TIAA-CREF Funds

 

Prospectus

 

TIAA-CREF Lifecycle Index Funds

OCTOBER 1, 2022

         
 

Ticker

Fund

Institutional
Class

Advisor
Class

Premier
Class

Retirement
Class

         
         

Lifecycle Index Retirement Income Fund

TRILX

TLIHX

TLIPX

TRCIX

Lifecycle Index 2010 Fund

TLTIX

TLTHX

TLTPX

TLTRX

Lifecycle Index 2015 Fund

TLFIX

TLFAX

TLFPX

TLGRX

Lifecycle Index 2020 Fund

TLWIX

TLWHX

TLWPX

TLWRX

Lifecycle Index 2025 Fund

TLQIX

TLQHX

TLVPX

TLQRX

Lifecycle Index 2030 Fund

TLHIX

TLHHX

TLHPX

TLHRX

Lifecycle Index 2035 Fund

TLYIX

TLYHX

TLYPX

TLYRX

Lifecycle Index 2040 Fund

TLZIX

TLZHX

TLPRX

TLZRX

Lifecycle Index 2045 Fund

TLXIX

TLMHX

TLMPX

TLMRX

Lifecycle Index 2050 Fund

TLLIX

TLLHX

TLLPX

TLLRX

Lifecycle Index 2055 Fund

TTIIX

TTIHX

TTIPX

TTIRX

Lifecycle Index 2060 Fund

TVIIX

TVIHX

TVIPX

TVITX

Lifecycle Index 2065 Fund

TFITX

TFIHX

TFIPX

TFIRX

         

This Prospectus describes the Institutional Class, Advisor Class, Premier Class and Retirement Class shares offered by the investment portfolios listed above (each, a “Fund” and, collectively, the “Funds”) of the TIAA-CREF Funds (the “Trust”). These Funds comprise the TIAA-CREF Lifecycle Index Funds (the “Lifecycle Index Funds”), a sub-family of funds offered by the Trust.

An investment in a Fund is not a deposit of any bank and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other government agency. An investor can lose money in any of the Funds and the Funds could perform more poorly than other investments.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) has not approved or disapproved these securities or passed upon the adequacy of this Prospectus. Any representation to the contrary is a criminal offense.


Table of contents

     

Summary information

Lifecycle Index Retirement Income Fund

Investment objective 6

Fees and expenses 6

Shareholder fees 6

Annual Fund operating expenses 7

Example 7

Portfolio turnover 8

Principal investment strategies 8

Principal investment risks 10

Past performance 13

Portfolio management 16

Purchase and sale of Fund shares 16

Tax information 16

Payments to broker-dealers and other financial intermediary compensation 17

Summary information

Lifecycle Index 2010 Fund

Investment objective 18

Fees and expenses 18

Shareholder fees 18

Annual Fund operating expenses 19

Example 19

Portfolio turnover 20

Principal investment strategies 20

Principal investment risks 22

Past performance 26

Portfolio management 28

Purchase and sale of Fund shares 29

Tax information 29

Payments to broker-dealers and other financial intermediary compensation 29

 

Summary information

Lifecycle Index 2015 Fund

Investment objective 31

Fees and expenses 31

Shareholder fees 31

Annual Fund operating expenses 32

Example 32

Portfolio turnover 33

Principal investment strategies 33

Principal investment risks 35

Past performance 39

Portfolio management 41

Purchase and sale of Fund shares 42

Tax information 42

Payments to broker-dealers and other financial intermediary compensation 42

Summary information

Lifecycle Index 2020 Fund

Investment objective 44

Fees and expenses 44

Shareholder fees 44

Annual Fund operating expenses 45

Example 45

Portfolio turnover 46

Principal investment strategies 46

Principal investment risks 48

Past performance 52

Portfolio management 54

Purchase and sale of Fund shares 55

Tax information 55

Payments to broker-dealers and other financial intermediary compensation 55


     

Summary information

Lifecycle Index 2025 Fund

Investment objective 57

Fees and expenses 57

Shareholder fees 57

Annual Fund operating expenses 58

Example 58

Portfolio turnover 59

Principal investment strategies 59

Principal investment risks 61

Past performance 65

Portfolio management 67

Purchase and sale of Fund shares 68

Tax information 68

Payments to broker-dealers and other financial intermediary compensation 68

Summary information

Lifecycle Index 2030 Fund

Investment objective 70

Fees and expenses 70

Shareholder fees 70

Annual Fund operating expenses 71

Example 71

Portfolio turnover 72

Principal investment strategies 72

Principal investment risks 74

Past performance 78

Portfolio management 80

Purchase and sale of Fund shares 81

Tax information 81

Payments to broker-dealers and other financial intermediary compensation 81

 

Summary information

Lifecycle Index 2035 Fund

Investment objective 83

Fees and expenses 83

Shareholder fees 83

Annual Fund operating expenses 84

Example 84

Portfolio turnover 85

Principal investment strategies 85

Principal investment risks 87

Past performance 91

Portfolio management 93

Purchase and sale of Fund shares 94

Tax information 94

Payments to broker-dealers and other financial intermediary compensation 94

Summary information

Lifecycle Index 2040 Fund

Investment objective 96

Fees and expenses 96

Shareholder fees 96

Annual Fund operating expenses 97

Example 97

Portfolio turnover 98

Principal investment strategies 98

Principal investment risks 100

Past performance 104

Portfolio management 106

Purchase and sale of Fund shares 107

Tax information 107

Payments to broker-dealers and other financial intermediary compensation 107


Table of contents

     

Summary information

Lifecycle Index 2045 Fund

Investment objective 109

Fees and expenses 109

Shareholder fees 109

Annual Fund operating expenses 110

Example 110

Portfolio turnover 111

Principal investment strategies 111

Principal investment risks 113

Past performance 117

Portfolio management 119

Purchase and sale of Fund shares 120

Tax information 120

Payments to broker-dealers and other financial intermediary compensation 120

Summary information

Lifecycle Index 2050 Fund

Investment objective 122

Fees and expenses 122

Shareholder fees 122

Annual Fund operating expenses 123

Example 123

Portfolio turnover 124

Principal investment strategies 124

Principal investment risks 126

Past performance 130

Portfolio management 132

Purchase and sale of Fund shares 133

Tax information 133

Payments to broker-dealers and other financial intermediary compensation 133

 

Summary information

Lifecycle Index 2055 Fund

Investment objective 135

Fees and expenses 135

Shareholder fees 135

Annual Fund operating expenses 136

Example 136

Portfolio Turnover 137

Principal investment strategies 137

Principal investment risks 139

Past performance 143

Portfolio management 145

Purchase and sale of Fund shares 146

Tax information 146

Payments to broker-dealers and other financial intermediary compensation 146

Summary information

Lifecycle Index 2060 Fund

Investment objective 148

Fees and expenses 148

Shareholder fees 148

Annual Fund operating expenses 149

Example 149

Portfolio turnover 150

Principal investment strategies 150

Principal investment risks 152

Past performance 156

Portfolio management 158

Purchase and sale of Fund shares 159

Tax information 159

Payments to broker-dealers and other financial intermediary compensation 159


     

Summary information

Lifecycle Index 2065 Fund

Investment objective 161

Fees and expenses 161

Shareholder fees 161

Annual Fund operating expenses 162

Example 162

Portfolio turnover 163

Principal investment strategies 163

Principal investment risks 165

Past performance 169

Portfolio management 172

Purchase and sale of Fund shares 172

Tax information 172

Payments to broker-dealers and other financial intermediary compensation 173

Additional information about investment strategies and risks 173

Additional information about the Funds 173

More about the Funds’ strategies 174

Additional information about the Funds’ broad-based securities market indices 176

Additional information about the Funds’ composite benchmark indices 176

Additional information about the Underlying Funds 179

Additional information on investment risks of the Funds and Underlying Funds 180

Principal risks of the Funds 181

Additional information on principal risks of the Underlying Funds 190

Additional information on investment strategies and risks of the Funds and Underlying Funds 194

Portfolio holdings 198

Portfolio turnover 199

 

Share classes 199

Management of the Funds 199

The Funds’ investment adviser 199

Investment management fees 200

Portfolio management team 202

Other services 203

Distribution and service arrangements 204

All classes 204

Other payments by the Funds 204

Other payments by Nuveen Securities, Advisors or their affiliates 206

Calculating share price 207

Dividends and distributions 209

Taxes 210

Your account: purchasing, redeeming or exchanging shares 212

Fund shares offered in this Prospectus 212

Share class eligibility 213

Purchasing shares 215

Redeeming shares 221

Exchanging shares 225

Conversion of shares–applicable to all investors 227

Important transaction information 228

Market timing/excessive trading policy–applicable to all investors 231

Electronic prospectuses 232

Additional information about index providers 233

Additional information about the Trust and the Board of Trustees 235

Glossary 235

Financial highlights 237


 

Summary information

TIAA-CREF Lifecycle Index Retirement Income Fund

Investment objective

The Lifecycle Index Retirement Income Fund seeks high total return over time primarily through income, with a secondary emphasis on capital appreciation.

Fees and expenses

This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy, hold and sell shares of the Fund. You may pay other fees such as brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the tables and examples below.

SHAREHOLDER FEES (fees paid directly from your investment)

                 
 

Institutional
Class

 

Advisor
Class

 

Premier
Class

 

Retirement
Class

 

Maximum Sales Charge Imposed on Purchases
(percentage of offering price)

0%

 

0%

 

0%

 

0%

 

Maximum Deferred Sales Charge

0%

 

0%

 

0%

 

0%

 

Maximum Sales Charge Imposed on Reinvested
Dividends and Other Distributions

0%

 

0%

 

0%

 

0%

 

Redemption or Exchange Fee

0%

 

0%

 

0%

 

0%

 

Maximum Account Fee

0%

 

0%

 

0%

 

0%

 

6     Prospectus    TIAA-CREF Lifecycle Index Funds


ANNUAL FUND OPERATING EXPENSES (expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)

                   

 

 

Institutional
Class

 

Advisor
Class

 

Premier
Class

 

Retirement
Class

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Management fees1,2

0.17%

 

0.17%

 

0.17%

 

0.17%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Distribution (Rule 12b-1) fees

 

 

0.15%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Other expenses1,2

0.05%

 

0.15%

 

0.05%

 

0.30%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Total annual Fund operating expenses

0.22%

 

0.32%

 

0.37%

 

0.47%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Waivers and expense reimbursements3,4

(0.12)%

 

(0.12)%

 

(0.12)%

 

(0.12)%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Total annual Fund operating expenses after fee
  waiver and/or expense reimbursement

0.10%

 

0.20%

 

0.25%

 

0.35%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1

Restated to reflect estimates for the current fiscal year.

2

Portions of the Management fees and Other expenses are based on expenses originally incurred by Class W shares of the Underlying Funds (as defined below) of the Trust, which have been incurred directly by the Fund pursuant to certain contractual arrangements intended to reallocate directly to the Fund certain fees and expenses that had been paid by the Underlying Funds of the Trust. For additional information, please see the “Management of the Funds” section of this Prospectus.

3

Under the Fund’s expense reimbursement arrangements, the Fund’s investment adviser, Teachers Advisors, LLC (“Advisors”), has contractually agreed to reimburse the Fund for any Total annual Fund operating expenses (excluding interest, taxes, brokerage commissions or other transactional expenses, Acquired fund fees and expenses, extraordinary expenses and any expenses originally attributable to Class W shares of the Underlying Funds of the Trust that were incurred directly by the Fund) that exceed: (i) 0.017% of average daily net assets for Institutional Class shares; (ii) 0.167% of average daily net assets for Advisor Class shares; (iii) 0.167% of average daily net assets for Premier Class shares; and (iv) 0.267% of average daily net assets for Retirement Class shares of the Fund. These expense reimbursement arrangements will continue through at least September 30, 2023, unless changed with approval of the Board of Trustees.

4

Advisors has contractually agreed to waive 0.083% of the Fund’s Management fee. This waiver will remain in effect through September 30, 2023, unless changed with the approval of the Board of Trustees.

Example

This example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in shares of the Fund with the cost of investing in other mutual funds. The example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then redeem all your shares at the end of those periods. The example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund’s operating expenses, before fee waivers and/or expense reimbursements, remain the same. The example assumes that the Fund’s fee waiver and/or expense reimbursement arrangements will each remain in place for the durations noted in the table above. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:

                         

 

Institutional
Class

 

Advisor
Class

 

Premier
Class

 

Retirement
Class

 

1 year

$

10

 

$

20

 

$

26

 

$

36

 

3 years

$

59

 

$

91

 

$

107

 

$

139

 

5 years

$

112

 

$

168

 

$

196

 

$

251

 

10 years

$

268

 

$

394

 

$

456

 

$

580

 

TIAA-CREF Lifecycle Index Funds    Prospectus     7


Portfolio turnover

The Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when Fund shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in annual fund operating expenses or in the example, affect the Fund’s performance. During the fiscal year ended May 31, 2022, the Fund’s portfolio turnover rate was 24% of the average value of its portfolio.

