TIAA and Fidelity at the University of Michigan: A Complete Retirement Guide for U-M Employees

University of Michigan TIAA and Fidelity retirement guide

University of Michigan employees have one of the most generous retirement benefit structures in the country, spread across the U-M Basic Retirement Plan, the 403(b) Supplemental Retirement Account, and the 457(b) Deferred Compensation Plan, all offered through TIAA and Fidelity. The complexity is the problem: most Umich faculty and staff never fully use the plans, misunderstand TIAA Traditional, or leave money on the table in the SRA. This guide explains how the U-M plans work, the 2026 contribution limits, the TIAA Traditional decisions that matter most, and how a local Ann Arbor fiduciary can manage your U-M accounts without a rollover.

Key Takeaways • The University of Michigan offers retirement plans through both TIAA and Fidelity, and most U-M employees can choose between them or split contributions across both. • U-M employees typically have three plan types: the Basic Retirement Plan (a 401(a) with University contributions), the 403(b) Supplemental Retirement Account (SRA), and the 457(b) Deferred Compensation Plan. • The 403(b) SRA is the most underused account at U-M. It shares a single 2026 contribution limit of $24,500 with the basic 403(b) portion, and many employees never fund it. • TIAA Traditional is a guaranteed annuity, not a mutual fund. It has unique transfer restrictions (the Transfer Payout Annuity) that every U-M employee holding it should understand before retirement. • A U-M employee can defer up to $49,000 in 2026 across the 403(b) and 457(b) (under age 50), or $65,000 at age 50+, or $71,500 at ages 60 to 63, before University contributions on top. • You do not have to roll your U-M accounts out to get professional help. An independent fiduciary can manage your TIAA and Fidelity accounts inside the U-M plan. • Always confirm your specific plan details with the U-M Benefits Office or the Shared Services Center, because elections, providers, and contribution rates vary by employee and can change.

The Best Benefits Most People Never Fully Use

If you work at the University of Michigan, your retirement benefits are genuinely excellent. The University contributes meaningfully to your Basic Retirement Plan, you have two more voluntary accounts on top, and you get access to TIAA and Fidelity, two of the strongest retirement providers in the country.

And yet most U-M employees use a fraction of what they have. They enroll once during onboarding, pick whatever the default was, and never look again. They have a 403(b) SRA they have never funded. They hold a large TIAA Traditional balance without knowing they cannot move it out quickly. They are paying for help from someone who wants to roll everything into an IRA, which is usually the wrong move for a U-M employee.

This guide is the map to the benefits you already have. It is written specifically for University of Michigan faculty and staff, across the Ann Arbor, Dearborn, and Flint campuses and Michigan Medicine.

If you are not sure whether you are using your University of Michigan retirement benefits fully, the Provizr Blueprint gives you a clear review of your TIAA and Fidelity accounts, contribution setup, fees, and portfolio allocation.

What Retirement Plans Does the University of Michigan Offer?

U-M employees typically have access to three distinct retirement plan types, administered through TIAA and Fidelity. Your exact eligibility depends on your job classification, so confirm specifics with U-M Benefits, but the structure generally looks like this.

The U-M Basic Retirement Plan (a 401(a)). This is the foundation. It is the plan where the University makes contributions on your behalf, typically with a required employee contribution as well. The Basic Retirement Plan is where most of your employer-provided retirement value accumulates. Confirm your current contribution and match rate with Umich Benefits, because these terms are set by the University and can change.

The 403(b) Supplemental Retirement Account (SRA). This is a voluntary account where you can save additional money beyond the Basic Retirement Plan. The SRA is entirely employee-funded, and it is the most commonly underused account at U-M. More on this below, because the SRA is where a lot of U-M employees leave tax-advantaged room unused.

The 457(b) Deferred Compensation Plan. This is a second voluntary account with its own separate contribution limit. The 457(b) is powerful because it does not share its limit with the 403(b), so a U-M employee can contribute the maximum to both. It also has a feature worth knowing: governmental 457(b) withdrawals after you leave the University are not subject to the 10% early withdrawal penalty at any age.

