If you had funds invested in TIAA Traditional (an annuity fund) before the transition from TIAA to Empower as recordkeeper, some of that money is still at TIAA.
Since TIAA Traditional is a proprietary fund with TIAA, those monies are
being transferred to Empower over a 60-month period (1/60 per month, ending
after 5 years) to the Putnam Stable Value Fund. When these funds
transfer, the transaction shows up in Empower as a 'contribution,' but it is
actually a transfer.
If you aren’t sure if this affects you, you can log into your TIAA account and see if you have a balance. Your account with TIAA should still be active with the same login credentials you used before the transition, which means you still have access to statements and tax documents. If you do have money in TIAA Traditional, you will continue to receive statements (electronic or paper) from TIAA, so please keep your contact information up to date with TIAA until you no longer have a balance with them.
If you are age 59 ½ and older and would like to activate the annuity with your balance in TIAA Traditional, you can do this at any time. If you do annuitize, your TIAA Traditional balance is removed from the UU Plan and lifetime income payments begin. Please contact TIAA if you would like to annuitize.
Please note: TIAA has an option called Transfer Payout Annuity (TPA) that can be used to receive payments from your TIAA Traditional monies. This is not the same thing as the lifetime income annuity. The TPA allows you to start receiving payments from TIAA Traditional, but the monies not yet paid to you continue to transfer to Empower over the 60-month period.
More information on the TIAA Traditional fund: TIAA Traditional