Principal investment strategies

The Fund is a “fund of funds” that invests in Class W shares of other funds of the Trust and potentially in other investment pools or investment products, including other funds advised by the Fund’s investment adviser, Teachers Advisors, LLC (“Advisors”), or its affiliates (collectively, the “Underlying Funds”). The Fund invests in Underlying Funds according to a relatively stable asset allocation strategy that will not gradually adjust over time and is designed for investors who are already in retirement (i.e., have already passed their retirement year) and may have begun taking systematic withdrawals upon retirement. The Fund has a policy of investing at least 80% of its assets in Underlying Funds that are managed to seek investment returns that track particular market indices. For purposes of the 80% investment policy, the term “assets” means net assets, plus the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes.

Advisors currently expects to allocate approximately 40.00% of the Fund’s assets to equity Underlying Funds and 60.00% of its assets to fixed-income Underlying Funds. These allocations represent targets for equity and fixed-income asset classes. Target allocations may be changed and actual allocations may vary up to ten percentage points from the targets. Within the equity and fixed-income asset classes, Advisors allocates the Fund’s investments to particular market sectors (U.S. equity, international equity, fixed-income, short-term fixed-income and inflation-protected assets) represented by various Underlying Funds. These market sector allocations may vary by up to 10% from the Fund’s target market sector allocations. The Fund’s current target market sector allocations for June 30, 2023, which may change, are approximately as follows: U.S. Equity: 26.00%; International Equity: 14.00%; Fixed-Income: 40.00%; Short-Term Fixed-Income: 10.00%; and Inflation-Protected Assets: 10.00%. The asset class and market sector names used herein are intended to reflect the primary type of investment of the Underlying Funds within each of these categories.

The Fund’s target market sector allocations to Underlying Funds may include the TIAA-CREF Equity Index Fund (U.S. Equity); TIAA-CREF Emerging Markets Equity Index Fund and TIAA-CREF International Equity Index Fund (International Equity); TIAA-CREF Bond Index Fund (Fixed-Income); TIAA-CREF Short-Term Bond Index Fund (Short-Term Fixed-Income) and TIAA-CREF Inflation-Linked Bond Fund (Inflation-Protected Assets).

8     Prospectus    TIAA-CREF Lifecycle Index Funds


As a result of its investments in the Underlying Funds, the Fund’s returns will reflect investments in a mix of domestic and foreign equities of companies of various sizes and market capitalizations and a variety of domestic and foreign fixed-income instruments of private and governmental issuers of varying maturities and credit qualities.

Additional or replacement Underlying Funds for each market sector, as well as additional or replacement market sectors, may be included when making future allocations if Advisors believes that such Underlying Funds and/or market sectors are appropriate in light of the Fund’s desired levels of risk and potential return at the particular time. The Fund’s portfolio management team may also add a new market sector if it believes that will help to achieve the Fund’s investment objective. The relative allocations among Underlying Funds within a market sector may be changed at any time without notice to shareholders. If 10% or more of the Fund’s assets are expected to be invested in any Underlying Fund or market sector not listed above, shareholders will receive prior notice of such change. Investors should note that the Fund has a significant level of equity exposure and this exposure could cause fluctuation in the value of the Fund depending on the performance of the equity markets generally.

As part of the Fund’s ability to invest in other investment pools or investment products noted above, the Fund may invest in exchange-traded funds (“ETFs”) and exchange-traded notes (“ETNs”) to gain exposure to various market sectors or securities in order to effect its asset allocation strategy. Additionally, the Fund may use ETFs or ETNs for cash management, hedging or defensive purposes. ETFs or ETNs will be subject to the risks associated with the types of securities or sectors that they track, while ETNs, which are structured as fixed-income obligations, will also be subject to the general risks of fixed-income securities, including credit risk.

The Fund’s asset class allocations, market sector allocations within each asset class, and Underlying Fund allocations within each market sector, as of June 30, 2022, are listed in the chart below. The Fund has relatively fixed asset allocations that will not gradually adjust over time. Underlying Fund allocations may change from year to year.

               

Asset Class

Allocation

  

Market Sector

Allocation

 

Underlying Funds

Allocation

Equity

39.04%

 

U.S. Equity

25.35%

 

 TIAA-CREF Equity Index

25.35%

     

International Equity

13.69%

 

 TIAA-CREF International Equity Index

9.27%

           

 TIAA-CREF Emerging Markets Equity Index

4.42%

Fixed-Income

60.96%

 

Fixed-Income

40.70%

 

 TIAA-CREF Bond Index

40.70%

     

Short-Term
Fixed-Income

10.19%

 

 TIAA-CREF Short-Term Bond Index

10.19%

     

Inflation-
Protected Assets

10.07%

 

 TIAA-CREF Inflation-Linked Bond

10.07%

               

Total

100.00%

   

100.00%

   

100.00%

TIAA-CREF Lifecycle Index Funds    Prospectus     9


Principal investment risks

You could lose money over short or long periods by investing in this Fund. An investment in the Fund, due to the nature of the Fund’s portfolio holdings, typically is subject to the following principal investment risks:

· Asset Allocation Risk—The risk that the Fund may not achieve its target allocations. In addition, there is the risk that the asset allocations may not achieve the desired risk-return characteristic or that the selection of Underlying Funds and the allocations among them will result in the Fund underperforming other similar funds or cause an investor to lose money.

· Index Risk—The risk that an Underlying Fund’s performance may not correspond to its benchmark index for any period of time and may underperform such index or the overall financial market. Additionally, to the extent that an Underlying Fund’s investments vary from the composition of its benchmark index, the Underlying Fund’s performance could potentially vary from the index’s performance to a greater extent than if the Underlying Fund merely attempted to replicate the index.

· Underlying Funds Risks—The Fund is exposed to the risks of the Underlying Funds in which it invests in direct proportion to the amount of assets the Fund allocates to each Underlying Fund.

· Equity Underlying Funds Risks—The risks of investing in equity Underlying Funds include risks specific to their investment strategies, as well as risks related to the equity markets in general, such as:

· market risk—The risk that market prices of portfolio investments held by a Fund may fall rapidly or unpredictably due to a variety of factors, including changing economic, political or market conditions. Market risk may affect a single issuer, industry or sector of the economy, or it may affect the market as a whole. From time to time, a Fund may invest a significant portion of its assets in companies in one or more related sectors or industries, which would make the Fund more vulnerable to adverse developments affecting such sectors or industries;

· issuer risk—The risk that an issuer’s earnings prospects and overall financial position will deteriorate, causing a decline in the value of the issuer’s financial instruments over short or extended periods of time;

· foreign investment risk—Foreign markets can be more volatile than the U.S. market due to increased risks of adverse issuer, political, regulatory, currency, market or economic developments as well as armed conflicts and can result in greater price volatility and perform differently from financial instruments of U.S. issuers. This risk may be heightened in emerging or developing markets. Foreign investments may also have lower liquidity and be more difficult to value than investments in U.S. issuers. To the extent a Fund invests a significant portion of its assets in the securities of companies in a single country or region, it may be more susceptible to adverse economic, market,

10     Prospectus    TIAA-CREF Lifecycle Index Funds


political or regulatory events or conditions affecting that country or region. Foreign investments may also be subject to risk of loss because of more or less foreign government regulation, less public information, less stringent investor protections and less stringent accounting, corporate governance, financial reporting and disclosure standards. The imposition of sanctions, exchange controls (including repatriation restrictions), confiscations, trade restrictions (including tariffs) and other restrictions by the United States or other governments may also negatively impact a Fund’s investments. The type and severity of sanctions and other measures that may be imposed could vary broadly in scope, and their impact is impossible to predict; and

· small- and mid-cap risk—The risk that the stocks of small-capitalization companies often experience greater price volatility than large- or mid-sized companies because small-cap companies are often newer or less established than larger companies and are likely to have more limited resources, products and markets. Securities of small-cap companies often have lower overall liquidity than securities of larger companies as a result of there being a smaller market for their securities, which can have an adverse effect on the pricing of these securities and on the ability to sell these securities when a Fund’s investment adviser or sub-adviser deems it appropriate. Stocks of mid-capitalization companies often experience greater price volatility, lower trading volume and lower overall liquidity than the stocks of larger, more established companies.

· Fixed-Income Underlying Funds Risks—The risks of investing in fixed-income Underlying Funds include risks specific to their investment strategies, as well as risks related to the fixed-income markets in general, such as:

· interest rate risk—The risk that increases in interest rates can cause the prices of fixed-income investments to decline. This risk is heightened to the extent a Fund invests in longer duration fixed-income investments and during periods when prevailing interest rates are low or negative. Low interest rates may increase a Fund’s exposure to risks associated with rising interest rates. However, a Fund may be subject to heightened levels of interest rate risk due to rising interest rates (including a sharp rise in interest rates). In general, changing interest rates could have unpredictable effects on the markets and may expose fixed-income and related markets to heightened volatility;

· prepayment risk—The risk that, during periods of falling interest rates, borrowers may pay off their mortgage loans sooner than expected, forcing a Fund to reinvest the unanticipated proceeds at lower interest rates and resulting in a decline in income;

TIAA-CREF Lifecycle Index Funds    Prospectus     11


· extension risk—The risk that, during periods of rising interest rates, borrowers may pay off their mortgage loans later than expected, preventing a Fund from reinvesting principal proceeds at higher interest rates and resulting in less income than potentially available;

· issuer risk—The risk that an issuer’s earnings prospects and overall financial position will deteriorate, causing a decline in the value of the issuer’s financial instruments over short or extended periods of time;

· credit risk—The risk that the issuer of fixed-income investments may not be able or willing, or may be perceived (whether by market participants, rating agencies, pricing services or otherwise) as not able or willing, to meet interest or principal payments when the payments become due;

· credit spread risk—The risk that credit spreads (i.e., the difference in yield between securities that is due to differences in each security’s respective credit quality) may increase when market participants believe that bonds generally have a greater risk of default, which could result in a decline in the market values of a Fund’s debt securities;

· income volatility risk—The risk that the level of current income from a portfolio of fixed-income investments may decline in certain interest rate environments;

· market volatility, liquidity and valuation risk (types of market risk)—The risk that volatile or dramatic reductions in trading activity make it difficult for a Fund to properly value its investments and that a Fund may not be able to purchase or sell an investment at an attractive price, if at all; and

· call risk—The risk that, during periods of falling interest rates, an issuer may call (or repay) a fixed-income security prior to maturity, resulting in a decline in a Fund’s income.

· Emerging Markets Underlying Funds Risk—The risk of foreign investment often increases in countries with emerging markets or otherwise economically tied to emerging market countries. For example, these countries may have more unstable governments than developed countries, and their economies may be based on only a few industries. Emerging market countries may also have less stringent regulation of accounting, auditing, financial reporting and recordkeeping requirements, which would affect a Fund’s ability to evaluate potential portfolio companies. As a result, there could be less information available about issuers in emerging market countries, which could negatively affect Advisors’ ability to evaluate local companies or their potential impact on a Fund’s performance. Because the financial markets of emerging market countries may be very small, share prices of financial instruments in emerging market countries may be volatile and difficult to determine. Financial instruments of issuers in these

12     Prospectus    TIAA-CREF Lifecycle Index Funds


countries may have lower overall liquidity than those of issuers in more developed countries. In addition, foreign investors such as a Fund are subject to a variety of special restrictions in many emerging market countries. Moreover, legal remedies for investors in emerging markets may be more limited, and U.S. authorities may have less ability to bring actions against bad actors in emerging market countries.

· Illiquid Investments Underlying Funds RiskThe risk that illiquid investments may be difficult to sell for the value at which they are carried, if at all, or at any price within the desired time frame.

· Currency Underlying Funds RiskThe risk that foreign (non-U.S.) currencies may decline in value relative to the U.S. dollar and adversely affect the value of a Fund’s investments in foreign currencies, securities denominated in foreign currencies or derivative instruments that provide exposure to foreign currencies.

· Active Management Risk—The risk that the strategy, investment selection or trading execution of Advisors could cause the Fund or an Underlying Fund to underperform its benchmark index or mutual funds with similar investment objectives.

· Fund of Funds Risk—The ability of the Fund to achieve its investment objective will depend in part upon the ability of the Underlying Funds to achieve their investment objectives. There can be no guarantee that any Underlying Fund will achieve its investment objective.

There can be no assurances that the Fund will achieve its investment objective. You should not consider the Fund to be a complete investment program. Please see the non-summary portion of the Prospectus for more detailed information about the risks described above, including the risks of the Underlying Funds.

