[February 14, 2012]

Alabama Education Association Selects TIAA-CREF as Retirement Plan Provider

TIAA-CREF, a leading financial services provider, today announced its selection by the Alabama Education Association (AEA) as the exclusive endorsed retirement plan provider for AEA's more than 104,000 members in 173 school districts and community colleges across the state.

"The market volatility of the past several years highlights the importance of working with a financially strong and low-cost provider¹ to help individuals make the most of saving for retirement," said Dr. Paul Hubbert, Former Executive Secretary-Treasurer, Alabama Education Association. "TIAA-CREF, a provider that exemplifies these qualities, along with Collateral Financial Advisors, an Alabama-based Registered Investment Advisor offering access to objective, fee-based advice, will encourage educators to take advantage of the savings plan and help them seek a safe and secure retirement."

By working together, AEA's members will have access to a centralized plan, creating economies of scale by pooling assets. Educators participating in the plan will benefit from quality, lower-cost investment options without front-end sales charges or surrender fees. Additionally, TIAA-CREF's market-leading 403(b) business provides all the support and infrastructure needed to support plan compliance at a district and community college level throughout Alabama.

"With this plan, we believe that AEA has set a new standard for retirement savings programs for their members," said Bruce Corcoran, managing director, K-12 market, TIAA-CREF. "We see tremendous benefits to AEA members and plan participants who will for the first time have access to local advisors providing objective investment advice."

"We look forward to working with Alabama' educators to help them make well-informed decisions about their retirement investments," said Eric Cantrell of Collateral Financial Advisors. "Being an Alabama-based firm with a rich history of working with the education community provides us with a unique understanding of the needs of educators that we can use to help them to take advantage of this new and improved retirement plan."

Alabama Educators will benefit from the following plan features:

• High-touch local assistance and one-on-one financial advice available through Collateral Financial Advisors
• Access to TIAA-CREF web-based and call center counseling and advice services
• A choice of quality mutual funds and annuities from TIAA-CREF as well as funds from other investment providers with no sales charges or surrender fees
• Access to built-in guaranteed lifetime income²
• Streamlined 403(b) and 457(b) compliance and administrative capabilities

About TIAA-CREF

TIAA-CREF (www.tiaa-cref.org) is a national financial services organization with $464 billion in assets under management (as of 12/31/11) and is the leading provider of retirement services in the academic, research, medical and cultural fields.

You should consider the investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses carefully before investing. Please call 877-518-9161 or log on to www.tiaa-cref.org for a prospectus that contains this and other information. Please read the prospectus carefully before investing.

TIAA-CREF products may be subject to market and other risk factors. See the applicable product literature, or visit www.tiaa-cref.org for details.

TIAA-CREF Individual & Institutional Services, LLC, and Teachers Personal Investors Services, Inc., members FINRA, distribute securities products. Annuity contracts and certificates are issued by Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association (TIAA) and College Retirement Equities Fund (CREF), New York, NY.

The testimonials above may not be representative of the experience of other TIAA-CREF institutions, partners or participants, and are not indicative of future performance or success.

©2012 Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association-College Retirement Equities Fund, New York, NY 10017

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¹ Morningstar Direct (January 2012) based on Morningstar expense comparisons by category. This applies to our variable annuity and mutual fund expense ratios.

² Guaranteed lifetime income is provided by TIAA annuities and is subject to TIAA's claims-paying ability.

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