Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news. The CEO of TIAA is sitting down with Bloomberg's speaky jabber inflation and get exposure to markets. So we have been in the business of guaranteed income for over one hundred years, and I can tell you that not a day goes by that I hear from either a participant or a family member.
That says thank you.
My dad is now ninety years old and he's still getting that check. You know, my mother is eighty, her husband passed away, and she's still able to get that check from tia So the point is that that guaranteed income was an annuity.
It was in their retirement planned.
And so when I think about where we are today, you're right, there's so many permutations around annuities, so many different flavors, and so we as an industry have to make sure that we can simplify it or that people are clear on what it is that they have than what it means.
So there is work that we are doing.
But when I think about annuities within your allocation, it is not complicated. It is you have exposure to the stock market, you have exposure to bonds, and then you have exposure to insurance. It's simple, It's part of your retirement allocation. It's different than a retail annuity. I think the most important thing is to understand what it is and what it's not.
An annuity is not exposure to equities.
In alpha, annuities give you longevity protection, it gives you consistency, and it gives you the confidence that you can have income that you won't outlive. And I think that in this environment is so important that we talk more about annuities, make sure people understand it, continue to do our job to simplify and make sure people are educated around it.
But providing access and retirement vehicles is what we've done for over one hundred years in the four to three B market, and we most recently have rolled it out in the four to one K market.
So going back to nineteen eighteen and that initial million dollar contribution from Heady Carnegie to where we are today, the company has grown tremendously overseas one point three one point four trillion dollars worth of assets. Can you just talk a bit about that investing strategy you're alluding to it just a moment ago. It strikes me as it's kind of very lowercase C conservative. There's not a lot
exotic about these main portfolios. Could you just talk about the company's approach to investing.
Well for us at TIA and Novene.
You know, we are a liability driven We want to make sure that we are investing in a way that our participants can feel confident that twenty thirty, forty fifty years from now that the money will be there, it will be well invested, and they will be able to have income that they cannot outlive. And so when we look at what we're doing, we have our general account. We also with Navine have third party assets and what's important there is whatever returns that we're getting from nav
that ultimately goes back to our participants. We return all of our earnings back to our participants and so that allows them to get outside performance over time. And so within our company, we serve the four to three B market. We've done that that's a not to our heritage. We
will continue to do that. We see that there's tremendous opportunity to make sure the people that are helping and serving so many millions of Americans, whether it's higher ed and healthcare, can feel comfortable and confident about their retirement plan.
But we're also in.
Partnership with Navine taking that benefit into the four to one K market so that companies can add insurance into their allocation.
And we're very excited about that.
And of course with respect to Navine and their investment strategy, we do a lot in alternatives. So think about it as eighty five percent of our general account is fixed income, fifteen percent can be alternatives, and so that allows everyday participants through our general account to have access to alternatives, to have access to real estate, infrastructure, farm land, etc. Pe In a very safe way to generate more alpha for them. But the most important thing is that for us,
it is liability driven. We want to make sure that we're investing in a way that will give them the performance and accumulation, but give them the confidence and dq that they will have income, that they won't outlive, and that we will be there for them.
Going back to the crisis, something that you proposed in an op ed you wrote a couple of weeks ago for The New York Times is more of a public private partnership, more engagement with policymakers in the face of this crisis. Here we are a few weeks into a new administration, a new Congress. How optimistic are you both about the appetite for that by the new president, by that Congress, and the level of engagement that we've seen such so far on in retirement issues.
Yeah.
The good news is when you're talking about retirement, it doesn't matter if you are in rural America, urban, suburban. It's not a blue state, it's not a red state issue. It absolutely is an American issue that we can all relate to. And so I am optimistic. And the reason why I'm optimistic is that the policy that we have been able to achieve over many years as an industry have been bipartisan.
It did not matter who was in office, It did not.
Matter what the ratios were between Democrats and Republicans. It was an issue that everyone came together on. And so I'm looking forward to us continuing to tell the story about how important retirement security is. I'm excited about some of the progress we've made with the Secure Act to make it easier for people to have access to retirement,
and so that conversation will continue. We're looking forward to engaging with the new administration and talking about how do we continue to make sure that more Americans can have access to a secure retirement and how do we make sure that by doing that that can put less burden on sale security. By doing that that puts more money to work so that the caregivers children are not having to carry that burden. And so I do think that it will continue to be a bipartisan issue, and it is so important.
We cannot close this.
Retirement gap without private public partnership. We have to have good power and we have to make sure that we in the private sector are doing our part to educate our employees to make sure that the plans are designed so that people can have accessed no matter where they are within their employee base, whether they're seeingior executives or the people that are on the front line are working
in the mailroom. Having plans that are designed in a way where you have education, in a way that it has exposure to equities, bonds, and insurance, and having great policy so that more people can have access to me is the job to be done, and it is something that has to be done in both private and public sector.
