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TSP

Almost Every TSP Fund Ended Last Month (and Year) Down

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The vast majority of offerings in the 401(k)-style Thrift Savings Plan did not have a good month in December—or a good year in 2022 for that matter.

The S Fund, invested in small and mid-sized businesses, had the worst performance for December, losing 6.55%. It was down 26.26% for 2022.

The common stocks of the C Fund fared just slightly better. The fund lost 5.67% last month and 18.13% last year.

The international stocks in the I Fund were 1.85% in the red for December and were down 13.94% for the year 2022, while the fixed income bonds in the F Fund lost 0.65% for the month and 12.83% for the year.

Government securities in the G Fund were the one bright spot, inching up 0.32% for December and 2.98% for the year.

For the year of 2022, L Income lost 2.7%; L 2025, 6.72%; L 2030, 10.32%; L 2035, 11.65%; L 2040, 12.9%; L 2045, 14.03%; L 2050, 15.05%; L 2055, 17.6%; L 2060, 17.61%; and L 2065, 17.62%.

So with that being said, should you look into other investments where you don’t have to take ANY losses?  We call it Zero is our Hero.  Contact one of our Financial Retirement Consultants to learn how we help you plan for a better retirement.

No Time Like the Present: Retirement and Estate Planning in Your 20s and 30s

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When you’re young, saving for retirement may be the last thing on your mind. Yet, the financial choices you make in your 20s and 30s will dictate how well-off you are decades from now, and delaying retirement and estate planning until you’re older can be a decision you live to regret. Here’s how to start preparing so you’re ready for your golden years.

Money Management: Budgeting and Handling Debt

Living within your means is a habit best formed early in life, and it becomes even more critical when you’re earning a regular paycheck that must cover expenditures like rent, auto loans, insurance, and utility bills. To ensure you’ll meet your obligations, start by tracking your income and expenses; if the latter exceeds the former, you’ll need to either cut unnecessary spending or find a way to generate more earnings. Use your tracking to create a monthly budget, and then stick to it to avoid overspending.

If you’ve used credit wisely up to now, and you don’t carry any revolving debt, keep it that way. If not, add a line in your budget for paying down your cards so you don’t waste money on interest charges. Pay as much as you can above the minimum requirements, and remit payments on time to avoid fees and build your credit history.

Money Maximization: Saving and Investing

Once you have built a budget and are following it, you may be tempted to splurge with any extra cash. Although you shouldn’t live a life of hermetic deprivation, focusing on saving rather than spending will always have a better outcome long term. That’s because interest compounds, or builds on itself, so free money is added to what you’ve saved.

Speaking of free money, if your job offers a 401(k) plan, join it. It will make it effortless to build your savings, and if your employer provides matching contributions, then company money will be added to your plan every payday.

Buying a home is also a smart investment, as house values generally increase over time. Down the road, you can use your home’s equity as a source of liquidity when needed. When you’re ready to purchase, use a helpful online house appraisal to assess the asking price so you avoid overpaying and benefit fully from any appreciation.

Money Protection: Insurance and Estate Planning

Once you’ve committed to saving and investing for retirement, take steps to ensure you’ll hold onto that money until you or your loved ones need it. Always carry health insurance coverage, as medical debt can quickly deplete your savings. Having a life or disability insurance policy will also help preserve what you’ve accumulated if you die or become unable to work.

Although estate planning may sound silly when you’re beginning to save for the future, if you die without a will, your money may not go where you wish. By creating a complete estate plan when you’re young and then updating it when you marry, buy a home, have children or go through other life changes, you’ll rest assured that your assets won’t end up in the wrong hands.

No one ever says they wish they’d waited longer to be smart with their finances. By focusing on managing, maximizing, and protecting your money in your 20s and 30s, which may include taking advantage of your home equity or utilizing your 401(k) plan, you’ll set yourself and your loved ones up for a stronger financial future.

My Federal Retirement Help can assist you as you begin planning for your upcoming retirement. This way, you won’t have to spend your golden years worrying about your finances. Contact us today by calling 254-870-5959 Ext. 700 or texting 254-301-6571.

