I think it depends on what you have your annuity invested in.. For example,
its usually a BAD idea to have a tax or tax advantaged investment in an IRA
for the main reason that its redundant and youre losing some potential tax
advantage.. In an ira, you invest pre tax dollars, with the idea that when
you withdraw the funds in retirement, youll be in a lower income tax level..
You pay Income Tax on IRA withdrawels. But lets say youve invested in a
Muni bond fund which is triple tax free.. Well, you could get 100% of its
tax advantage without having to invest it in an IRA... The favorable tax
treatment of the IRA is completely lost on this type of investment. To the
extent that your Annuity is tax advantaged, I believe it may be wasted as an
IRA asset.

Paul

"ItchyNadirTongue" <cmilley2000[at]excite.com> wrote in message
news:1167842180.134568.185820[at]42g2000cwt.googlegroups.com...
- quote -

Please help. I rolled over my 401K from my first job (when I was just
a young one) into a TIAA-CREF IRA because my wife recommended it. Now,

several jobs later, I have participated in three other 401K plans and
have another IRA with Schwab. In the meantime, I hope I have gained a
smidgen of financial saavy. My problem is that I dont really
understand what I have with TIAA-CREF. The money amount is not large
so I have not paid too much attention. But now when I look into it, I
see that all my money is invested in "variable annuities" instead of
standard mutual funds. Can someone help me understand exactly what
this means and what the ramifications are? TIAA-CREF also offers
mutual funds options within the IRA but this seems like a relatively
new phenomenon since the historical data does not go back too far. Can

I freely move money out of the variable annuities (CREF stock, Global
Equities, etc), and into the mutual funds? Any information would be
greatly appreciated, as the tiaa-cref website seems purposely cryptic.
Thank you in advance.