Past performance

The following chart and table help illustrate some of the risks of investing in the Fund by showing changes in the Fund’s performance from year to year. The bar chart shows the annual total returns of the Retirement Class of the Fund, before taxes, in each full calendar year for the last ten years. Because the expenses vary across share classes, the performance of the Retirement Class may vary from the other share classes. Below the bar chart are the best and worst returns of the Retirement Class for a calendar quarter during the full calendar-year periods covered by the bar chart. The performance table following the bar chart shows the Fund’s average annual total returns for the Retirement, Institutional, Advisor and Premier classes over the applicable one-year, five-year, ten-year and since-inception periods ended December 31, 2021, and how those returns compare to those of a broad-based securities market index and a composite index based on the Fund’s target allocations. After-tax performance is shown only for the Retirement Class shares, and after-tax returns for the other classes of shares will vary from the after-tax returns presented for Retirement Class shares.

TIAA-CREF Lifecycle Index Funds    Prospectus     13


The returns shown below reflect previous agreements by Advisors to waive or reimburse the Fund and certain Underlying Funds for certain fees and expenses. Without these waivers and reimbursements, the returns of the Fund would have been lower. Past performance of the Fund (before and after taxes) is not necessarily an indication of how it will perform in the future. The indices listed below are unmanaged, and you cannot invest directly in an index. The returns for the indices reflect no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes.

For current performance information of each share class, including performance to the most recent month-end, please visit www.tiaa.org.

ANNUAL TOTAL RETURNS FOR THE RETIREMENT CLASS SHARES (%)

Lifecycle Index Retirement Income Fund

PerformanceBarChartData(2012:9.33,2013:8.16,2014:5.84,2015:-0.25,2016:5.2,2017:10.24,2018:-2.9,2019:15.13,2020:11.79,2021:6.82)

 The year-to-date return as of the most recent calendar quarter, which ended on June 30, 2022, was -13.22%.

Best quarter: 9.55%, for the quarter ended June 30, 2020. Worst quarter: -7.65%, for the quarter ended March 31, 2020.

14     Prospectus    TIAA-CREF Lifecycle Index Funds


AVERAGE ANNUAL TOTAL RETURNS

For the Periods Ended December 31, 2021

                         

 

 

Inception date

 

One year

 

 

Five years

 

 

Ten years

 

 

Retirement Class

9/30/2009

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Return before taxes

 

 

6.82

%

 

8.03

%

 

6.81

%

 

 

Return after taxes on distributions

 

 

5.60

%

 

7.14

%

 

6.02

%

 

 

Return after taxes on distributions and sale of

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fund shares

 

 

4.44

%

 

6.00

%

 

5.17

%

 

Institutional Class

9/30/2009

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Return before taxes

 

 

7.14

%

 

8.30

%

 

7.08

%

 

Advisor Class

12/4/2015

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Return before taxes

 

 

7.03

%

 

8.24

%

 

6.93

%#

 

Premier Class

9/30/2009

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Return before taxes

 

 

6.98

%

 

8.16

%

 

6.92

%

 

                         

S&P Target Date Retirement Income Index

 

 

5.11

%

 

6.52

%

 

5.59

%

 

                         

Lifecycle Index Retirement Income Fund Composite Index

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(reflects no deductions for fees, expenses or taxes)

 

 

7.32

%

 

8.36

%

 

7.19

%

 

                         

Current performance of the Fund’s shares may be higher or lower than that shown above.

#

The performance shown for the Advisor Class that is prior to its inception date is based on performance of the Fund’s Retirement Class. The performance for these periods has not been restated to reflect the lower expenses of the Advisor Class.

As of the close of business on December 31, 2021, the Lifecycle Index Retirement Income Fund Composite Index consisted of: 40.0% Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Bond Index; 26.0% Russell 3000® Index; 14.0% MSCI EAFE + Emerging Markets Index; 10.0% Bloomberg U.S. 1–3 Year Government/Credit Bond Index; and 10.0% Bloomberg U.S. Treasury Inflation Protected Securities (TIPS) 1–10 Year Index. The Fund’s composite benchmark, the components that make up a composite benchmark and the method of calculating a composite benchmark’s performance may vary over time.

 

After-tax returns are calculated using the historical highest individual federal marginal income tax rates in effect during the periods shown and do not reflect the impact of state and local taxes. Actual after-tax returns depend on the investor’s tax situation and may differ from those shown. The after-tax returns shown are not relevant to investors who hold their Fund shares through tax-deferred arrangements such as 401(a), 401(k) or 403(b) plans or Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs). After-tax returns are shown for only one class, and after-tax returns for other classes will vary.

 

TIAA-CREF Lifecycle Index Funds    Prospectus     15


Portfolio management

Investment Adviser. The Fund’s investment adviser is Teachers Advisors, LLC.

Portfolio Managers. The following persons are primarily responsible for the management of the Fund on a day-to-day basis:

       
       

Name:

Hans Erickson, CFA

John Cunniff, CFA

Steve Sedmak, CFA

Title:

Senior Managing Director

Managing Director

Managing Director

Experience on Fund:

since 2009

since 2009

since 2018

Purchase and sale of Fund shares

Institutional Class shares are available for purchase directly from the Fund by certain eligible investors (which include employee benefit plans and financial intermediaries). Advisor Class shares are available for purchase through certain financial intermediaries, employee benefit plans and insurance company separate accounts. Premier Class and Retirement Class shares are generally available for purchase through employee benefit plans, other types of savings plans or accounts and certain financial intermediaries.

· The minimum initial investment is $10 million and the minimum subsequent investment is $1,000 for Institutional Class shares, unless an investor purchases shares by or through financial intermediaries that have entered into an appropriate agreement with the Fund or its affiliates. Employee benefit plans, fee-based managed account programs (“wrap accounts”), state sponsored 529 college savings plans, collective trust funds, investment companies or other pooled investment vehicles, thrifts and bank and trust companies that have entered into agreements to offer Institutional Class shares held in omnibus accounts on the books of the Fund are exempt from initial and subsequent investment minimums.

· There are no minimum initial or subsequent investment requirements for Advisor Class, Premier Class or Retirement Class shares.

Redeeming or Exchanging Shares. You can redeem (sell) or exchange your shares of the Fund on any day that the New York Stock Exchange (“NYSE”) or its affiliated exchanges, NYSE Arca Equities or NYSE American, are open for trading (each such day a “Business Day”). Exchanges may be made for shares of the same share class of other funds offered by the Trust. If your shares are held through a third party, please contact that entity for applicable redemption or exchange requirements. If your shares are held directly with the Fund, contact the Fund directly in writing or by telephone.

Tax information

The Fund intends to make distributions to shareholders that may be taxed as ordinary income or capital gains. Distributions made to tax-exempt shareholders or shareholders who hold Fund shares in a tax-deferred account are generally

16     Prospectus    TIAA-CREF Lifecycle Index Funds


not subject to income tax in the current year, but redemptions made from tax-deferred accounts may be subject to income tax.

Payments to broker-dealers and other financial intermediary compensation

If you purchase shares of the Fund through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank), the Fund and/or its related companies may pay the financial intermediary for providing investor services. The Fund’s related companies may also pay the financial intermediary for the sale of Fund shares and related services. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the broker-dealer or other financial intermediary and your salesperson to recommend the Fund over another investment. Ask your salesperson or visit your financial intermediary’s website for more information.

TIAA-CREF Lifecycle Index Funds    Prospectus     17


 

Summary information

TIAA-CREF Lifecycle Index 2010 Fund

Investment objective

The Lifecycle Index 2010 Fund seeks high total return over time through a combination of capital appreciation and income.

Fees and expenses

This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy, hold and sell shares of the Fund. You may pay other fees, such as brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the tables and examples below.

SHAREHOLDER FEES (fees paid directly from your investment)

                 
 

Institutional
Class

 

Advisor
Class

 

Premier
Class

 

Retirement Class

 

Maximum sales charge imposed on purchases
(percentage of offering price)

0%

 

0%

 

0%

 

0%

 

Maximum deferred sales charge

0%

 

0%

 

0%

 

0%

 

Maximum sales charge imposed on reinvested
dividends and other distributions

0%

 

0%

 

0%

 

0%

 

Redemption or exchange fee

0%

 

0%

 

0%

 

0%

 

Maximum account fee

0%

 

0%

 

0%

 

0%

 

18     Prospectus    TIAA-CREF Lifecycle Index Funds


ANNUAL FUND OPERATING EXPENSES (expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)

                   

 

 

Institutional
Class

 

Advisor
Class

 

Premier
Class

 

Retirement
Class

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Management fees1,2

0.17%

 

0.17%

 

0.17%

 

0.17%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Distribution (Rule 12b-1) fees

 

 

0.15%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Other expenses1,2

0.05%

 

0.14%

 

0.05%

 

0.30%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Total annual Fund operating expenses

0.22%

 

0.31%

 

0.37%

 

0.47%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Waivers and expense reimbursements3,4

(0.12)%

 

(0.11)%

 

(0.12)%

 

(0.12)%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Total annual Fund operating expenses after fee
  waiver and/or expense reimbursement

0.10%

 

0.20%

 

0.25%

 

0.35%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1

Restated to reflect estimates for the current fiscal year.

2

Portions of the Management fees and Other expenses are based on expenses originally incurred by Class W shares of the Underlying Funds (as defined below) of the Trust, which have been incurred directly by the Fund pursuant to certain contractual arrangements intended to reallocate directly to the Fund certain fees and expenses that had been paid by the Underlying Funds of the Trust. For additional information, please see the “Management of the Funds” section of this Prospectus.

3

Under the Fund’s expense reimbursement arrangements, the Fund’s investment adviser, Teachers Advisors, LLC (“Advisors”), has contractually agreed to reimburse the Fund for any Total annual Fund operating expenses (excluding interest, taxes, brokerage commissions or other transactional expenses, Acquired fund fees and expenses, extraordinary expenses and any expenses originally attributable to Class W shares of the Underlying Funds of the Trust that were incurred directly by the Fund) that exceed: (i) 0.017% of average daily net assets for Institutional Class shares; (ii) 0.167% of average daily net assets for Advisor Class shares; (iii) 0.167% of average daily net assets for Premier Class shares; and (iv) 0.267% of average daily net assets for Retirement Class shares of the Fund. These expense reimbursement arrangements will continue through at least September 30, 2023, unless changed with approval of the Board of Trustees.

4

Advisors has contractually agreed to waive 0.083% of the Fund’s Management fee. This waiver will remain in effect through September 30, 2023, unless changed with the approval of the Board of Trustees.

Example

This example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in shares of the Fund with the cost of investing in other mutual funds. The example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then redeem all your shares at the end of those periods. The example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund’s operating expenses, before fee waivers and/or expense reimbursements, remain the same. The example assumes that the Fund’s fee waiver and/or expense reimbursement arrangements will each remain in place for the durations noted in the table above. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:

                         

 

Institutional
Class

 

Advisor
Class

 

Premier
Class

 

Retirement
Class

 

1 year

$

10

 

$

20

 

$

26

 

$

36

 

3 years

$

59

 

$

89

 

$

107

 

$

139

 

5 years

$

112

 

$

163

 

$

196

 

$

251

 

10 years

$

268

 

$

382

 

$

456

 

$

580

 

TIAA-CREF Lifecycle Index Funds    Prospectus     19


Portfolio turnover

The Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when Fund shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in annual fund operating expenses or in the example, affect the Fund’s performance. During the fiscal year ended May 31, 2022, the Fund’s portfolio turnover rate was 23% of the average value of its portfolio.

Principal investment strategies

The Fund is a “fund of funds” that invests in Class W shares of other funds of the Trust and potentially in other investment pools or investment products, including other funds advised by the Fund’s investment adviser, Teachers Advisors, LLC (“Advisors”), or its affiliates (collectively, the “Underlying Funds”). In general, the Fund is designed for investors who have an approximate target retirement year in mind, and the Fund’s investments are adjusted from more aggressive to more conservative over time as the Fund’s target retirement year approaches and for approximately 30 years afterwards. The Fund invests in Underlying Funds according to an asset allocation strategy designed for investors who retired in, or planned to retire within a few years of, 2010 and who may have begun taking systematic withdrawals upon retirement. The Fund has a policy of investing at least 80% of its assets (net assets, plus the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes) in Underlying Funds that are managed to seek investment returns that track particular market indices.

Advisors currently expects to allocate approximately 37.00% of the Fund’s assets to equity Underlying Funds and 63.00% of its assets to fixed-income Underlying Funds. These allocations represent targets for equity and fixed-income asset classes. Target allocations will change over time and actual allocations may vary up to ten percentage points from the targets. The target allocations along the investment glidepath, illustrated in the chart below, gradually become more conservative. The Fund had target allocations of approximately 50.00% equity/50.00% fixed-income in the Fund’s target retirement year of 2010 and will reach the Fund’s final target allocation of approximately 20.00% equity/80.00% fixed-income in 2040. Within the equity and fixed-income asset classes, Advisors allocates the Fund’s investments to particular market sectors (U.S. equity, international equity, fixed-income, short-term fixed-income and inflation-protected assets) represented by various Underlying Funds. These market sector allocations may vary by up to 10% from the Fund’s target market sector allocations. The Fund’s current target market sector allocations for June 30, 2023, which will change over time, are approximately as follows: U.S. Equity: 24.05%; International Equity: 12.95%; Fixed-Income: 40.00%; Short-Term Fixed-Income: 13.00%; and Inflation-Protected Assets: 10.00%. The asset class and market sector names used herein are intended to reflect the primary type of investment of the Underlying Funds within each of these categories.