If You Make $100,000 in Average Annual Income, Here’s What You’ll Get From Social Security at 67

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For anyone born after 1960, the Social Security Administration (SSA) determines that your normal retirement age, which is when you would be entitled to your full benefit, is 67.

But deciding whether or not you should retire at that age can be difficult. You can start receiving Social Security benefits as soon as you turn 62, but claiming early can significantly reduce your amount.

You can also wait until 70 to start taking Social Security (increasing your benefit to the highest amount possible), but perhaps you don’t want to wait that long. It depends on where you are in life from a financial perspective and how your health is doing.

Given all of these factors, it’s a good idea to figure out how much you might get when you start to claim benefits. Despite its complexity, you can break down the Social Security formula into basic parts to calculate your amount. Let’s see how much you would make if you earned about $100,000 annually (adjusted) over your career and retired at 67.

Breaking down the formula

To begin calculating your benefits, the SSA first calculates your average indexed monthly earnings (AIME), which looks at the 35 years of your work history in which you made the most money.

It looks at your nominal earnings over these 35 years and then indexes them (or adjusts them) to determine what the amounts would have been if you were making them in the present. So, essentially, the SSA would take your nominal earnings, from, say, 1982 and adjust them for wage inflation over the years to reflect what those earnings would be in 2022.

An example on the SSA website shows that nominal earnings of $13,587 in 1982 would have been equivalent to about $52,000 in 2022. But the SSA also has a wage base limit for what a retiree can get credit for. That number is $147,000 in 2022.

To finish getting the AIME, you add up your highest 35 years of annual earnings, which are now indexed to account for inflation. Then you divide by 35 to get the annual amount over that period and then divide by 12 to get the monthly amount.

Once you have your AIME, the next thing you need to do is calculate your primary insurance amount (PIA), which is your actual monthly benefit from Social Security for those receiving full benefits at the normal retirement age.

This is also not a simple calculation, but it can be done easily enough using these three steps and adding the amounts from each step. Here are the numbers for someone who turned 62 in 2022:

  • 90% of the first $1,024 of your AIME.
  • 32% of any amount between $1,024 and $6,172.
  • 15% of the leftover amount above $6,172.

What is your PIA on an annual income of $100,000?

If your highest 35 years of indexed earnings averaged out to $100,000, your AIME would be roughly $8,333.

  • 90% of $1,024 = $921.6
  • 32% of $5,148 = $1,647.36
  • 15% of $2,161 ($8,333-$6,172) = $324.15

If you add all three of these numbers together, you would arrive at a PIA of $2,893.11, which equates to about $34,717.32 of Social Security benefits per year at full retirement age. That’s not too shabby considering the maximum benefit is $4,194 per month, and that assumes you delay claiming until you are 70.

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If you’re like most Americans, you’re a few years (or more) behind on your retirement savings. But a handful of little-known “Social Security secrets” could help ensure a boost in your retirement income. For example: one easy trick could pay you as much as $18,984 more… each year! Once you learn how to maximize your Social Security benefits, we think you could retire confidently with the peace of mind we’re all after.

What You Need to Know About Social Security and Federal Retirement

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What is the average monthly Social Security retirement check in 2022?

$1,657, according to this Social Security fact sheet.

Sandy and her husband, Tom, were both born in 1956. Sandy began receiving a reduced Social Security benefit of $586 a month at 62. (This is 73.3 percent of the full benefit amount of $800 she would have received at her full retirement age of 66 years and 4 months). Tom is retiring this year and will receive $2,800 a month at his full retirement age—also 66 and 4 months. How much will Sandy receive after Tom retires?

She will get $1,115. This is a bit complicated, so don’t feel bad if you couldn’t figure out the answer. At full retirement age, a spouse is eligible for 50% of the full Social Security retirement benefit of their spouse or their own benefit—whichever is higher. But the fact that Sandy began collecting her own benefit at 62 affects the calculation of her spousal benefit when her husband retires.