All three plans let you invest through TIAA, Fidelity, or in many cases both.

How Do TIAA and Fidelity Work as the Two U-M Providers?

The University of Michigan uses TIAA and Fidelity as its retirement plan providers, and they are not interchangeable. Most U-M employees benefit from understanding the difference rather than defaulting to whichever they picked first.

Fidelity is a straightforward mutual fund platform. You get a menu of Fidelity funds, including very low-cost index funds, plus target-date funds. The format is familiar if you have ever used a 401(k) or a brokerage account. Your money moves with the markets, and there are no transfer restrictions inside the plan.

TIAA is a hybrid. It offers mutual-fund-style CREF accounts, but its flagship product is TIAA Traditional, a guaranteed annuity with no equivalent at Fidelity. TIAA also offers a Real Estate Account that directly owns commercial properties. The trade-off is complexity: TIAA Traditional has transfer rules that Fidelity funds do not.

Feature	TIAA	Fidelity
Investment approach	Mix of annuities and mutual funds	Mutual funds and index funds
Guaranteed product	Yes, TIAA Traditional	None
Transfer flexibility	Restricted for TIAA Traditional	Generally unrestricted
Best known for	Lifetime income and guarantees	Low-cost index funds

Many U-M employees hold accounts at both providers, often because they split contributions or changed their election over the years. The right approach is usually to treat both as one combined portfolio rather than two separate ones, which is exactly where a lot of people accidentally end up with duplicated or misaligned holdings.

TIAA and Fidelity both play important roles in University retirement plans, but they work very differently. For a deeper comparison, read our complete TIAA vs. Fidelity guide for University employees.

The 403(b) SRA: The Two-Account Structure Most U-M Employees Miss

This is the single most valuable section in our University of Michigan TIAA and Fidelity retirement guide, because it is where the most common and most expensive mistake happens.

At U of M, your 403(b) program is effectively two coordinated accounts. There is the basic portion, and there is the 403(b) Supplemental Retirement Account, the SRA, which is the voluntary account where additional contributions go. The SRA is entirely funded by you.

Here is the rule that catches people: the IRS contribution limit applies to the 403(b) as a whole, not to each piece separately. For 2026, that combined limit is $24,500. If you are only contributing a small default amount and have never set up meaningful SRA contributions, you are leaving most of that tax-advantaged room unused every year.

The fix is simple. Log into your TIAA or Fidelity account through the Umich Wolverine Access or benefits portal, or contact the U-M Benefits Office, and set up or increase your 403(b) SRA contribution. Over a full career, funding the SRA versus ignoring it can be a six-figure difference in retirement savings.

What Are the 2026 Contribution Limits for U-M Employees?

For 2026, here is what a University of Michigan employee can contribute . Remember that the University's contributions to your Basic Retirement Plan sit on top of these voluntary employee limits.

Account	2026 limit	Notes
403(b) family (basic + SRA combined)	$24,500	Shared single limit
457(b) Deferred Compensation	$24,500	Separate from the 403(b)
Age 50+ catch-up (each plan)	+$8,000	Per plan family
Ages 60 to 63 super catch-up (each plan)	+$11,250	Replaces the $8,000, per plan family

Putting it together, a U-M employee can defer:

• $49,000 total if under age 50 ($24,500 to the 403(b) family plus $24,500 to the 457(b))

• $65,000 total at age 50+ (with the $8,000 catch-up on each plan)

• $71,500 total at ages 60 to 63 (with the $11,250 super catch-up on each plan, a SECURE 2.0 provision)

The combined ceiling on the Basic Retirement Plan (employer plus employee) under Section 415(c) is $70,000 in 2026. One rule to know: if you earned more than $150,000 in FICA wages in the prior year, your catch-up contributions must be made on a Roth basis under SECURE 2.0.

These are generous numbers, far beyond what most private-sector workers get, and they are the reason University of Michigan employees who use the plans fully can build substantial retirement security.