20     Prospectus    TIAA-CREF Lifecycle Index Funds


The Fund’s target market sector allocations to Underlying Funds may include the TIAA-CREF Equity Index Fund (U.S. Equity); TIAA-CREF Emerging Markets Equity Index Fund and TIAA-CREF International Equity Index Fund (International Equity); TIAA-CREF Bond Index Fund (Fixed-Income); TIAA-CREF Short-Term Bond Index Fund (Short-Term Fixed-Income); and TIAA-CREF Inflation-Linked Bond Fund (Inflation-Protected Assets).

As a result of its investments in the Underlying Funds, the Fund’s returns will reflect investments in a mix of domestic and foreign equities of companies of various sizes and market capitalizations and a variety of domestic and foreign fixed-income instruments of private and governmental issuers of varying maturities and credit qualities.

Additional or replacement Underlying Funds for each market sector, as well as additional or replacement market sectors, may be included when making future allocations if Advisors believes that such Underlying Funds and/or market sectors are appropriate in light of the Fund’s desired levels of risk and potential return at the particular time. The Fund’s portfolio management team may also add a new market sector if it believes that will help to achieve the Fund’s investment objective. The relative allocations among Underlying Funds within a market sector may be changed at any time without notice to shareholders. If 10% or more of the Fund’s assets are expected to be invested in any Underlying Fund or market sector not listed above, shareholders will receive prior notice of such change.

As part of the Fund’s ability to invest in other investment pools or investment products noted above, the Fund may invest in exchange-traded funds (“ETFs”) and exchange-traded notes (“ETNs”) to gain exposure to various market sectors or securities in order to effect its asset allocation strategy. Additionally, the Fund may use ETFs or ETNs for cash management, hedging or defensive purposes. ETFs or ETNs will be subject to the risks associated with the types of securities or sectors that they track, while ETNs, which are structured as fixed-income obligations, will also be subject to the general risks of fixed-income securities, including credit risk.

The Fund’s asset class allocations, market sector allocations within each asset class, and Underlying Fund allocations within each market sector, as of June 30, 2022, are listed in the chart below. These allocations will change over time. Underlying Fund allocations in particular may change from year to year.

               

Asset Class

Allocation

  

Market Sector

Allocation

 

Underlying Funds

Allocation

Equity

37.19%

 

U.S. Equity

24.15%

 

 TIAA-CREF Equity Index

24.15%

     

International Equity

13.04%

 

 TIAA-CREF International Equity Index

8.83%

           

 TIAA-CREF Emerging Markets Equity Index

4.21%

Fixed-Income

62.81%

 

Fixed-Income

40.57%

 

 TIAA-CREF Bond Index

40.57%

     

Short-Term
Fixed-Income

12.15%

 

 TIAA-CREF Short-Term Bond Index

12.15%

     

Inflation-
Protected Assets

10.09%

 

 TIAA-CREF Inflation-Linked Bond

10.09%

               

Total

100.00%

   

100.00%

   

100.00%

TIAA-CREF Lifecycle Index Funds    Prospectus     21


The following chart shows how the investment glidepath for the Fund is expected to gradually move the Fund’s target allocations over time between the different target market sector allocations. The actual market sector allocations of the Fund may differ from this chart. The Fund seeks to achieve its final target market sector allocations approximately 30 years following the target date.

The Fund is designed to accommodate investors who invest in a fund up to their target retirement date, and plan to make gradual systematic withdrawals in retirement. In addition, investors should note that the Fund will continue to have a significant level of equity exposure up to, through and after its target retirement date, and this exposure could cause significant fluctuations in the value of the Fund depending on the performance of the equity markets generally.

After the Fund reaches its final target allocation, the Board of Trustees may authorize the merger of the Fund into another Lifecycle Index Fund which has also reached its final target allocation or other similar fund designed to maintain a relatively stable asset allocation reflecting the resting point on the glidepath described in the chart above. Fund shareholders will receive prior notice of any such merger.

Principal investment risks

You could lose money over short or long periods by investing in this Fund. An investment in the Fund, due to the nature of the Fund’s portfolio holdings, typically is subject to the following principal investment risks:

· Asset Allocation Risk—The risk that the Fund may not achieve its target allocations. In addition, there is the risk that the asset allocations may not achieve the desired risk-return characteristic or that the selection of Underlying Funds and the allocations among them will result in the Fund underperforming other similar funds or cause an investor to lose money.

· Index Risk—The risk that an Underlying Fund’s performance may not correspond to its benchmark index for any period of time and may underperform such index or the overall financial market. Additionally, to the extent that an Underlying Fund’s investments vary from the composition of its benchmark index, the Underlying Fund’s performance could potentially

22     Prospectus    TIAA-CREF Lifecycle Index Funds


vary from the index’s performance to a greater extent than if the Underlying Fund merely attempted to replicate the index.

· Underlying Funds Risks—The Fund is exposed to the risks of the Underlying Funds in which it invests in direct proportion to the amount of assets the Fund allocates to each Underlying Fund.

· Equity Underlying Funds Risks—The risks of investing in equity Underlying Funds include risks specific to their investment strategies, as well as risks related to the equity markets in general, such as:

· market risk—The risk that market prices of portfolio investments held by a Fund may fall rapidly or unpredictably due to a variety of factors, including changing economic, political or market conditions. Market risk may affect a single issuer, industry or sector of the economy, or it may affect the market as a whole. From time to time, a Fund may invest a significant portion of its assets in companies in one or more related sectors or industries, which would make the Fund more vulnerable to adverse developments affecting such sectors or industries;

· issuer risk—The risk that an issuer’s earnings prospects and overall financial position will deteriorate, causing a decline in the value of the issuer’s financial instruments over short or extended periods of time;

· foreign investment risk—Foreign markets can be more volatile than the U.S. market due to increased risks of adverse issuer, political, regulatory, currency, market or economic developments as well as armed conflicts and can result in greater price volatility and perform differently from financial instruments of U.S. issuers. This risk may be heightened in emerging or developing markets. Foreign investments may also have lower liquidity and be more difficult to value than investments in U.S. issuers. To the extent a Fund invests a significant portion of its assets in the securities of companies in a single country or region, it may be more susceptible to adverse economic, market, political or regulatory events or conditions affecting that country or region. Foreign investments may also be subject to risk of loss because of more or less foreign government regulation, less public information, less stringent investor protections and less stringent accounting, corporate governance, financial reporting and disclosure standards. The imposition of sanctions, exchange controls (including repatriation restrictions), confiscations, trade restrictions (including tariffs) and other restrictions by the United States or other governments may also negatively impact a Fund’s investments. The type and severity of sanctions and other measures that may be imposed could vary broadly in scope, and their impact is impossible to predict; and

· small- and mid-cap risk—The risk that the stocks of small-capitalization companies often experience greater price volatility than large- or mid-sized companies because small-cap companies are often

TIAA-CREF Lifecycle Index Funds    Prospectus     23


newer or less established than larger companies and are likely to have more limited resources, products and markets. Securities of small-cap companies often have lower overall liquidity than securities of larger companies as a result of there being a smaller market for their securities, which can have an adverse effect on the pricing of these securities and on the ability to sell these securities when a Fund’s investment adviser or sub-adviser deems it appropriate. Stocks of mid-capitalization companies often experience greater price volatility, lower trading volume and lower overall liquidity than the stocks of larger, more established companies.

· Fixed-Income Underlying Funds Risks—The risks of investing in fixed-income Underlying Funds include risks specific to their investment strategies, as well as risks related to the fixed-income markets in general, such as:

· interest rate risk—The risk that increases in interest rates can cause the prices of fixed-income investments to decline. This risk is heightened to the extent a Fund invests in longer duration fixed-income investments and during periods when prevailing interest rates are low or negative. Low interest rates may increase a Fund’s exposure to risks associated with rising interest rates. However, a Fund may be subject to heightened levels of interest rate risk due to rising interest rates (including a sharp rise in interest rates). In general, changing interest rates could have unpredictable effects on the markets and may expose fixed-income and related markets to heightened volatility;

· prepayment risk—The risk that, during periods of falling interest rates, borrowers may pay off their mortgage loans sooner than expected, forcing a Fund to reinvest the unanticipated proceeds at lower interest rates and resulting in a decline in income;

· extension risk—The risk that, during periods of rising interest rates, borrowers may pay off their mortgage loans later than expected, preventing a Fund from reinvesting principal proceeds at higher interest rates and resulting in less income than potentially available;

· issuer risk—The risk that an issuer’s earnings prospects and overall financial position will deteriorate, causing a decline in the value of the issuer’s financial instruments over short or extended periods of time;

· credit risk—The risk that the issuer of fixed-income investments may not be able or willing, or may be perceived (whether by market participants, rating agencies, pricing services or otherwise) as not able or willing, to meet interest or principal payments when the payments become due;

· credit spread risk—The risk that credit spreads (i.e., the difference in yield between securities that is due to differences in each security’s

24     Prospectus    TIAA-CREF Lifecycle Index Funds


respective credit quality) may increase when market participants believe that bonds generally have a greater risk of default, which could result in a decline in the market values of a Fund’s debt securities;

· income volatility risk—The risk that the level of current income from a portfolio of fixed-income investments may decline in certain interest rate environments;

· market volatility, liquidity and valuation risk (types of market risk)—The risk that volatile or dramatic reductions in trading activity make it difficult for a Fund to properly value its investments and that a Fund may not be able to purchase or sell an investment at an attractive price, if at all; and

· call risk—The risk that, during periods of falling interest rates, an issuer may call (or repay) a fixed-income security prior to maturity, resulting in a decline in a Fund’s income.

· Emerging Markets Underlying Funds Risk—The risk of foreign investment often increases in countries with emerging markets or otherwise economically tied to emerging market countries. For example, these countries may have more unstable governments than developed countries, and their economies may be based on only a few industries. Emerging market countries may also have less stringent regulation of accounting, auditing, financial reporting and recordkeeping requirements, which would affect a Fund’s ability to evaluate potential portfolio companies. As a result, there could be less information available about issuers in emerging market countries, which could negatively affect Advisors’ ability to evaluate local companies or their potential impact on a Fund’s performance. Because the financial markets of emerging market countries may be very small, share prices of financial instruments in emerging market countries may be volatile and difficult to determine. Financial instruments of issuers in these countries may have lower overall liquidity than those of issuers in more developed countries. In addition, foreign investors such as a Fund are subject to a variety of special restrictions in many emerging market countries. Moreover, legal remedies for investors in emerging markets may be more limited, and U.S. authorities may have less ability to bring actions against bad actors in emerging market countries.

· Illiquid Investments Underlying Funds RiskThe risk that illiquid investments may be difficult to sell for the value at which they are carried, if at all, or at any price within the desired time frame.

· Currency Underlying Funds RiskThe risk that foreign (non-U.S.) currencies may decline in value relative to the U.S. dollar and adversely affect the value of a Fund’s investments in foreign currencies, securities denominated in foreign currencies or derivative instruments that provide exposure to foreign currencies.

TIAA-CREF Lifecycle Index Funds    Prospectus     25


· Active Management Risk—The risk that the strategy, investment selection or trading execution of Advisors could cause the Fund or an Underlying Fund to underperform its benchmark index or mutual funds with similar investment objectives.

· Fund of Funds Risk—The ability of the Fund to achieve its investment objective will depend in part upon the ability of the Underlying Funds to achieve their investment objectives. There can be no guarantee that any Underlying Fund will achieve its investment objective.

There can be no assurances that the Fund will achieve its investment objective. You should not consider the Fund to be a complete investment program. Please see the non-summary portion of the Prospectus for more detailed information about the risks described above, including the risks of the Underlying Funds.

Past performance

The following chart and table help illustrate some of the risks of investing in the Fund by showing changes in the Fund’s performance from year to year. The bar chart shows the annual total returns of the Retirement Class of the Fund, before taxes, in each full calendar year for the last ten years. Because the expenses vary across share classes, the performance of the Retirement Class may vary from the other share classes. Below the bar chart are the best and worst returns of the Retirement Class for a calendar quarter during the full calendar-year periods covered by the bar chart. The performance table following the bar chart shows the Fund’s average annual total returns for the Retirement, Institutional, Advisor and Premier classes over the applicable one-year, five-year, ten-year and since-inception periods ended December 31, 2021, and how those returns compare to those of a broad-based securities market index and a composite index based on the Fund’s target allocations. After-tax performance is shown only for the Retirement Class shares, and after-tax returns for the other classes of shares will vary from the after-tax returns presented for Retirement Class shares.

