diverse group of readers.
Finance theory assumes that investors maximize risk-adjusted returns when choosing portfolios. In reality, some people are also influenced by irrelevant factors, such as cosmetic changes to investment fund names.
Opportunities to borrow increased considerably in the U.S. over the past few decades, and many Americans today are approaching retirement with high levels of debt.
When making financial decisions under uncertain conditions, do people actually behave as widely used theories predict?
Events
2018 Fellows Symposium – A Fresh Look at Some Key Challenges for Higher Ed
On November 1, 2018, the TIAA Institute hosted a Fellows Symposium in New York City focused on key issues of importance in higher education.
2018 TIAA Institute Women’s Leadership Forum
Past EventsWorking with leading research centers, associations and think tanks across the nation helps the TIAA Institute tap into their diverse expertise and broaden its impact among its audiences. This yields reliable, data-driven information leaders need to make sound decisions.