Social Security will use Sandy’s full benefit amount that would have been payable at her full retirement age, based on her own work record (not the amount she has been receiving since she was 62). That amount will be subtracted from 50%of her husband’s amount. Sandy’s full benefit would be $871 (it has grown from the initial amount of $800 by cost-of-living adjustments since 2018), so Social Security would subtract $871 from 50% of her husband’s full benefit amount of $2,800, or $1,400. The resulting sum of $529 would be added to her current benefit of $586, and her new benefit amount would be $1,115 per month. If Sandy had waited until her full retirement age to apply for Social Security, then she would have received the higher of her own full benefit amount or 50% of Tom’s, which would have been $1,400 a month.

How much can you earn in 2022 if you are under your full retirement age without reducing your Social Security benefit?

$19,560. If you’re under your full retirement age for the entire year, Social Security will deduct $1 from your benefit for every $2 you earn above the annual limit. Here’s more information about how work affects your Social Security benefit.

What are the conditions under which you can receive a Social Security benefit based on your former spouse’s work record?

If you were married for 10 years or more, are not currently remarried, and are not receiving a pension from work not covered by Social Security. A former spouse who meets the requirements to receive a Social Security benefit is treated basically the same as a current spouse. This entitlement does not affect the former spouse’s own Social Security benefit or his or her new family’s. If the spouse is receiving a Civil Service Retirement System retirement benefit, then he or she will be affected by the dreaded Government Pension Offset, which will reduce the spousal benefit by two-thirds of the CSRS retirement. This will eliminate the benefit entirely in many cases. Read more in this Social Security publication: What Every Woman Should Know.

Among beneficiaries 65 and older, what percentage rely on Social Security for more than 90 percent of their income?

For men the answer is 12%, and for women it’s 15%. It’s also interesting to note that 37% of men and 42% of  women rely on Social Security for 50% or more of their income.

What is the full Social Security retirement age?

The earliest you can start receiving Social Security retirement benefits is 62, but the benefit is permanently reduced for applying early. Your full retirement age is between 65 and 67, depending on your year of birth.

What can you do to increase the amount of your Social Security check?

Here are some of your options:

  • Delay receiving payment until you turn 70
  • Claim a benefit on your spouse’s work record
  • Continue working past 62

Social Security was never meant to be your only source of retirement income. Knowing this, how should you plan your retirement?

Here are some steps you could take:

  • Learn to live on less now
  • Make saving mandatory and automatic
  • Plan for being single, even if you’re not
  • Be realistic about when you can afford to retire

Always remember that the modern federal retirement has three key elements: a government retirement benefit, Social Security and personal savings, especially through the Thrift Savings Plan. Learning how to balance and maximize these elements is the key to a comfortable retirement.

TSP Preps for Its Transition to a New Service Provider

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Officials at the federal government’s 401(k)-style retirement savings program on Tuesday outlined the disruptions—and new features—participants will see as the Thrift Savings Plan transitions to a new recordkeeping service provider this weekend.

At the monthly meeting of the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board, which administers the TSP, project manager Tanner Nohe said the agency is on track to bring the public facing portions of the project, which was internally called Converge, online by June 1. Currently, most transactions are unavailable to participants, and there will be a full blackout period from the close of business on Thursday until the new system comes online.

Nohe said that while some aspects of TSP services will remain unchanged, like the tsp.gov web address and the phone number for the Thriftline customer service center, that’s where the similarities end. Beginning in June, TSP participants will have access to long awaited and requested features like a mobile app, a virtual agent to help users and answer questions.

Additionally, changes to the TSP website will enable participants to make loan repayments after they leave federal service, sign documents electronically, while participants who invested in the TSP both as members of the military and as civilian federal workers will be able to see their all of their account information from the same login, where before now they had to log into two separate tsp.gov accounts.

The TSP’s mobile app, which will be available on both Apple and Android operating systems, will feature most of the same functions as the desktop website, including the new virtual assistant, the ability to make distributions and withdrawals and change how funds are invested and make interfund transfers. And participants will be able to sign and submit forms electronically, as well as upload an image of a check to roll over funds from a traditional 401(k) into the TSP.