The returns shown below reflect previous agreements by Advisors to waive or reimburse the Fund and certain Underlying Funds for certain fees and expenses. Without these waivers and reimbursements, the returns of the Fund would have been lower. Past performance of the Fund (before and after taxes) is not necessarily an indication of how it will perform in the future. The indices listed below are unmanaged, and you cannot invest directly in an index. The returns for the indices reflect no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes.

For current performance information of each share class, including performance to the most recent month-end, please visit www.tiaa.org.

26     Prospectus    TIAA-CREF Lifecycle Index Funds


ANNUAL TOTAL RETURNS FOR THE RETIREMENT CLASS SHARES (%)

Lifecycle Index 2010 Fund

PerformanceBarChartData(2012:10.21,2013:10.55,2014:5.98,2015:-0.29,2016:5.56,2017:10.82,2018:-3.15,2019:15.35,2020:11.61,2021:6.75)

 The year-to-date return as of the most recent calendar quarter, which ended on June 30, 2022, was -12.93%.

Best quarter: 9.54%, for the quarter ended June 30, 2020. Worst quarter: -7.68%, for the quarter ended March 31, 2020.

TIAA-CREF Lifecycle Index Funds    Prospectus     27


AVERAGE ANNUAL TOTAL RETURNS

For the Periods Ended December 31, 2021

                         

 

 

Inception date

 

One year

 

 

Five years

 

 

Ten years

 

 

Retirement Class

9/30/2009

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Return before taxes

 

 

6.75

%

 

8.08

%

 

7.20

%

 

 

Return after taxes on distributions

 

 

5.30

%

 

7.15

%

 

6.38

%

 

 

Return after taxes on distributions and sale of

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fund shares

 

 

4.47

%

 

6.04

%

 

5.49

%

 

Institutional Class

9/30/2009

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Return before taxes

 

 

6.95

%

 

8.36

%

 

7.47

%

 

Advisor Class

12/4/2015

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Return before taxes

 

 

6.91

%

 

8.32

%

 

7.34

%#

 

Premier Class

9/30/2009

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Return before taxes

 

 

6.87

%

 

8.20

%

 

7.31

%

 

                         

S&P Target Date 2010 Index

 

 

6.54

%

 

7.36

%

 

6.55

%

 

                         

Lifecycle Index 2010 Fund Composite Index

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(reflects no deductions for fees, expenses or taxes)

 

 

7.14

%

 

8.45

%

 

7.59

%

 

                         

Current performance of the Fund’s shares may be higher or lower than that shown above.

#

The performance shown for the Advisor Class that is prior to its inception date is based on performance of the Fund’s Retirement Class. The performance for these periods has not been restated to reflect the lower expenses of the Advisor Class.

As of the close of business on December 31, 2021, the Lifecycle Index 2010 Fund Composite Index consisted of: 40.0% Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Bond Index; 25.0% Russell 3000® Index; 13.5% MSCI EAFE+Emerging Markets Index; 11.5% Bloomberg U.S. 1-3 Year Government/Credit Bond Index; and 10.0% Bloomberg U.S. Treasury Inflation Protected Securities (TIPS) 1-10 Year Index. The Fund’s composite benchmark, the components that make up a composite benchmark and the method of calculating a composite benchmark’s performance may vary over time.

 

After-tax returns are calculated using the historical highest individual federal marginal income tax rates in effect during the periods shown and do not reflect the impact of state and local taxes. Actual after-tax returns depend on the investor’s tax situation and may differ from those shown. The after-tax returns shown are not relevant to investors who hold their Fund shares through tax-deferred arrangements such as 401(a), 401(k) or 403(b) plans or Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs). After-tax returns are shown for only one class, and after-tax returns for other classes will vary.

 

Portfolio management

Investment Adviser. The Fund’s investment adviser is Teachers Advisors, LLC.

Portfolio Managers. The following persons are primarily responsible for the management of the Fund on a day-to-day basis:

       
       

Name:

Hans Erickson, CFA

John Cunniff, CFA

Steve Sedmak, CFA

Title:

Senior Managing Director

Managing Director

Managing Director

Experience on Fund:

since 2009

since 2009

since 2018

28     Prospectus    TIAA-CREF Lifecycle Index Funds


Purchase and sale of Fund shares

Institutional Class shares are available for purchase directly from the Fund by certain eligible investors (which include employee benefit plans and financial intermediaries). Advisor Class shares are available for purchase through certain financial intermediaries, employee benefit plans and insurance company separate accounts. Premier Class and Retirement Class shares are generally available for purchase through employee benefit plans, other types of savings plans or accounts and certain financial intermediaries.

· The minimum initial investment is $10 million and the minimum subsequent investment is $1,000 for Institutional Class shares, unless an investor purchases shares by or through financial intermediaries that have entered into an appropriate agreement with the Fund or its affiliates. Employee benefit plans, fee-based managed account programs (“wrap accounts”), state sponsored 529 college savings plans, collective trust funds, investment companies or other pooled investment vehicles, thrifts and bank and trust companies that have entered into agreements to offer Institutional Class shares held in omnibus accounts on the books of the Fund are exempt from initial and subsequent investment minimums.

· There are no minimum initial or subsequent investment requirements for Advisor Class, Premier Class or Retirement Class shares.

Redeeming or Exchanging Shares. You can redeem (sell) or exchange your shares of the Fund on any day that the New York Stock Exchange (“NYSE”) or its affiliated exchanges, NYSE Arca Equities or NYSE American, are open for trading (each such day a “Business Day”). Exchanges may be made for shares of the same share class of other funds offered by the Trust. If your shares are held through a third party, please contact that entity for applicable redemption or exchange requirements. If your shares are held directly with the Fund, contact the Fund directly in writing or by telephone.

Tax information

The Fund intends to make distributions to shareholders that may be taxed as ordinary income or capital gains. Distributions made to tax-exempt shareholders or shareholders who hold Fund shares in a tax-deferred account are generally not subject to income tax in the current year, but redemptions made from tax-deferred accounts may be subject to income tax.

Payments to broker-dealers and other financial intermediary compensation

If you purchase shares of the Fund through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank), the Fund and/or its related companies may pay the financial intermediary for providing investor services. The Fund’s related companies may also pay the financial intermediary for the sale of Fund shares and related services. These payments may create a conflict of interest by

TIAA-CREF Lifecycle Index Funds    Prospectus     29


influencing the broker-dealer or other financial intermediary and your salesperson to recommend the Fund over another investment. Ask your salesperson or visit your financial intermediary’s website for more information.

30     Prospectus    TIAA-CREF Lifecycle Index Funds


 

Summary information

TIAA-CREF Lifecycle Index 2015 Fund

Investment objective

The Lifecycle Index 2015 Fund seeks high total return over time through a combination of capital appreciation and income.

Fees and expenses

This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy, hold and sell shares of the Fund. You may pay other fees, such as brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the tables and examples below.

SHAREHOLDER FEES (fees paid directly from your investment)

                 
 

Institutional
Class

 

Advisor
Class

 

Premier
Class

 

Retirement Class

 

Maximum sales charge imposed on purchases
(percentage of offering price)

0%

 

0%

 

0%

 

0%

 

Maximum deferred sales charge

0%

 

0%

 

0%

 

0%

 

Maximum sales charge imposed on reinvested
dividends and other distributions

0%

 

0%

 

0%

 

0%

 

Redemption or exchange fee

0%

 

0%

 

0%

 

0%

 

Maximum account fee

0%

 

0%

 

0%

 

0%

 

TIAA-CREF Lifecycle Index Funds    Prospectus     31


ANNUAL FUND OPERATING EXPENSES (expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)

                   

 

 

Institutional
Class

 

Advisor
Class

 

Premier
Class

 

Retirement
Class

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Management fees1,2

0.17%

 

0.17%

 

0.17%

 

0.17%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Distribution (Rule 12b-1) fees

 

 

0.15%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Other expenses1,2

0.03%

 

0.13%

 

0.04%

 

0.28%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Total annual Fund operating expenses

0.20%

 

0.30%

 

0.36%

 

0.45%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Waivers and expense reimbursements3,4

(0.10)%

 

(0.10)%

 

(0.11)%

 

(0.10)%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Total annual Fund operating expenses after fee
  waiver and/or expense reimbursement

0.10%

 

0.20%

 

0.25%

 

0.35%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1

Restated to reflect estimates for the current fiscal year.

2

Portions of the Management fees and Other expenses are based on expenses originally incurred by Class W shares of the Underlying Funds (as defined below) of the Trust, which have been incurred directly by the Fund pursuant to certain contractual arrangements intended to reallocate directly to the Fund certain fees and expenses that had been paid by the Underlying Funds of the Trust. For additional information, please see the “Management of the Funds” section of this Prospectus.

3

Under the Fund’s expense reimbursement arrangements, the Fund’s investment adviser, Teachers Advisors, LLC (“Advisors”), has contractually agreed to reimburse the Fund for any Total annual Fund operating expenses (excluding interest, taxes, brokerage commissions or other transactional expenses, Acquired fund fees and expenses, extraordinary expenses and any expenses originally attributable to Class W shares of the Underlying Funds of the Trust that were incurred directly by the Fund) that exceed: (i) 0.02% of average daily net assets for Institutional Class shares; (ii) 0.17% of average daily net assets for Advisor Class shares; (iii) 0.17% of average daily net assets for Premier Class shares; and (iv) 0.27% of average daily net assets for Retirement Class shares of the Fund. These expense reimbursement arrangements will continue through at least September 30, 2023, unless changed with approval of the Board of Trustees.

4

Advisors has contractually agreed to waive 0.080% of the Fund’s Management fee. This waiver will remain in effect through September 30, 2023, unless changed with the approval of the Board of Trustees.

Example

This example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in shares of the Fund with the cost of investing in other mutual funds. The example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then redeem all your shares at the end of those periods. The example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund’s operating expenses, before fee waivers and/or expense reimbursements, remain the same. The example assumes that the Fund’s fee waiver and/or expense reimbursement arrangements will each remain in place for the durations noted in the table above. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:

                         

 

Institutional
Class

 

Advisor
Class

 

Premier
Class

 

Retirement
Class

 

1 year

$

10

 

$

20

 

$

26

 

$

36

 

3 years

$

54

 

$

86

 

$

105

 

$

134

 

5 years

$

103

 

$

159

 

$

191

 

$

242

 

10 years

$

245

 

$

371

 

$

445

 

$

557

 

32     Prospectus    TIAA-CREF Lifecycle Index Funds


Portfolio turnover

The Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when Fund shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in annual fund operating expenses or in the example, affect the Fund’s performance. During the fiscal year ended May 31, 2022, the Fund’s portfolio turnover rate was 19% of the average value of its portfolio.

Principal investment strategies

The Fund is a “fund of funds” that invests in Class W shares of other funds of the Trust and potentially in other investment pools or investment products, including other funds advised by the Fund’s investment adviser, Teachers Advisors, LLC (“Advisors”), or its affiliates (collectively, the “Underlying Funds”). In general, the Fund is designed for investors who have an approximate target retirement year in mind, and the Fund’s investments are adjusted from more aggressive to more conservative over time as the Fund’s target retirement year approaches and for approximately 30 years afterwards. The Fund invests in Underlying Funds according to an asset allocation strategy designed for investors who retired in, or planned to retire within a few years of, 2015 and who may have begun taking systematic withdrawals upon retirement. The Fund has a policy of investing at least 80% of its assets (net assets, plus the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes) in Underlying Funds that are managed to seek investment returns that track particular market indices.

Advisors currently expects to allocate approximately 42.00% of the Fund’s assets to equity Underlying Funds and 58.00% of its assets to fixed-income Underlying Funds. These allocations represent targets for equity and fixed-income asset classes. Target allocations will change over time and actual allocations may vary up to ten percentage points from the targets. The target allocations along the investment glidepath, illustrated in the chart below, gradually become more conservative. The Fund had target allocations of approximately 50.00% equity/50.00% fixed-income in the Fund’s target retirement year of 2015 and will reach the Fund’s final target allocation of approximately 20.00% equity/80.00% fixed-income in 2045. Within the equity and fixed-income asset classes, Advisors allocates the Fund’s investments to particular market sectors (U.S. equity, international equity, fixed-income, short-term fixed-income and inflation-protected assets) represented by various Underlying Funds. These market sector allocations may vary by up to 10% from the Fund’s target market sector allocations. The Fund’s current target market sector allocations for June 30, 2023, which will change over time, are approximately as follows: U.S. Equity: 27.30%; International Equity: 14.70%; Fixed-Income: 39.60%; Short-Term Fixed-Income: 9.20%; and Inflation-Protected Assets: 9.20%. The asset class and market sector names used herein are intended to reflect the primary type of investment of the Underlying Funds within each of these categories.

