Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America (TIAA), formerly known as TIAA-CREF, was founded by Andrew Carnegie in 1918. As of Dec 31, 2015, TIAA Global Asset Management had $854 billion assets under management invested in a wide range of securities. The major portion of its assets are allocated to stocks and fixed income securities. The company seeks to offer financial services pertaining to investment advice and portfolio management to a wide range of investors including individual investors, intermediaries and institutional clients. TIAA invests in an array of mutual funds including both equity and fixed-income funds, and U.S. and non-U.S. funds.

Below we share with you three top-rated TIAA Mutual Funds. Each has earned a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank #1 (Strong Buy) and is expected to outperform its peers in the future. To view the Zacks Rank and past performance of all TIAA Mutual Funds, investors can click here to see the complete list of TIAA Mutual Funds .

TIAA-CREF Large-Cap Growth Premier (TILPX - MF report) seeks to return over the long run primarily through growth of capital. TILPX invests the lion’s share of its assets in equity securities of large-cap, growth-oriented companies. The fund invests in companies that benefit from steps including prospective acquisitions and corporate restructurings. TILPX may invest not more than 20% of its assets in securities of foreign companies. The TIAA-CREF Large-Cap Growth Premier fund has a five-year annualized return of 10.5%.

Terrence Kontos is one of the fund managers of TILPX since 2014.

TIAA-CREF Short-Term Bond Retail (TCTRX - MF report) invests a large chunk of its assets in securities of U.S. Treasury and agency. TCTRX invests in fixed income securities that are rated investment grade. The fund may also invest in corporate bonds, and mortgage-backed and other asset-backed securities. Its investments in securities can have average maturity of not more than 5 years. The TIAA-CREF Short-Term Bond Retail fund has a five-year annualized return of 1.5%.

As of December 2015, TCTRX held 442 issues with 2.09% of its assets invested in U.S. Treasury Note 0.625%.

TIAA-CREF Managed Allocation Retail (TIMRX - MF report) seeks favorable return. TIMRX is a "fund of funds" primarily focusing on Institutional Class shares. Notably, TIMRX invests around 60% of its assets in underlying funds that emphasize acquiring equity securities with not more than 5% of its assets invested in real estate funds. The rest of the assets are invested in underlying funds, which in turn invest in fixed-income securities. The TIAA-CREF Managed Allocation Retail fund has a five-year annualized return of 5.6%.

TIMRX has an expense ratio of 0.25% compared with the category average of 0.89%.