Additionally, the TSP is adjusting a number of its terms to track with the terminology used more commonly throughout the 401(k) industry.

Once the new services are live, participants will be required to create a new account on tsp.gov, which then will work on both the website and the mobile app. The new login process will be streamlined and feature greater security, Nohe said.

But Tee Ramos, the TSP’s director of participant services, warned there could be hiccups during the transition. The agency is expecting higher than normal call volume on the Thriftline, and has staffed up at its call center to accommodate those who need assistance.

“There will be some delays in the first week, and we’re doing everything we can to support participants,” he said. “But expect much higher call volume in the days before we go live, and know that we appreciate your patience.”

If anyone is needing assistance with making some changes within there TSP Accounts, or have considered other investment ideas with their Thrift Savings Plan, we do assist all Federal Employees in this area.  You can contact us for assistance or read some testimonials from other Federal employees we have helped as well.

USPS Converted 63,000 Non-Career Employees to Permanent Jobs Over the Last Year

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he U.S. Postal Service has converted 63,000 part-time or non-permanent workers into career positions, with leadership saying it has helped stabilize the workforce after years of escalating turnover.

USPS has struggled for years with high turnover rates—particularly within its non-career workforce—leading postal management to identify new strategies to keep them on as it aims to grow its rolls. The conversions have also helped the Postal Service address employee availability issues during the COVID-19 pandemic, the agency said in a report marking the one-year anniversary of the unveiling of Postmaster General Louis DeJoy’s 10-year business plan.

The Postal Service has since 2010 increasingly relied on non-career workers, such as postal support employees and mailhandler assistants, as a cheaper alternative to reduce labor costs as part of efforts to keep pace with shrinking mail revenue. Non-career employees generally receive a less generous benefits package and lower pay than their permanent, full-time counterparts. The agency’s non-career staff grew by more than 60% between 2010 and 2017. At least some of the conversions were promised as part of collective bargaining negotiations.

The USPS inspector general has for years highlighted the problems with the Postal Service’s growing reliance on non-career workers. It found in a 2016 report, for example, that turnover the agency’s unionized, career workforce turns over every year was 1.2%, while in 2014 the non-career workforce had a 29% quit rate. By 2016, the turnover rate for non-career employees had climbed to 43%.

DeJoy previously laid out plans to reduce turnover by focusing on better options for non-career employees, highlighting the issue in testimony to Congress and in his 10-year plan. The trend marks a departure from the first months of DeJoy’s tenure, when the postmaster general led an effort to slash tens of thousands of non-union jobs by offering early retirement incentives and layoffs. USPS has since gone on a hiring spree and DeJoy has speculated he may add up to 100,000 positions compared to when he took over to meet growing package demand.

The Postal Service ended 2021 with nearly 517,000 career employees, its highest total since 2012. The non-career workforce has remained fairly steady in recent years at 136,000.

USPS boasted that it has committed more than $6 billion in core infrastructure over the last year, part of DeJoy’s promise to invest at least $40 billion by 2031. About half of the obligated total has gone toward the Postal Service’s controversial contract for new delivery vehicles, only about 20% of which are so far electric. Other investments have included new processing equipment, improvements to post offices and technology upgrades.

Postal management also highlighted its improvements in delivering mail on time, though it is still falling well short of its goals. It has also slowed down delivery for about 40% of First-Class mail, making it easier to hit its targets. USPS promised more changes to “optimize” its network, saying those plans are still in the works.

“These efforts—impacting all aspects of our operations and infrastructure—are being refined now and will be deployed in stages this year and in the coming years,” the Postal Service said.

USPS also again noted its “judicious” use of its new authority to raise prices above inflation, though it just this week proposed hiking its rates for the second time by nearly the fully allowable amount. Through a complicated formula derived from factors including inflation, declining mail volume and retiree costs, USPS could have raised its First-Class mail rates in July by 6.507%. It chose to raise them by 6.506%. The Postal Service has generated nearly $2 billion in annualized revenue from previous increases, the agency said.

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Most TSP Funds Stumble to Start 2021

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All but two of the portfolios in the federal government’s 401(k)-style retirement savings program lost ground for January.