TIAA-CREF Lifecycle Index Funds    Prospectus     33


The Fund’s target market sector allocations to Underlying Funds may include the TIAA-CREF Equity Index Fund (U.S. Equity); TIAA-CREF Emerging Markets Equity Index Fund and TIAA-CREF International Equity Index Fund (International Equity); TIAA-CREF Bond Index Fund (Fixed-Income); TIAA-CREF Short-Term Bond Index Fund (Short-Term Fixed-Income); and TIAA-CREF Inflation-Linked Bond Fund (Inflation-Protected Assets).

As a result of its investments in the Underlying Funds, the Fund’s returns will reflect investments in a mix of domestic and foreign equities of companies of various sizes and market capitalizations and a variety of domestic and foreign fixed-income instruments of private and governmental issuers of varying maturities and credit qualities.

Additional or replacement Underlying Funds for each market sector, as well as additional or replacement market sectors, may be included when making future allocations if Advisors believes that such Underlying Funds and/or market sectors are appropriate in light of the Fund’s desired levels of risk and potential return at the particular time. The Fund’s portfolio management team may also add a new market sector if it believes that will help to achieve the Fund’s investment objective. The relative allocations among Underlying Funds within a market sector may be changed at any time without notice to shareholders. If 10% or more of the Fund’s assets are expected to be invested in any Underlying Fund or market sector not listed above, shareholders will receive prior notice of such change.

As part of the Fund’s ability to invest in other investment pools or investment products noted above, the Fund may invest in exchange-traded funds (“ETFs”) and exchange-traded notes (“ETNs”) to gain exposure to various market sectors or securities in order to effect its asset allocation strategy. Additionally, the Fund may use ETFs or ETNs for cash management, hedging or defensive purposes. ETFs or ETNs will be subject to the risks associated with the types of securities or sectors that they track, while ETNs, which are structured as fixed-income obligations, will also be subject to the general risks of fixed-income securities, including credit risk.

The Fund’s asset class allocations, market sector allocations within each asset class, and Underlying Fund allocations within each market sector, as of June 30, 2022, are listed in the chart below. These allocations will change over time. Underlying Fund allocations in particular may change from year to year.

               

Asset Class

Allocation

  

Market Sector

Allocation

 

Underlying Funds

Allocation

Equity

42.07%

 

U.S. Equity

27.31%

 

 TIAA-CREF Equity Index

27.31%

     

International Equity

14.76%

 

 TIAA-CREF International Equity Index

9.99%

           

 TIAA-CREF Emerging Markets Equity Index

4.77%

Fixed-Income

57.93%

 

Fixed-Income

40.12%

 

 TIAA-CREF Bond Index

40.12%

     

Short-Term
Fixed-Income

8.97%

 

 TIAA-CREF Short-Term Bond Index

8.97%

     

Inflation-
Protected Assets

8.84%

 

 TIAA-CREF Inflation-Linked Bond

8.84%

               

Total

100.00%

   

100.00%

   

100.00%

34     Prospectus    TIAA-CREF Lifecycle Index Funds


The following chart shows how the investment glidepath for the Fund is expected to gradually move the Fund’s target allocations over time between the different target market sector allocations. The actual market sector allocations of the Fund may differ from this chart. The Fund seeks to achieve its final target market sector allocations approximately 30 years following the target date.

The Fund is designed to accommodate investors who invest in a fund up to their target retirement date, and plan to make gradual systematic withdrawals in retirement. In addition, investors should note that the Fund will continue to have a significant level of equity exposure up to, through and after its target retirement date, and this exposure could cause significant fluctuations in the value of the Fund depending on the performance of the equity markets generally.

After the Fund reaches its final target allocation, the Board of Trustees may authorize the merger of the Fund into another Lifecycle Index Fund which has also reached its final target allocation or other similar fund designed to maintain a relatively stable asset allocation reflecting the resting point on the glidepath described in the chart above. Fund shareholders will receive prior notice of any such merger.

Principal investment risks

You could lose money over short or long periods by investing in this Fund. An investment in the Fund, due to the nature of the Fund’s portfolio holdings, typically is subject to the following principal investment risks:

· Asset Allocation Risk—The risk that the Fund may not achieve its target allocations. In addition, there is the risk that the asset allocations may not achieve the desired risk-return characteristic or that the selection of Underlying Funds and the allocations among them will result in the Fund underperforming other similar funds or cause an investor to lose money.

· Index Risk—The risk that an Underlying Fund’s performance may not correspond to its benchmark index for any period of time and may underperform such index or the overall financial market. Additionally, to the extent that an Underlying Fund’s investments vary from the composition of its benchmark index, the Underlying Fund’s performance could potentially

TIAA-CREF Lifecycle Index Funds    Prospectus     35


vary from the index’s performance to a greater extent than if the Underlying Fund merely attempted to replicate the index.

· Underlying Funds Risks—The Fund is exposed to the risks of the Underlying Funds in which it invests in direct proportion to the amount of assets the Fund allocates to each Underlying Fund.

· Equity Underlying Funds Risks—The risks of investing in equity Underlying Funds include risks specific to their investment strategies, as well as risks related to the equity markets in general, such as:

· market risk—The risk that market prices of portfolio investments held by a Fund may fall rapidly or unpredictably due to a variety of factors, including changing economic, political or market conditions. Market risk may affect a single issuer, industry or sector of the economy, or it may affect the market as a whole. From time to time, a Fund may invest a significant portion of its assets in companies in one or more related sectors or industries, which would make the Fund more vulnerable to adverse developments affecting such sectors or industries;

· issuer risk—The risk that an issuer’s earnings prospects and overall financial position will deteriorate, causing a decline in the value of the issuer’s financial instruments over short or extended periods of time;

· foreign investment risk—Foreign markets can be more volatile than the U.S. market due to increased risks of adverse issuer, political, regulatory, currency, market or economic developments as well as armed conflicts and can result in greater price volatility and perform differently from financial instruments of U.S. issuers. This risk may be heightened in emerging or developing markets. Foreign investments may also have lower liquidity and be more difficult to value than investments in U.S. issuers. To the extent a Fund invests a significant portion of its assets in the securities of companies in a single country or region, it may be more susceptible to adverse economic, market, political or regulatory events or conditions affecting that country or region. Foreign investments may also be subject to risk of loss because of more or less foreign government regulation, less public information, less stringent investor protections and less stringent accounting, corporate governance, financial reporting and disclosure standards. The imposition of sanctions, exchange controls (including repatriation restrictions), confiscations, trade restrictions (including tariffs) and other restrictions by the United States or other governments may also negatively impact a Fund’s investments. The type and severity of sanctions and other measures that may be imposed could vary broadly in scope, and their impact is impossible to predict; and

· small- and mid-cap risk—The risk that the stocks of small-capitalization companies often experience greater price volatility than large- or mid-sized companies because small-cap companies are often

36     Prospectus    TIAA-CREF Lifecycle Index Funds


newer or less established than larger companies and are likely to have more limited resources, products and markets. Securities of small-cap companies often have lower overall liquidity than securities of larger companies as a result of there being a smaller market for their securities, which can have an adverse effect on the pricing of these securities and on the ability to sell these securities when a Fund’s investment adviser or sub-adviser deems it appropriate. Stocks of mid-capitalization companies often experience greater price volatility, lower trading volume and lower overall liquidity than the stocks of larger, more established companies.

· Fixed-Income Underlying Funds Risks—The risks of investing in fixed-income Underlying Funds include risks specific to their investment strategies, as well as risks related to the fixed-income markets in general, such as:

· interest rate risk—The risk that increases in interest rates can cause the prices of fixed-income investments to decline. This risk is heightened to the extent a Fund invests in longer duration fixed-income investments and during periods when prevailing interest rates are low or negative. Low interest rates may increase a Fund’s exposure to risks associated with rising interest rates. However, a Fund may be subject to heightened levels of interest rate risk due to rising interest rates (including a sharp rise in interest rates). In general, changing interest rates could have unpredictable effects on the markets and may expose fixed-income and related markets to heightened volatility;

· prepayment risk—The risk that, during periods of falling interest rates, borrowers may pay off their mortgage loans sooner than expected, forcing a Fund to reinvest the unanticipated proceeds at lower interest rates and resulting in a decline in income;

· extension risk—The risk that, during periods of rising interest rates, borrowers may pay off their mortgage loans later than expected, preventing a Fund from reinvesting principal proceeds at higher interest rates and resulting in less income than potentially available;

· issuer risk—The risk that an issuer’s earnings prospects and overall financial position will deteriorate, causing a decline in the value of the issuer’s financial instruments over short or extended periods of time;

· credit risk—The risk that the issuer of fixed-income investments may not be able or willing, or may be perceived (whether by market participants, rating agencies, pricing services or otherwise) as not able or willing, to meet interest or principal payments when the payments become due;

· credit spread risk—The risk that credit spreads (i.e., the difference in yield between securities that is due to differences in each security’s

TIAA-CREF Lifecycle Index Funds    Prospectus     37


respective credit quality) may increase when market participants believe that bonds generally have a greater risk of default, which could result in a decline in the market values of a Fund’s debt securities;

· income volatility risk—The risk that the level of current income from a portfolio of fixed-income investments may decline in certain interest rate environments;

· market volatility, liquidity and valuation risk (types of market risk)—The risk that volatile or dramatic reductions in trading activity make it difficult for a Fund to properly value its investments and that a Fund may not be able to purchase or sell an investment at an attractive price, if at all; and

· call risk—The risk that, during periods of falling interest rates, an issuer may call (or repay) a fixed-income security prior to maturity, resulting in a decline in a Fund’s income.

· Emerging Markets Underlying Funds Risk—The risk of foreign investment often increases in countries with emerging markets or otherwise economically tied to emerging market countries. For example, these countries may have more unstable governments than developed countries, and their economies may be based on only a few industries. Emerging market countries may also have less stringent regulation of accounting, auditing, financial reporting and recordkeeping requirements, which would affect a Fund’s ability to evaluate potential portfolio companies. As a result, there could be less information available about issuers in emerging market countries, which could negatively affect Advisors’ ability to evaluate local companies or their potential impact on a Fund’s performance. Because the financial markets of emerging market countries may be very small, share prices of financial instruments in emerging market countries may be volatile and difficult to determine. Financial instruments of issuers in these countries may have lower overall liquidity than those of issuers in more developed countries. In addition, foreign investors such as a Fund are subject to a variety of special restrictions in many emerging market countries. Moreover, legal remedies for investors in emerging markets may be more limited, and U.S. authorities may have less ability to bring actions against bad actors in emerging market countries.

· Illiquid Investments Underlying Funds RiskThe risk that illiquid investments may be difficult to sell for the value at which they are carried, if at all, or at any price within the desired time frame.

· Currency Underlying Funds RiskThe risk that foreign (non-U.S.) currencies may decline in value relative to the U.S. dollar and adversely affect the value of a Fund’s investments in foreign currencies, securities denominated in foreign currencies or derivative instruments that provide exposure to foreign currencies.

38     Prospectus    TIAA-CREF Lifecycle Index Funds


· Active Management Risk—The risk that the strategy, investment selection or trading execution of Advisors could cause the Fund or an Underlying Fund to underperform its benchmark index or mutual funds with similar investment objectives.

· Fund of Funds Risk—The ability of the Fund to achieve its investment objective will depend in part upon the ability of the Underlying Funds to achieve their investment objectives. There can be no guarantee that any Underlying Fund will achieve its investment objective.

There can be no assurances that the Fund will achieve its investment objective. You should not consider the Fund to be a complete investment program. Please see the non-summary portion of the Prospectus for more detailed information about the risks described above, including the risks of the Underlying Funds.

Past performance

The following chart and table help illustrate some of the risks of investing in the Fund by showing changes in the Fund’s performance from year to year. The bar chart shows the annual total returns of the Retirement Class of the Fund, before taxes, in each full calendar year for the last ten years. Because the expenses vary across share classes, the performance of the Retirement Class may vary from the other share classes. Below the bar chart are the best and worst returns of the Retirement Class for a calendar quarter during the full calendar-year periods covered by the bar chart. The performance table following the bar chart shows the Fund’s average annual total returns for the Retirement, Institutional, Advisor and Premier classes over the applicable one-year, five-year, ten-year and since-inception periods ended December 31, 2021, and how those returns compare to those of a broad-based securities market index and a composite index based on the Fund’s target allocations. After-tax performance is shown only for the Retirement Class shares, and after-tax returns for the other classes of shares will vary from the after-tax returns presented for Retirement Class shares.

The returns shown below reflect previous agreements by Advisors to waive or reimburse the Fund and certain Underlying Funds for certain fees and expenses. Without these waivers and reimbursements, the returns of the Fund would have been lower. Past performance of the Fund (before and after taxes) is not necessarily an indication of how it will perform in the future. The indices listed below are unmanaged, and you cannot invest directly in an index. The returns for the indices reflect no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes.