TIAA Traditional and the Transfer Payout Annuity for U-M Employees

If you hold TIAA Traditional in your University of Michigan accounts, this is the part to understand before you retire, because the decisions here are often irreversible.

TIAA Traditional is a guaranteed annuity contract, not a mutual fund. It pays a guaranteed minimum interest rate plus additional amounts declared by TIAA, and your balance does not fall with the markets. That guarantee is genuinely valuable. The catch is liquidity.

In most University plans, including the way TIAA Traditional commonly works for U-M employees, you cannot move the balance out in a lump sum. Transfers happen through the Transfer Payout Annuity, or TPA, which spreads the money out in roughly equal annual installments over about 10 years. The portion that has not yet transferred keeps earning the guaranteed rate while it waits.

The practical implication for a U-M employee: if you ever plan to reduce your TIAA Traditional position, starting the TPA earlier (say in your early 50s rather than at retirement) means it finishes before you actually retire. Waiting until the last minute locks the money into a 10-year payout schedule that may stretch past the date you wanted to use it.

At retirement, TIAA Traditional also offers lifetime annuity options, including single-life and joint-and-survivor payouts, often at rates higher than commercial annuities. The single-life versus joint-life decision is one of the highest-stakes and most irreversible choices a U-M retiree makes, and it deserves careful analysis well before your retirement date. Confirm your specific contract terms with TIAA, because the rules vary by contract type.

What Are the Most Common Retirement Mistakes U-M Employees Make?

Five patterns show up again and again with University of Michigan employees.

Never funding the 403(b) SRA. Covered above. The biggest and most common miss. Tax-advantaged room sits unused for an entire career.

Leaving the default investment selection in place for decades. The option you picked during Umich onboarding is rarely the right one ten or twenty years later. Many employees are in an overly conservative default during their peak earning years.

Over-allocating to TIAA Traditional without understanding the TPA. It feels safe, so people pour money in, then discover at retirement that they cannot move it quickly. Right-sizing the position early matters.

Managing TIAA and Fidelity accounts separately. U-M employees with both often end up with duplicated holdings, gaps in coverage, or misaligned risk because they never look at the two accounts as one portfolio.

Rolling everything out to an IRA on an advisor's recommendation. This is usually the wrong move for a U-M employee. Rolling out forfeits TIAA Traditional guarantees, institutional share-class pricing in the U-M plan, ERISA protections, and the 457(b) penalty-free access. More on the alternative below.

How Can a Local Ann Arbor Fiduciary Manage Your U-M Accounts In-Plan?

Most University of Michigan employees assume that working with a financial advisor means rolling their retirement accounts out of the U-M plan and into an IRA. That is not true, and for a U-M employee it is usually the wrong move.

An independent fiduciary advisor can manage your TIAA and Fidelity accounts directly inside the University of Michigan plan, through a process called limited trading authorization. You sign a third-party authorization form, and the advisor can then rebalance, reallocate, and manage your investments on your behalf, all while your money stays in your U-M accounts. The advisor never takes custody, cannot withdraw your money, and you can revoke the authorization at any time.

The advantage for a Umich employee is that you keep everything that makes the University plan valuable: TIAA Traditional guarantees, the institutional pricing the U-M plan negotiates, the 457(b) penalty-free access, and ERISA creditor protections. You get professional management without giving any of that up.

Provizr is a local Ann Arbor fiduciary firm that specializes in exactly this. We are a fee-only fiduciary, which means we are paid only by our clients, never by commissions or product sales, and we manage University of Michigan retirement accounts at TIAA and Fidelity in-plan, without rollovers. Because we are based in Ann Arbor and focus specifically on University retirement plans, we understand the U-M plan structure, TIAA Traditional, and the decisions U-M employees actually face. Learn more about who we are and why we built our firm around University retirement planning.

Frequently Asked Questions

What retirement plans does the University of Michigan offer?

