Kent L.
Keeping 401K with TIAA less safe than keeping it under your matress
I'll try to keep this as brief as possible. This is a warning to anybody with their 401K with TIAA or a loved one with a retirement fund with TIAA. My father was an Academic Dean with Oxford of Emory University in Georgia. His 401K retirement fund was with TIAA. He had around a million dollars in his fund at his retirement- closer to 750K at the time of his passing. He has 3 kids, me and two older sisters. We were all equal beneficiaries for the life of the policy. One of my sisters suffers from severe mental illness and she had a boyfriend who's name is Kevin Hudanish- a garden variety con-man. They lived with my father and were "caretakers"- and because he was so trusting, they withdrew money for him and took care of paying his bills for him, ....etc. About a year before my father's passing, he had become a heavy drinker and was starting to get seriously ill. Around the same time, Myself and my oldest sister's name were taken off my father's policy as beneficiaries- leaving only my mentally ill sister as the sole beneficiary. Six months later, Kevin added himself as the second beneficiary- splitting the fund 50/50 between them. My point and warning to all is that this change all happened from home on my father's computer. He didn't even know how to log into his own email. Changing the beneficiaries on his 401K with TIAA was as simple as adding or subtracting someone from your Netflix account. Yes, it was that easy. Now how many people with enough finances to have a substantial 401K have caretakers around them and depend on them for many different things. Once it all happened, it was already too late. No lawyer wanted to help me as there was no medical proof of my father was not being of sound mind at the time of changing, and there was no proof that he himself didn't do it. I want to draw attention to this major security gap in TIAA's retirement funds... this can happen to ANYBODY. Kevin has since left my mentally ill sister and ran off with his "new girlfriend." He only did this after my father's house sold and he got the money for that too. That is a separate issue, as the house was left to them as a thank you for taking care of my mother for her last years. However, the 401K was always meant to be split up between the three kids- my dad had many conversations with me regarding it. In the end though, he had no control over his own retirement fund. It would have changed my life.... instead, it just became a nightmare. I urge anyone with a retirement fund with TIAA to consider moving their money to somewhere else, or at least locking up the account in some ironclad way- cause what person with money doesn't have someone caretaking them at the end of their life. These people often feel entitled because they are there at the end while some other kids might be off living their life (like my father wanted me doing). I've wanted to sue TIAA over their weak security which allowed this tragedy to happen, but so far, I've had no luck finding a lawyer with the gumption to do it. So, just know, TIAA's beneficiary security is on the same level with a Netflix account. Act accordingly with your money