For current performance information of each share class, including performance to the most recent month-end, please visit www.tiaa.org.

TIAA-CREF Lifecycle Index Funds    Prospectus     39


ANNUAL TOTAL RETURNS FOR THE RETIREMENT CLASS SHARES (%)

Lifecycle Index 2015 Fund

PerformanceBarChartData(2012:11.07,2013:12.54,2014:6.07,2015:-0.28,2016:5.87,2017:11.97,2018:-3.5,2019:16.37,2020:12.27,2021:7.63)

 The year-to-date return as of the most recent calendar quarter, which ended on June 30, 2022, was -13.72%.

Best quarter: 10.46%, for the quarter ended June 30, 2020. Worst quarter: -8.87%, for the quarter ended March 31, 2020.

40     Prospectus    TIAA-CREF Lifecycle Index Funds


AVERAGE ANNUAL TOTAL RETURNS

For the Periods Ended December 31, 2021

                         

 

 

Inception date

 

One year

 

 

Five years

 

 

Ten years

 

 

Retirement Class

9/30/2009

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Return before taxes

 

 

7.63

%

 

8.73

%

 

7.84

%

 

 

Return after taxes on distributions

 

 

6.16

%

 

7.77

%

 

7.01

%

 

 

Return after taxes on distributions and sale of

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fund shares

 

 

5.12

%

 

6.58

%

 

6.05

%

 

Institutional Class

9/30/2009

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Return before taxes

 

 

7.85

%

 

8.99

%

 

8.10

%

 

Advisor Class

12/4/2015

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Return before taxes

 

 

7.82

%

 

8.93

%

 

7.97

%#

 

Premier Class

9/30/2009

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Return before taxes

 

 

7.71

%

 

8.83

%

 

7.94

%

 

                         

S&P Target Date 2015 Index

 

 

8.01

%

 

8.08

%

 

7.43

%

 

                         

Lifecycle Index 2015 Fund Composite Index

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(reflects no deductions for fees, expenses or taxes)

 

 

8.03

%

 

9.07

%

 

8.22

%

 

                         

Current performance of the Fund’s shares may be higher or lower than that shown above.

#

The performance shown for the Advisor Class that is prior to its inception date is based on performance of the Fund’s Retirement Class. The performance for these periods has not been restated to reflect the lower expenses of the Advisor Class.

As of the close of business on December 31, 2021, the Lifecycle Index 2015 Fund Composite Index consisted of: 39.3% Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Bond Index; 28.3% Russell 3000® Index; 15.2% MSCI EAFE + Emerging Markets Index; 8.6% Bloomberg U.S. 1-3 Year Government/Credit Bond Index; and 8.6% Bloomberg U.S. Treasury Inflation Protected Securities (TIPS) 1-10 Year Index. The Fund’s composite benchmark, the components that make up a composite benchmark and the method of calculating a composite benchmark’s performance may vary over time.

 

After-tax returns are calculated using the historical highest individual federal marginal income tax rates in effect during the periods shown and do not reflect the impact of state and local taxes. Actual after-tax returns depend on the investor’s tax situation and may differ from those shown. The after-tax returns shown are not relevant to investors who hold their Fund shares through tax-deferred arrangements such as 401(a), 401(k) or 403(b) plans or Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs). After-tax returns are shown for only one class, and after-tax returns for other classes will vary.

 

Portfolio management

Investment Adviser. The Fund’s investment adviser is Teachers Advisors, LLC.

Portfolio Managers. The following persons are primarily responsible for the management of the Fund on a day-to-day basis:

       
       

Name:

Hans Erickson, CFA

John Cunniff, CFA

Steve Sedmak, CFA

Title:

Senior Managing Director

Managing Director

Managing Director

Experience on Fund:

since 2009

since 2009

since 2018

TIAA-CREF Lifecycle Index Funds    Prospectus     41


Purchase and sale of Fund shares

Institutional Class shares are available for purchase directly from the Fund by certain eligible investors (which include employee benefit plans and financial intermediaries). Advisor Class shares are available for purchase through certain financial intermediaries, employee benefit plans and insurance company separate accounts. Premier Class and Retirement Class shares are generally available for purchase through employee benefit plans, other types of savings plans or accounts and certain financial intermediaries.

· The minimum initial investment is $10 million and the minimum subsequent investment is $1,000 for Institutional Class shares, unless an investor purchases shares by or through financial intermediaries that have entered into an appropriate agreement with the Fund or its affiliates. Employee benefit plans, fee-based managed account programs (“wrap accounts”), state sponsored 529 college savings plans, collective trust funds, investment companies or other pooled investment vehicles, thrifts and bank and trust companies that have entered into agreements to offer Institutional Class shares held in omnibus accounts on the books of the Fund are exempt from initial and subsequent investment minimums.

· There are no minimum initial or subsequent investment requirements for Advisor Class, Premier Class or Retirement Class shares.

Redeeming or Exchanging Shares. You can redeem (sell) or exchange your shares of the Fund on any day that the New York Stock Exchange (“NYSE”) or its affiliated exchanges, NYSE Arca Equities or NYSE American, are open for trading (each such day a “Business Day”). Exchanges may be made for shares of the same share class of other funds offered by the Trust. If your shares are held through a third party, please contact that entity for applicable redemption or exchange requirements. If your shares are held directly with the Fund, contact the Fund directly in writing or by telephone.

Tax information

The Fund intends to make distributions to shareholders that may be taxed as ordinary income or capital gains. Distributions made to tax-exempt shareholders or shareholders who hold Fund shares in a tax-deferred account are generally not subject to income tax in the current year, but redemptions made from tax-deferred accounts may be subject to income tax.

Payments to broker-dealers and other financial intermediary compensation

If you purchase shares of the Fund through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank), the Fund and/or its related companies may pay the financial intermediary for providing investor services. The Fund’s related companies may also pay the financial intermediary for the sale of Fund shares and related services. These payments may create a conflict of interest by

42     Prospectus    TIAA-CREF Lifecycle Index Funds


influencing the broker-dealer or other financial intermediary and your salesperson to recommend the Fund over another investment. Ask your salesperson or visit your financial intermediary’s website for more information.

TIAA-CREF Lifecycle Index Funds    Prospectus     43


 

Summary information

TIAA-CREF Lifecycle Index 2020 Fund

Investment objective

The Lifecycle Index 2020 Fund seeks high total return over time through a combination of capital appreciation and income.

Fees and expenses

This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy, hold and sell shares of the Fund. You may pay other fees, such as brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the tables and examples below.

SHAREHOLDER FEES (fees paid directly from your investment)

                 
 

Institutional
Class

 

Advisor
Class

 

Premier
Class

 

Retirement Class

 

Maximum sales charge imposed on purchases
(percentage of offering price)

0%

 

0%

 

0%

 

0%

 

Maximum deferred sales charge

0%

 

0%

 

0%

 

0%

 

Maximum sales charge imposed on reinvested
dividends and other distributions

0%

 

0%

 

0%

 

0%

 

Redemption or exchange fee

0%

 

0%

 

0%

 

0%

 

Maximum account fee

0%

 

0%

 

0%

 

0%

 

44     Prospectus    TIAA-CREF Lifecycle Index Funds


ANNUAL FUND OPERATING EXPENSES (expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)

                   

 

 

Institutional
Class

 

Advisor
Class

 

Premier
Class

 

Retirement
Class

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Management fees1,2

0.17%

 

0.17%

 

0.17%

 

0.17%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Distribution (Rule 12b-1) fees

 

 

0.15%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Other expenses1,2

0.02%

 

0.13%

 

0.02%

 

0.27%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Total annual Fund operating expenses

0.19%

 

0.30%

 

0.34%

 

0.44%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Waivers and expense reimbursements3,4

(0.09)%

 

(0.10)%

 

(0.09)%

 

(0.09)%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Total annual Fund operating expenses after fee
  waiver and/or expense reimbursement

0.10%

 

0.20%

 

0.25%

 

0.35%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1

Restated to reflect estimates for the current fiscal year.

2

Portions of the Management fees and Other expenses are based on expenses originally incurred by Class W shares of the Underlying Funds (as defined below) of the Trust, which have been incurred directly by the Fund pursuant to certain contractual arrangements intended to reallocate directly to the Fund certain fees and expenses that had been paid by the Underlying Funds of the Trust. For additional information, please see the “Management of the Funds” section of this Prospectus.

3

Under the Fund’s expense reimbursement arrangements, the Fund’s investment adviser, Teachers Advisors, LLC (“Advisors”), has contractually agreed to reimburse the Fund for any Total annual Fund operating expenses (excluding interest, taxes, brokerage commissions or other transactional expenses, Acquired fund fees and expenses, extraordinary expenses and any expenses originally attributable to Class W shares of the Underlying Funds of the Trust that were incurred directly by the Fund) that exceed: (i) 0.025% of average daily net assets for Institutional Class shares; (ii) 0.175% of average daily net assets for Advisor Class shares; (iii) 0.175% of average daily net assets for Premier Class shares; and (iv) 0.275% of average daily net assets for Retirement Class shares of the Fund. These expense reimbursement arrangements will continue through at least September 30, 2023, unless changed with approval of the Board of Trustees.

4

Advisors has contractually agreed to waive 0.075% of the Fund’s Management fee. This waiver will remain in effect through September 30, 2023, unless changed with the approval of the Board of Trustees.

Example

This example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in shares of the Fund with the cost of investing in other mutual funds. The example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then redeem all your shares at the end of those periods. The example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund’s operating expenses, before fee waivers and/or expense reimbursements, remain the same. The example assumes that the Fund’s fee waiver and/or expense reimbursement arrangements will each remain in place for the durations noted in the table above. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:

                         

 

Institutional
Class

 

Advisor
Class

 

Premier
Class

 

Retirement
Class

 

1 year

$

10

 

$

20

 

$

26

 

$

36

 

3 years

$

52

 

$

86

 

$

100

 

$

132

 

5 years

$

98

 

$

159

 

$

182

 

$

237

 

10 years

$

234

 

$

371

 

$

422

 

$

546

 

TIAA-CREF Lifecycle Index Funds    Prospectus     45


Portfolio turnover

The Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when Fund shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in annual fund operating expenses or in the example, affect the Fund’s performance. During the fiscal year ended May 31, 2022, the Fund’s portfolio turnover rate was 19% of the average value of its portfolio.

Principal investment strategies

The Fund is a “fund of funds” that invests in Class W shares of other funds of the Trust and potentially in other investment pools or investment products, including other funds advised by the Fund’s investment adviser, Teachers Advisors, LLC (“Advisors”), or its affiliates (collectively, the “Underlying Funds”). In general, the Fund is designed for investors who have an approximate target retirement year in mind, and the Fund’s investments are adjusted from more aggressive to more conservative over time as the Fund’s target retirement year approaches and for approximately 30 years afterwards. The Fund invests in Underlying Funds according to an asset allocation strategy designed for investors who retired in, or planned to retire within a few years of, 2020 and who may have begun taking systematic withdrawals upon retirement. The Fund has a policy of investing at least 80% of its assets (net assets, plus the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes) in Underlying Funds that are managed to seek investment returns that track particular market indices.

Advisors currently expects to allocate approximately 47.00% of the Fund’s assets to equity Underlying Funds and 53.00% of its assets to fixed-income Underlying Funds. These allocations represent targets for equity and fixed-income asset classes. Target allocations will change over time and actual allocations may vary up to ten percentage points from the targets. The target allocations along the investment glidepath, illustrated in the chart below, gradually become more conservative. The Fund had target allocations of approximately 50.00% equity/50.00% fixed-income in the Fund’s target retirement year of 2020 and will reach the Fund’s final target allocation of approximately 20.00% equity/80.00% fixed-income in 2050. Within the equity and fixed-income asset classes, Advisors allocates the Fund’s investments to particular market sectors (U.S. equity, international equity, fixed-income, short-term fixed-income and inflation-protected assets) represented by various Underlying Funds. These market sector allocations may vary by up to 10% from the Fund’s target market sector allocations. The Fund’s current target market sector allocations for June 30, 2023, which will change over time, are approximately as follows: U.S. Equity: 30.55%; International Equity: 16.45%; Fixed-Income: 38.60%; Short-Term Fixed-Income: 7.20%; and Inflation-Protected Assets: 7.20%. The asset class and market sector names used herein are intended to reflect the primary type of investment of the Underlying Funds within each of these categories.

46     Prospectus    TIAA-CREF Lifecycle Index Funds


The Fund’s target market sector allocations to Underlying Funds may include the TIAA-CREF Equity Index Fund (U.S. Equity); TIAA-CREF Emerging Markets Equity Index Fund and TIAA-CREF International Equity Index Fund (International Equity); TIAA-CREF Bond Index Fund (Fixed-Income); TIAA-CREF Short-Term Bond Index Fund (Short-Term Fixed-Income); and TIAA-CREF Inflation-Linked Bond Fund (Inflation-Protected Assets).