The federal government’s 401(k)-style retirement savings program got off to a rocky start in 2021, as most of its portfolios ended January slightly in the red.

The small- and mid-size businesses of the Thrift Savings Plan’s S Fund were the top performers, gaining 2.85% last month. The G Fund, made up of government securities, also increased 0.07%.

But the common stocks of the C Fund fell 1.01% in January, while the international (I) fund lost 1.09%. The fixed income (F) fund fell 0.71%.

All of the TSP’s lifecycle (L) funds, which shift to more stable investments as participants get closer to retirement, also lost ground last month. The L Income Fund, for people who already have begun making withdrawals, fell 0.10%; L 2025, 0.24%; L 2030, 0.32%; L 2035, 0.35%; L 2040, 0.37%; L 2045, 0.39%; L 2050, 0.41%; L 2055, 0.44%; L 2060, 0.44%; and L 2065, 0.44%.

 

Billions Flow Out of TSP Due to COVID and More

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Officials at the federal government’s 401(k)-style retirement savings program said this week that nearly $3 billion exited the Thrift Savings Plan this year as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The CARES Act authorized TSP participants to take loans from their accounts of up to double the normal amount, and it waived requirements that participants be 59 1/2 years old, cite a specific financial hardship or take a 10% tax penalty.

At the January meeting of the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board, which administers the TSP, Participant Services Director Tee Ramos outlined how federal employees and retirees made use of these flexibilities.

Over the course of the programs, which both expired last year, TSP participants took out 3,043 CARES Act loans over the normal $50,000 cap, for a total of $229 million. And 119,720 participants withdrew money using the CARES Act flexibilities, totaling $2.9 billion. Despite these figures, assets in the TSP grew in 2021.

“Plan assets were up to $710 billion in December, and the total number of participants reached 6.2 million,” Ramos said. “Hardship withdrawals and loan volumes were 18% lower than the prior year, likely driven by the availability of CARES Act withdrawals and loans.”

In other retirement news, a bipartisan group of lawmakers last week reintroduced legislation that would eliminate two provisions of the Social Security program reviled by many federal retirees. The Social Security Fairness Act (H.R. 82), introduced by Reps. Rodney Davis, R-Ill., and Abigail Spanberger, D-Va., would eliminate the windfall elimination provision and the government pension offset from the Social Security Act.

The windfall elimination provision reduces the Social Security benefits of retired federal, state and local government employees who worked in private sector jobs in addition to a government job where Social Security is not intended as an element of their retirement income, like employees in the Civil Service Retirement System. And the government pension offset prevents government retirees from collecting both their own pension like the CSRS annuity and Social Security benefits derived from their spouse’s work in the private sector.

“Virginians shouldn’t be penalized for careers in public service—and that’s why eliminating the government pension offset and windfall elimination provision is so important,” Spanberger said in a statement. “Many central Virginians—including teachers, first responders and public employees—are negatively impacted by these outdated provisions that unfairly reduce the Social Security benefits they’ve earned.”

In a statement, National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association National President Ken Thomas endorsed the legislation.

“For decades, NARFE has supported full repeal of the windfall elimination provision and the government pension offset, and applauds introduction of a bill . . . to do just that,” Thomas said. “These policies have unfairly punished retired public servants through reduced Social Security benefits for far too long. This bill would provide much-needed relief for the millions of retirees and survivors currently affected by this inequitable practice and will improve fairness for future retirees.”

 

 

TSP Participants Move Out of Stock Funds Right Before Record Highs

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The participation rate in the Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) for federal employees has leveled off in the last several months. That is a normal change for this time of year.

The TSP notes that participation in the TSP for federal employees under the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) is still up two percentage points above last year.

Implementing the CARES Act

The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (the CARES Act) was signed on March 27, 2020. The Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board (FRTIB) created the CARES Act project to implement key provisions of the law. The project included four key provisions to enable TSP participants and beneficiaries to respond to their financial management needs during the COVID-19 pandemic.

These four provisions were:

  • Changes in 2020 Required Minimum Distributions
  • Loan Payment Suspensions
  • An increase in the maximum loan amount to $100,000
  • CARES Act withdrawal provisions.

