TIAA-CREF stands for Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association College Retirement Equity Funds. Its Growth Equity Fund is new. It gained 28.4 percent over the past year, ending in August. Since it started in September 1997, it has grown at a 28 percent annual rate. Now don't get your hopes up that the fund always will deliver 28 percent annual returns.
Past performance is no indication of future results.
It has done well because 50 percent of its assets are invested in technology stocks, according to Morningstar Inc., Chicago. Technology stocks are booming. The TIAA-CREF Growth Equity Fund is a combination index fund and actively managed fund. The manager buys large companies with fast growing earnings. As a base, the fund owns all the stocks that make up the Russell 3000 Growth Stock Index.