Hello.  As to your second question, I asked the same question of my WMA a few weeks ago.  He replied  that he had to ask an actuarial expert at TIAA and later confirmed that I would lose my vintages in TIAA Traditional (403b) if I do a Transfer Payout Annuity (TPA) to an IRA.  The annual reinvestments would be applied at the then-current "new money" rate.  However, the money remaining in the TPA would retain the same vintages.  So you could
decide to have the TPA run for a couple of years and then convert the remaining TPA balance to annuity income if you wanted to and receive income under your current vintage rate structure. I hope this helps.

yours, Dennis