U-M employees typically have access to three plan types through TIAA and Fidelity: the U-M Basic Retirement Plan (a 401(a) where the University contributes), the 403(b) Supplemental Retirement Account (SRA) for voluntary employee contributions, and the 457(b) Deferred Compensation Plan, which has its own separate contribution limit. Eligibility varies by job classification, so confirm your specific plans with the U-M Benefits Office or Shared Services Center.

Who is the best financial advisor for University of Michigan employees?

The best fit for a U-M employee is a fee-only fiduciary advisor who specializes in University retirement plans, understands TIAA Traditional and the Transfer Payout Annuity, and can manage your accounts in-plan at TIAA and Fidelity without requiring a rollover. A local Ann Arbor firm that focuses on University of Michigan plans, like Provizr, is built specifically for this. Always verify any advisor is a fiduciary and review their Form ADV and Form CRS.

Can a financial advisor manage my University of Michigan TIAA and Fidelity accounts?

Yes. Through a limited power of attorney (also called limited trading authorization), an independent fiduciary advisor can manage your investments inside your Umich TIAA and Fidelity accounts without taking custody and without a rollover. Your money stays in the University of Michigan plan, you keep all the plan benefits, and you can revoke the authorization at any time. Most national advisors do not offer this, so look for one that specializes in University plans.

How much can a University of Michigan employee contribute in 2026?

A U of M employee can defer up to $49,000 in 2026 across the 403(b) family and the 457(b) if under age 50, $65,000 at age 50+, or $71,500 at ages 60 to 63 under the SECURE 2.0 super catch-up. The 403(b) basic and SRA share a single $24,500 limit, while the 457(b) has its own separate $24,500 limit. University contributions to the Basic Retirement Plan are additional. Confirm your current elections with U-M Benefits.

Should I move money out of TIAA Traditional in my U-M account?

It depends on your situation, but you should understand the rules first. In most cases, transferring out of TIAA Traditional requires a Transfer Payout Annuity that spreads the move over about 10 years; you generally cannot take it as a lump sum. TIAA Traditional also provides a valuable guarantee and strong lifetime annuity options. The right amount to hold, and whether to start a TPA, depends on your timeline and goals. Confirm your contract terms with TIAA and consider professional guidance before deciding.

Want a guided explanation of how TIAA and Fidelity differ? The free Fidelity vs. TIAA Masterclass walks through fees, flexibility, investment choices, and strategy in plain English.

Next Steps

1. Confirm your current Umich plan elections. Contact the University of Michigan Benefits Office or the Shared Services Center, or log into Wolverine Access, to see your Basic Retirement Plan, 403(b) SRA, and 457(b) status.

2. Check whether you are funding the 403(b) SRA. If not, this is the highest-leverage move you can make today.

3. Review your TIAA and Fidelity allocations as one portfolio. Look for duplicated funds, default selections you never changed, and your TIAA Traditional position.

4. If you hold TIAA Traditional and are within 10 to 15 years of retirement, understand your TPA and annuitization options now, while you still have time to plan.

5. Schedule a free Provizr Blueprint for a professional, local review of your University of Michigan accounts, with no obligation and no rollover required.

Get Your Free Blueprint

A local Ann Arbor fiduciary review of your University of Michigan retirement accounts, with no rollover and no obligation. The Provizr Blueprint is a free, no-obligation review of your U-M retirement portfolio. We analyze your TIAA and Fidelity accounts across the Basic Retirement Plan, the 403(b) SRA, and the 457(b), show you where the unused room and the hidden fees are, and explain exactly what we would do, all under a fiduciary obligation to act in your interest. No rollover required, no sales pitch, no commitment. → Schedule Your Free Blueprint

Disclaimer: This article is for educational and informational purposes only and does not constitute investment, tax, or legal advice. Provizr is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by the University of Michigan, TIAA, or Fidelity. University of Michigan plan details, provider options, and contribution rates vary by employee and are subject to change; confirm all plan specifics with the University of Michigan Benefits Office or Shared Services Center. Provizr is a registered investment adviser. Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Consult a qualified professional before making decisions about your retirement accounts.