Ricardo Chicas

EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND AND BUSINESS EXPERIENCE

 Ricardo Chicas

Year of birth: 1960

Education

Boston College; B.A.

Business Experience

TIAA-CREF
Individual & Institutional Services, LLC; Wealth Management Advisor
09/2013 – PRESENT

Citi; Citigold Relationship Manager
05/2012 – 09/2013

HSBC Securities USA Inc; Financial Advisor
11/2005 – 05/2012
HSBC Bank USA; Licensed Sales Professional
09/2011 – 05/2012

HSBC Securities USA Inc; Financial Advisor
11/2005 – 05/2012

Professional Designations

Certified Financial Planner – CFP®
The CFP designation is awarded by the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards (CFP Board) to professionals who have a demonstrated level of financial planning technical knowledge and experience in the field. CFP practitioners must have a bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university, complete a curriculum registered with the CFP Board, and pass a comprehensive examination. The CFP Board’s exam covers the general principles of financial planning, insurance planning and risk management, employee benefits planning, investment planning, income tax planning, retirement planning and estate planning. In addition to three years of field experience, practitioners must pass an ethics review and agree to abide by the CFP Board’s Code of Ethics and Professional Responsibility. CFP practitioners must also complete 30 hours of continuing education every two years in order to stay current with developments in the financial planning profession.

DISCIPLINARY INFORMATION

Ricardo has no history of disciplinary events required to be disclosed.

OTHER BUSINESS ACTIVITIES

Ricardo has no other business activities outside of or in addition to being an Investment Advisor Representative with Advice & Planning Services, a Registered Representative with TIAA-CREF Individual & Institutional Services, LLC and a licensed insurance representative of Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association, a New York State domiciled insurance company.

ADDITIONAL COMPENSATION

Ricardo, is a Wealth Management Advisor (“WMA”) and Investment Adviser Representative in Advice and Planning Services, a division of TIAA-CREF Individual and Institutional Services, LLC (“TC Services”). WMAs also act as broker-dealer registered representatives of TC Services and may be licensed insurance agent representatives with TIAA-CREF Life Insurance Company and TIAA-CREF Insurance Agency. In their capacity as registered representatives or insurance agent representatives, WMAs may suggest or recommend other accounts, services and products offered by TIAA intended to meet clients’ investment and planning needs. WMAs are paid a salary and a discretionary annual variable bonus. The annual variable bonus is based on the financial performance of TIAA, as well as the WMA’s individual performance (and in some cases, the performance of the advisory team supporting the WMA) TIAA’s compensation philosophy aims to reward WMAs with appropriate compensation for sales of products and services available through TIAA, the maintenance of client relationships, and the associated retention of assets in products and services at TIAA. WMAs are paid the same under the annual variable bonus for gathering and retaining assets in retirement products and services available through TIAA (specifically, employer plans available through TIAA, the TIAA IRA and Investment Solutions IRA) as they are for gathering and retaining assets in Managed Accounts. The bonus compensation differs for other products, including life insurance, long-term care insurance, self-directed taxable brokerage accounts and after-tax annuities. The way the bonus is calculated and the differences in compensation among products and services is described below. The annual variable bonus for WMAs is determined based on Annual Growth Metrics and Behavior-Based Measures. The compensation paid under the Annual Growth Metrics on average accounts for eighty percent (80%) of a WMA’s annual bonus. It measures and awards net flows of client assets into TIAA products and services and retention of client assets in TIAA products and services as described below. ‡Net Flows of Client Assets into TIAA Products and Services: the Annual Growth Metrics measure and award the amount of external asset inflows to TIAA products and services by clients serviced by the WMA as reduced by the amount of asset outflows by such clients. ‡Retention of Client Assets: The Annual Growth Metrics measure and award the amount of client assets serviced by the WMA that are retained in Plans, the TIAA/IS IRA, Managed Accounts, after-tax annuities, life insurance and long term care insurance in premium paying phase. Assets retained in self-directed taxable brokerage accounts, bank accounts at TIAA Bank and college savings accounts administered through TIAA Tuition Financing are excluded from the calculation. The Annual Growth Metrics create conflicts of interest as a result of the incentives they create for WMAs. The net flows metrics give WMAs an incentive to recommend that clients transfer external assets into products, services and accounts at TIAA. The retention metrics give WMAs an incentive to recommend that clients continue to maintain assets in Plans at TIAA, the TIAA/IS IRA and TIAA Managed Accounts. WMAs also have an incentive to recommend that clients continue to maintain assets in taxable Managed Accounts over self-directed taxable brokerage accounts. Additionally, the retention metrics give WMAs an incentive to continue to maintain assets in after-tax annuities, life insurance products and long-term care products. The differentiated compensation among other products and services available through TIAA gives WMAs an incentive to recommend after-tax annuities and insurance products over taxable brokerage accounts. Additionally, because WMAs receive more credit for permanent life insurance sales than term life insurance, they have an incentive to recommend permanent life insurance over term life insurance. WMAs receive more credit for permanent life insurance sales than term life insurance and therefore have an incentive to recommend permanent life insurance over term life insurance. While both permanent and term life insurance provide for a death benefit, they are structured differently with permanent life insurance lasting for your lifetime and term life insurance lasting for a set period of time. We place greater emphasis on permanent life insurance, which has higher fees and expenses than term life insurance due to the fact that term life insurance does not have a cash value and is issued for a set period of time. This presents a conflict of interest because recommending permanent life insurance results in higher Compensation to the WMA and higher costs to you. We address these conflicts by disclosing them to you and requiring that recommendations to purchase TIAA products, services and accounts be reviewed by supervisory personnel, in accordance with the applicable regulatory standards, to determine whether they are appropriate for clients’ financial needs. Behavior-Based Measures on average account for twenty percent (20%) of a WMA’s annual variable bonus and assesses how effectively the WMA has performed in his or her role. Seventy percent (70%) of the measures are subjective assessments that take into consideration customer satisfaction based on client survey results and adherence with TIAA values. The remaining thirty percent (30%) of the measures award the WMA’s financial results category of the Behavior-Based Metrics. The financial results category creates a conflict because WMAs have an incentive to recommend that their clients transfer or rollover assets from one account at TIAA to another or to implement retirement advice and/or annuitize holdings within an employer plan at TIAA or TIAA IRA. We address these conflicts by disclosing them to you and requiring that recommendations to purchase TIAA products, services and accounts be reviewed by supervisory personnel, in accordance with the applicable regulatory standards, to determine whether they are appropriate for clients’ financial needs. Additionally, the recommendations delivered in retirement advice sessions concerning the investments in Plans and mutual funds and annuities from TIAA affiliates available through the TIAA/IS IRA, are made by an independent third party.

SUPERVISION

Ricardo is supervised by Sr. Director Advisory and Financial Consulting Michael Gaeta who can be contacted at 212-916-4964. We have policies and procedures in place for the review and supervision of our investment advisory programs and services. Such policies are designed to comply with the requirements of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 and other applicable rules and regulations