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Dear Mr. Berko:

Dear N.N.:

I’m really impressed when I get e-mails from folks who work in the rarified atmosphere at Fermi. Enrico Fermi, with whom Al Einstein often crossed neutron swords, was quite a character. And thanks for taking me to task. TIAA-CREF is not a “for-profit” selling organization as I stated in my mid-July article. Chad Peterson, TIAA’s director of media relations, e-mailed me that “TIAA and CREF are nonprofit organizations.” Profits they earn, said Peterson, “benefit their clients.” OK, I guess that’s why some folks say “tomato” and others say “toe-mah-to” ! Chad also told me in his e-mail, again correcting my July column, that TIAA-CREF doesn’t pay its salespeople commissions, rather: “Advisers receive a salary — not commission — plus a bonus that emphasizes client service.”

Chad also told me that I made a major goof in publishing inaccurate numbers for the TIAA-CREF family of mutual funds. Well, as Ernie Hemingway told me before he pulled the trigger: “To goof is human but to admit and correct is divine.” I should have written that 12 (not five as I wrote) of the equity investments offered in their retirement plans have had greater than 10 percent returns over the last five-year period. Mea culpa.

Still I cannot tell you why the TIAA folks make it so difficult to cash out of your annuity and roll it into an Individual Retirement Account at Merrill. Readers have been complaining about this problem for a long time. I suspect it may be directly related to global warming.

So I asked Chad about the delay, and he promised to research the question. I’m sorry that your annuity hasn’t done well; however they are competitively priced and, according to Chad, as of June 42 percent of their mutual funds and annuity accounts were given four- or five-star ratings by Morningstar. And again, according to Chad: “Sixty-three percent of TIAA-CREF’s mutual funds and variable annuity accounts exceeded their Morningstar medians over the past three and five years.” Perhaps you and your adviser failed to select the correct mutual fund subaccounts.

I understand your anxiety. However, I’m sure your well-trained financial adviser is knowledgeable about the market, the economy, the Federal Reserve Board, interest rates and the gross domestic product and has years of experience and comforting expertise. And I’m sure he or she is able to empathize with your heebie-jeebies and nervousness.

So, please, consider counseling with your financial adviser to seek his or her wisdom and understanding of the economic factors responsible for the unsatisfactory equity performance. I’m sure you will be told that it is only temporary.

Give your TIAA-CREF financial adviser a phone call and share your jitters with him or her. You have more than $400,000 in that account, which should be worth a 90-minute hand-holding lunch or even a personal, assuring visit to your home. TIAA-CREF has been in business since the Great Flood and probably has more than $500 billion in 403(b) money under fee management. I suspect they earned that success by being attentive, by listening to your cares and uncertainties, addressing them and presenting solutions. That’s just what any well-trained broker at Merrill or Dean Witter would do.

TIAA-CREF knows this money is important to you, and they’ll do everything they can to ease your fears. So give your adviser a $400,000 phone call and a chance to show you they care.

However, if you don’t get the warm fuzzies you need, then it’s incumbent on you to move your account to where you can get the peace of mind you need for the rest of your life. After all, $400,000 is a lot of money, and you got to be comfortable with the organization and people who are guarding it for you.

Please address your financial questions to Malcolm Berko, P.O. Box 1416, Boca Raton, Fla. 33429 or e-mail him at malber@comcast.net. © 2008 Creators Syndicate, Inc.