Hi Kris,

There are several members in our extended family who have the same choices you are presented with, and, like you, they are both new to investing and don't want to spend much time on their investments (at least for the time being!).

You ask for opinions on several matters so I'll share some with you based on conversations and decisions made by other family members.

First, though, let's quickly clear up two matters.  There's nothing wrong with you crossposting when the crosspost involves two different fund families.  You did a smart thing.  Second, I see no mention of a 401-K so I assume we are talking about some version of a 403-b (or 401-a).

Factors you should consider:

1. TIAA is very new to the Lifecycle/Target game.  The asset base of their funds, relative to Fidelity's, is quite small.

2. Fidelity has been at the business much longer than T/C.  I'd give the nod to experience, but for all I know T/C might do very well over the long haul (I have no crystal ball available).

3. Fidelity's fees are established, somewhat lower than T/Cs, and most important of all do not have fee waivers.  If you look at the expense ratios of the T/C funds you'll see some asterisks about fee waivers--always a warning sign in my view.

4. The two Fidelity funds aren't nearly as aggressive as T/Cs 90/10 equity allocation. Fidelity is closer to the low 80s, a third of which is in international holdings.  Personally, I would find this more acceptable since I don't buy the "stocks in the long run" optimism of some folks.

5.  The Fidelity funds can hold as many as 24 different Fidelity funds, so it's unlikely that you'll ever quite know  what management's reasoning is.

6. As I recall, the Fidelity funds do not have a high turnover ratio, which means they don't do a lot of trading (that's good in my view).  I'll doublecheck this and edit my post if I'm incorrect.

7. Fidelity may have the most sophisticated software in the business.  They are not likely to screw up your transactions.  Alas, the same cannot be said for TIAA-CREF currently.

In light of your choices, my opinion is that Fidelity is the superior choice.  Bob U.

Disclosure: I do not own any Fidelity funds.