Reido -- thanks. I have access to 2 bond funds -- the CREF Bond Market Fund and the CREF Inflation Linked Bond Fund. The CREF Bond Market Fund appears to be around 20% treasuries (33% MBS and 25% Corrporates) and has an average duration of approximately 6 years while the CREF Inflation linked Bond h...

I also had to deal with a problem of slicing my PP among limited/lousy 401(k) and IRAs so here's what I did (I skipped some slicing for the sake of example simplicity): 401(k): 25% stocks - TSM fund, 12.5% bonds - TBM fund 25% cash - short-term bond fund IRA: 25% gold - SGOL and IAU 12.5% bonds - E...

KevinW -- Thanks for your detailed response. It does look like I just have to make the best with what is available to me.

Welcome to the forum! I guess besides your contributions %% we would need to know the %% allocation of your existing portfolio between IRA and 403B. Also, these CREF funds - are they index funds? Can you provide any other details, like expense ratios? Thanks very much. My existing portfolio is: 403...

Almost all of my retirement savings is done in my tax deferred portfolio and a Roth  which I max out. I have a 403 B with access only to TIAA CREF products. I am trying to figure out how one could implement a PP in such a situation. My annual contributions to tax deferred are: $24K to 403b (includes...