Jessica,

I inadvertently missed your response to my post for which I apologize. 

I do not quite understand what you mean by "5 retirement class options." I am guessing that your "4 CREF equities" are Global, Stock, Equity Index and Growth - all of which are variable annuities. I think that your "5 retirement class options" are likely Social Choice, Bond Market, Inflation-Linked Bond and Money Market (all are also CREF funds/accounts) and the TIAA Real Estate Account. IF I am right these are not retirment class options but together with the 4 CREF equities are what I refer to as the nine traditional variable annuities offered by TIAA-CREF; they are all retirment options and are usually available to every participant. They are found in a 403-b account as the one you have.

There are however two version of retirement accounts offered by T-C: 1) a Retirement Account referred to as an RA Account and 2) a Group Retirement Account referred to as a GRA. You say your account is a GSRA which I find to be odd. GSRA is an acronym for a Group Supplemental Retirement Account which is an offshoot of a SRA,. a Supplemental Retirement Account. The only difference I know between the latter two are that the GSRA allows one to take a loan from the account; this cannot be done with a SRA. When I thought I would need money to help pay for one of my kids' professional education, I converted part of my SRA to a GSRA, so I have so experience with both. Normally one, as I understand the rule, one cannot have an SRA or GSRA with T-C without having an RA or GRA Account in the first place.

Are you sure you have a GSRA as your ONLY T-C account? I would find this hard to believe though if you say so I will believe it. My thought is that what you might have is a GRA Account which is basically an RA Account from which you can withdraw your TIAA Traditional Funds (for a fee) if you have any.

Could you please tell me if I am wrong and confirm whether you do have a GSRA and whether it is your only retirement account with T-C?

Thanks.

Ray