bealest, since I was also confused by your report, I went to the "TIAA-CREF Institutional Mutual Funds Institutional, Retirement, and Retail Classes, 2007 Annual Report". I'm pretty sure that is the document from which you quoted page 43 in your original post.
I don't blame you for being confused. The numbers you quoted are indeed dollar figures, but they are 1)Based on starting with $1,000 in an account 2)Receiving the actual return of the fund for the period stated 3)For six months only. The last, #3, is particularly irritating because you thought (!) that you were reading an "Annual Report". (In fairness to TIAA-CREF, the table you quoted is in fact headed "Six Months Ending Septemember 30, 2007".
The real problem is that the vast majority of discussions of mutual fund expenses (not just those held in this forum) use the annualized expense ratio. If you read the footnotes to the figures you quoted, it says "The fund's annualized six-month expense ratio for that period is 0.15% for the Institutional Class and 0.34% for the Retirement Class. ... ... Without this reimbursement, the expenses of these share classes would have been higher."
The key question to ask the person who recommended that you roll over your account
is, "Will the share class of my mutual fund holdings change as a result of the rollover?" I'm not in a position to know the answer, but I can tell you that I have the same class of mutual funds in my Amherst College RA as my wife has in her Rollover IRA (which came from a 401(k), it wasn't even at TIAA-CREF before she rolled it over.)
That said, I am extremely unhappy that some TIAA-CREF participants are given a lower expense ratio (in the new "Access" plans) than I have to pay in any of the five TIAA-CREF accounts I have. I presume this is a desperate effort to maintain their market share. But I don't see why long-term, faithful customers should be penalized for the fact that (I'm making this up) their institutions didn't threaten to leave the TIAA-CREF system, or adopt an employee choice menu that includes other providers!
Returning to the question you originally asked, should you roll over your account?: It is quite possible that you will have two to three times as many investment options, but you should find out if that is actually the case. Also, do you want three times as many options? (That is not the same question as "Should you have three times as many options?" Many investors become bewildered and confused when they get too many options - no insult to you intended, I'm just reporting a known phenomenon.) You might be satisfied with the choices you have now.
Finally, as reported here before, you should check whether your old plan was a 403(b), and, if so, whether your state (like NJ, where I live) has already taxed your 403(b) contributions. If so, it may be impossible to avoid a second state taxation of your contribution amounts when you take them out of an IRA, having put them into a 403(b). That question aside, I tend to agree with what the advisor told you about it being a good idea to roll over if you are no longer contributing to that account.
Tim