I just want to turn to how you're navigating this moment and you and I last spoke. It was a few years back during COVID I did a piece on Black Wall Street and the Tulsa Rays massacre, and I asked you just about the long legacy of that, and we got to talking about DEI got to talking about how you prioritize that within the company. Like you said, it was a cornerstone of what TIA has done. You, I'm sure, have paid attention to the recent conversation about that.
Has it changed notionally the way that your company approaches these issues. What do you make of companies that have, in light of this increased scrutiny, step back from some of the commitments they've made before.
Yeah, I mean, I'll speak to it through the lens of TIA and through the lens of me being a CEO.
I think that for us.
Our values are very clear, you know, and our values go back well over one hundred years, and that will continue to remain. I've always said that talent is created equally, opportunity is not. And so if the objective is to continue a pursuit towards meritocracy, knowing that we started with exclusionary practices and not having everyone have access to entering
corporate America. If the objective is excellent, If the objective is to make sure that we can cast the widest net across our country, to attract the very best talent, to develop that talent, and to make sure that that talent stays, then the outcome will continue to be a diverse workforce because I do believe that talent is there, and so for us, we will absolutely comply with every law, every regulation to the highest standard. And we also realize that there is a need for more talent.
We also recognize that there are jobs.
To be done across our workplace to make sure that everyone feels that they can have access.
And when I say everyone, I mean everyone.
And so when I think about the opportunity for us, I think the opportunity is stay focused on our values, to stay focused on making sure that we can cast the widest net across our country, and that when people enter the workplace a TIA, they wear one jersey that's a TIA jersey and they're very aligned with our mission. And our mission is to ensure that millions of Americans
can have a secure retirement. And I believe that if we stay focused on that, navigate whatever the environment is always complying to the highest standard.
The outcome of talent will be a diverse workforce.
So, just to be clear, when the President says last night, with the sweep of a pen, he's ended DEI and government and in the private sector, nothing has changed.
I mean, we're always going to understand what the President of the United States is requiring for companies and will comply. But what has not changed is our commitment to talent. What has not changed is making sure that we cast a wider net.
And if the President is very.
Much focused on excellence, then we are well positioned at TIA to continue to make sure that we do just that while making sure that we comply to any standards, any law, in any regulation, and we will absolutely do that.
You're in this kind of rareified position, I think like the head of counselors is probably in a similar one where you're able to exert influence on the companies on whom you invest. You can make your opinions known about corporate board composition, for instance. Is that something that you continue to do, continue to prioritize and does that stand to change with what's happened over these last few weeks.
Yeah, I mean, I think you know clearly, you know, making sure that we're navigating the environment and what executive actions, executive orders.
Laws, et cetera.
And like I said, we'll make sure we do all of that. But you know, we're investing in thou of companies and it is important for us to understand who the company is, what they're about, what is their philosophy, what is their strategy, understanding their leadership, and so that won't change. If there's things that we have to edit, we'll navigate that. But as an institutional investor, it is very important where we're deploying our participants' money.
We want to make sure that we're doing it well and.
That we understand the companies that we're investing in, so that our portfolio managers can have as much information as they can to make very sound decisions about the overall investment strategy.
You oversee this huge company that has it's handled so many things, and obviously you have to interface with regulators as well. Are you worried about the state of regulation in this country that you have to interact with them at the.
State level the federal level.
Do you worry about the cuts that we're seeing in terms of the products that you offer. This broader conversation about what people have when they retire.
Well, the good news is we have a range of solutions and that hasn't changed, so we haven't seen any impact there terms of our investment strategy, in terms of what we're here to do. You know, as I think about regulation, you know, I think clearly the President's been clear in wanting to have some deregulation and that will be a positive thing for companies.
But regulation is good.
You know, you want to make sure that you know, we're in a regulated industry.
We need to have sound regulation.
Clearly, if there's opportunities to improve, the President's been clear about wanting to do that and what that can leash in terms of companies and their earnings. But I think the most important thing is one for us making sure that we're clear on what we're here to do, which
is provide a secure retirement for millions of Americans. Understanding the regulatory landscape and whatever laws that gets passed with the President and the new administration, and adhere to that, but never lose sight of the main thing, which is to make sure that we have sound investment practices, making sure we continue to attract the best talent and make sure that we deliver on our retirees. Whatever the regulatory environment will be, we will navigate that. You know, we've
been around for one hundred years. We've seen the highs, the lows, and everything in between. But what hasn't changed regardless of the environment, is delivering for our participants and that won't change regardless of any shifts in the overall environment.
So the last question, I'm curious how you were thinking about the economy, thinking about markets today. We lived through a lot just for the last twenty four hours with the imposition of this grade war. How are you thinking about that?
All right? That was the CEO of TIA with Bloomberg's David Gerra. We got to get her on our show. Yeah she was great, Yes, she was fantastic. He's okay, he knows what he's talking about.
Host of the Big Take There You Go podcast, which I love.