As a result of its investments in the Underlying Funds, the Fund’s returns will reflect investments in a mix of domestic and foreign equities of companies of various sizes and market capitalizations and a variety of domestic and foreign fixed-income instruments of private and governmental issuers of varying maturities and credit qualities.

Additional or replacement Underlying Funds for each market sector, as well as additional or replacement market sectors, may be included when making future allocations if Advisors believes that such Underlying Funds and/or market sectors are appropriate in light of the Fund’s desired levels of risk and potential return at the particular time. The Fund’s portfolio management team may also add a new market sector if it believes that will help to achieve the Fund’s investment objective. The relative allocations among Underlying Funds within a market sector may be changed at any time without notice to shareholders. If 10% or more of the Fund’s assets are expected to be invested in any Underlying Fund or market sector not listed above, shareholders will receive prior notice of such change.

As part of the Fund’s ability to invest in other investment pools or investment products noted above, the Fund may invest in exchange-traded funds (“ETFs”) and exchange-traded notes (“ETNs”) to gain exposure to various market sectors or securities in order to effect its asset allocation strategy. Additionally, the Fund may use ETFs or ETNs for cash management, hedging or defensive purposes. ETFs or ETNs will be subject to the risks associated with the types of securities or sectors that they track, while ETNs, which are structured as fixed-income obligations, will also be subject to the general risks of fixed-income securities, including credit risk.

The Fund’s asset class allocations, market sector allocations within each asset class, and Underlying Fund allocations within each market sector, as of June 30, 2022, are listed in the chart below. These allocations will change over time. Underlying Fund allocations in particular may change from year to year.

               

Asset Class

Allocation

  

Market Sector

Allocation

 

Underlying Funds

Allocation

Equity

47.06%

 

U.S. Equity

30.56%

 

 TIAA-CREF Equity Index

30.56%

     

International Equity

16.50%

 

 TIAA-CREF International Equity Index

11.17%

           

 TIAA-CREF Emerging Markets Equity Index

5.33%

Fixed-Income

52.94%

 

Fixed-Income

39.16%

 

 TIAA-CREF Bond Index

39.16%

     

Short-Term
Fixed-Income

6.94%

 

 TIAA-CREF Short-Term Bond Index

6.94%

     

Inflation-
Protected Assets

6.84%

 

 TIAA-CREF Inflation-Linked Bond

6.84%

               

Total

100.00%

   

100.00%

   

100.00%

TIAA-CREF Lifecycle Index Funds    Prospectus     47


The following chart shows how the investment glidepath for the Fund is expected to gradually move the Fund’s target allocations over time between the different target market sector allocations. The actual market sector allocations of the Fund may differ from this chart. The Fund seeks to achieve its final target market sector allocations approximately 30 years following the target date.

The Fund is designed to accommodate investors who invest in a fund up to their target retirement date, and plan to make gradual systematic withdrawals in retirement. In addition, investors should note that the Fund will continue to have a significant level of equity exposure up to, through and after its target retirement date, and this exposure could cause significant fluctuations in the value of the Fund depending on the performance of the equity markets generally.

After the Fund reaches its final target allocation, the Board of Trustees may authorize the merger of the Fund into another Lifecycle Index Fund which has also reached its final target allocation or other similar fund designed to maintain a relatively stable asset allocation reflecting the resting point on the glidepath described in the chart above. Fund shareholders will receive prior notice of any such merger.

Principal investment risks

You could lose money over short or long periods by investing in this Fund. An investment in the Fund, due to the nature of the Fund’s portfolio holdings, typically is subject to the following principal investment risks:

· Asset Allocation Risk—The risk that the Fund may not achieve its target allocations. In addition, there is the risk that the asset allocations may not achieve the desired risk-return characteristic or that the selection of Underlying Funds and the allocations among them will result in the Fund underperforming other similar funds or cause an investor to lose money.

· Index Risk—The risk that an Underlying Fund’s performance may not correspond to its benchmark index for any period of time and may underperform such index or the overall financial market. Additionally, to the extent that an Underlying Fund’s investments vary from the composition of its benchmark index, the Underlying Fund’s performance could potentially

48     Prospectus    TIAA-CREF Lifecycle Index Funds


vary from the index’s performance to a greater extent than if the Underlying Fund merely attempted to replicate the index.

· Underlying Funds Risks—The Fund is exposed to the risks of the Underlying Funds in which it invests in direct proportion to the amount of assets the Fund allocates to each Underlying Fund.

· Equity Underlying Funds Risks—The risks of investing in equity Underlying Funds include risks specific to their investment strategies, as well as risks related to the equity markets in general, such as:

· market risk—The risk that market prices of portfolio investments held by a Fund may fall rapidly or unpredictably due to a variety of factors, including changing economic, political or market conditions. Market risk may affect a single issuer, industry or sector of the economy, or it may affect the market as a whole. From time to time, a Fund may invest a significant portion of its assets in companies in one or more related sectors or industries, which would make the Fund more vulnerable to adverse developments affecting such sectors or industries;

· issuer risk—The risk that an issuer’s earnings prospects and overall financial position will deteriorate, causing a decline in the value of the issuer’s financial instruments over short or extended periods of time;

· foreign investment risk—Foreign markets can be more volatile than the U.S. market due to increased risks of adverse issuer, political, regulatory, currency, market or economic developments as well as armed conflicts and can result in greater price volatility and perform differently from financial instruments of U.S. issuers. This risk may be heightened in emerging or developing markets. Foreign investments may also have lower liquidity and be more difficult to value than investments in U.S. issuers. To the extent a Fund invests a significant portion of its assets in the securities of companies in a single country or region, it may be more susceptible to adverse economic, market, political or regulatory events or conditions affecting that country or region. Foreign investments may also be subject to risk of loss because of more or less foreign government regulation, less public information, less stringent investor protections and less stringent accounting, corporate governance, financial reporting and disclosure standards. The imposition of sanctions, exchange controls (including repatriation restrictions), confiscations, trade restrictions (including tariffs) and other restrictions by the United States or other governments may also negatively impact a Fund’s investments. The type and severity of sanctions and other measures that may be imposed could vary broadly in scope, and their impact is impossible to predict; and

· small- and mid-cap risk—The risk that the stocks of small-capitalization companies often experience greater price volatility than large- or mid-sized companies because small-cap companies are often

TIAA-CREF Lifecycle Index Funds    Prospectus     49


newer or less established than larger companies and are likely to have more limited resources, products and markets. Securities of small-cap companies often have lower overall liquidity than securities of larger companies as a result of there being a smaller market for their securities, which can have an adverse effect on the pricing of these securities and on the ability to sell these securities when a Fund’s investment adviser or sub-adviser deems it appropriate. Stocks of mid-capitalization companies often experience greater price volatility, lower trading volume and lower overall liquidity than the stocks of larger, more established companies.

· Fixed-Income Underlying Funds Risks—The risks of investing in fixed-income Underlying Funds include risks specific to their investment strategies, as well as risks related to the fixed-income markets in general, such as:

· interest rate risk—The risk that increases in interest rates can cause the prices of fixed-income investments to decline. This risk is heightened to the extent a Fund invests in longer duration fixed-income investments and during periods when prevailing interest rates are low or negative. Low interest rates may increase a Fund’s exposure to risks associated with rising interest rates. However, a Fund may be subject to heightened levels of interest rate risk due to rising interest rates (including a sharp rise in interest rates). In general, changing interest rates could have unpredictable effects on the markets and may expose fixed-income and related markets to heightened volatility;

· prepayment risk—The risk that, during periods of falling interest rates, borrowers may pay off their mortgage loans sooner than expected, forcing a Fund to reinvest the unanticipated proceeds at lower interest rates and resulting in a decline in income;

· extension risk—The risk that, during periods of rising interest rates, borrowers may pay off their mortgage loans later than expected, preventing a Fund from reinvesting principal proceeds at higher interest rates and resulting in less income than potentially available;

· issuer risk—The risk that an issuer’s earnings prospects and overall financial position will deteriorate, causing a decline in the value of the issuer’s financial instruments over short or extended periods of time;

· credit risk—The risk that the issuer of fixed-income investments may not be able or willing, or may be perceived (whether by market participants, rating agencies, pricing services or otherwise) as not able or willing, to meet interest or principal payments when the payments become due;

· credit spread risk—The risk that credit spreads (i.e., the difference in yield between securities that is due to differences in each security’s

50     Prospectus    TIAA-CREF Lifecycle Index Funds


respective credit quality) may increase when market participants believe that bonds generally have a greater risk of default, which could result in a decline in the market values of a Fund’s debt securities;

· income volatility risk—The risk that the level of current income from a portfolio of fixed-income investments may decline in certain interest rate environments;

· market volatility, liquidity and valuation risk (types of market risk)—The risk that volatile or dramatic reductions in trading activity make it difficult for a Fund to properly value its investments and that a Fund may not be able to purchase or sell an investment at an attractive price, if at all; and

· call risk—The risk that, during periods of falling interest rates, an issuer may call (or repay) a fixed-income security prior to maturity, resulting in a decline in a Fund’s income.

· Emerging Markets Underlying Funds Risk—The risk of foreign investment often increases in countries with emerging markets or otherwise economically tied to emerging market countries. For example, these countries may have more unstable governments than developed countries, and their economies may be based on only a few industries. Emerging market countries may also have less stringent regulation of accounting, auditing, financial reporting and recordkeeping requirements, which would affect a Fund’s ability to evaluate potential portfolio companies. As a result, there could be less information available about issuers in emerging market countries, which could negatively affect Advisors’ ability to evaluate local companies or their potential impact on a Fund’s performance. Because the financial markets of emerging market countries may be very small, share prices of financial instruments in emerging market countries may be volatile and difficult to determine. Financial instruments of issuers in these countries may have lower overall liquidity than those of issuers in more developed countries. In addition, foreign investors such as a Fund are subject to a variety of special restrictions in many emerging market countries. Moreover, legal remedies for investors in emerging markets may be more limited, and U.S. authorities may have less ability to bring actions against bad actors in emerging market countries.

· Illiquid Investments Underlying Funds RiskThe risk that illiquid investments may be difficult to sell for the value at which they are carried, if at all, or at any price within the desired time frame.

· Currency Underlying Funds RiskThe risk that foreign (non-U.S.) currencies may decline in value relative to the U.S. dollar and adversely affect the value of a Fund’s investments in foreign currencies, securities denominated in foreign currencies or derivative instruments that provide exposure to foreign currencies.

TIAA-CREF Lifecycle Index Funds    Prospectus     51


· Active Management Risk—The risk that the strategy, investment selection or trading execution of Advisors could cause the Fund or an Underlying Fund to underperform its benchmark index or mutual funds with similar investment objectives.

· Fund of Funds Risk—The ability of the Fund to achieve its investment objective will depend in part upon the ability of the Underlying Funds to achieve their investment objectives. There can be no guarantee that any Underlying Fund will achieve its investment objective.

There can be no assurances that the Fund will achieve its investment objective. You should not consider the Fund to be a complete investment program. Please see the non-summary portion of the Prospectus for more detailed information about the risks described above, including the risks of the Underlying Funds.

Past performance

The following chart and table help illustrate some of the risks of investing in the Fund by showing changes in the Fund’s performance from year to year. The bar chart shows the annual total returns of the Retirement Class of the Fund, before taxes, in each full calendar year for the last ten years. Because the expenses vary across share classes, the performance of the Retirement Class may vary from the other share classes. Below the bar chart are the best and worst returns of the Retirement Class for a calendar quarter during the full calendar-year periods covered by the bar chart. The performance table following the bar chart shows the Fund’s average annual total returns for the Retirement, Institutional, Advisor and Premier classes over the applicable one-year, five-year, ten-year and since-inception periods ended December 31, 2021, and how those returns compare to those of a broad-based securities market index and a composite index based on the Fund’s target allocations. After-tax performance is shown only for the Retirement Class shares, and after-tax returns for the other classes of shares will vary from the after-tax returns presented for Retirement Class shares.

The returns shown below reflect previous agreements by Advisors to waive or reimburse the Fund and certain Underlying Funds for certain fees and expenses. Without these waivers and reimbursements, the returns of the Fund would have been lower. Past performance of the Fund (before and after taxes) is not necessarily an indication of how it will perform in the future. The indices listed below are unmanaged, and you cannot invest directly in an index. The returns for the indices reflect no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes.

For current performance information of each share class, including performance to the most recent month-end, please visit www.tiaa.org.

52     Prospectus    TIAA-CREF Lifecycle Index Funds


ANNUAL TOTAL RETURNS FOR THE RETIREMENT CLASS SHARES (%)

Lifecycle Index 2020 Fund

PerformanceBarChartData(2012:11.96,2013:15.27,2014:6.27,2015:-0.42,2016:6.41,2017:13.37,2018:-3.97,2019:17.59,2020:12.85,2021:8.48)