CARES Act Loans, Suspensions and Withdrawals

CARES Loans

Date Count Amount
June, 2020 2,462 $61,429,570.22
July, 2020 4,990 $115,588,460.67
MTD – Aug 12, 2020 1,704 $37,803,631.74

CARES Loans Over $50,000

Count Amount
499 $37,018,575.68
825 $61,766,534.20
267 $19,935,382.67

CARES Loan Suspensions

Date Count Amount
June, 2020 245 $ 12,514,932.41
July, 2020 354 $ 16,419,035.09
MTD – Aug 12, 2020 41 $ 1,958,857.50

CARES Withdrawals

Date Count Amount
July, 2020 21,296 $ 554,831,990.61
MTD – Aug 12, 2020 11,621 $ 277,567,169.17

TSP Participants Move into Bonds

In July, many TSP participants decided to transfer money from stock funds and into the TSP’s G and F Funds.

The G Fund took in more than $1.1 billion dollars in transfers in July and the F Fund took in more than $1.6 billion. The Lifecycle Funds received more than $933 million in transfers in July.

Also during July, more than $2 billion was transferred out of the C Fund and almost $1.7 billion from the S Fund.

After the transfers into the G and F Funds, the asset allocation in funds for TSP participants breaks out in this way:

Fund Allocation Percentage
G Fund 33.3%
F Fund 4.6%
C Fund 28.5%
S Fund 9.3%
I Fund 3.5%
L Funds 20.9%

The latest month shows a change in direction for TSP investors. As of December 30, 2019, 30.7% of asset allocation was in the G Fund, 29.7% was in the C Fund, 3.8% was in the F Fund and 21.6% was in the L Funds. In effect, participants are moving away from stocks and putting more of their assets into the bond funds.

If you would like some help navigating your TSP, or some safe options with your TSP, you can use our Contact Us form and someone will be in touch with you.

Should I Have a Traditional or Roth Thrift Savings Plan?

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Should I Have a Traditional or Roth Thrift Savings Plan?

If you are a federal employee and planning for retirement, you must carefully consider whether to contribute to a Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) and what type of TSP you should get. This article will set forth the pros and cons and explain how an effective TSP strategy can best supplement your other retirement income sources.

What is a Thrift Savings Plan?

A Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) is a retirement and savings plan available to both civilian federal employees and members of the military. It is similar to the 401(k) plans offered by employers in the private sector.

Federal Agency Contributions

One aspect of TSPs that cannot be overlooked is that a federal employee may be eligible for matching contributions from their agency. If you are a federal employee you must look into whether matching contributions are available and whether there is a limit.

Once you have that information, plan on contributing at least the amount that will be matched. If you don’t, you are leaving free money on the table.

For many federal employees, their agency will contribute 1% of income to a TSP even if the employee contributes nothing. If the employee contributes 5% of income, the agency will contribute another 4%.

Traditional TSP

In a traditional TSP, your contribution is deducted from your pre-tax wages, and taxes are deferred until you make withdrawals. This reduces your present taxable income, and your contributions are taxed at the rate that applies to your income in retirement, which should be lower.

Roth TSP

You make contributions to a Roth TSP with after-tax income. While this does not reduce your present taxable income, it does render your withdrawals in retirement tax-free.

What if I Worked in the Private Sector and have a 401(k) or Roth IRA?

You can roll an IRA from a private employer into your federal TSP. However, reach out to a Federal Retirement Consultant to ask about some other ways to manage these as well.  Keep in mind also that if you are 50 or older you can make additional catch-up contributions, however, they will not be eligible for matching contributions from your agency.

Can I Convert a Roth TSP to a Traditional TSP?

No, and you can’t convert a Traditional TSP to a Roth or vice versa.

Which Type of TSP Should I Get?

Consider having one of each and varying the contributions according to how much money you are making. This allows you to strategically allocate retirement savings throughout your career to save the most in income tax.

For example, if you are just starting your career, you might open both a Roth TSP and a Traditional TSP, and contribute most to the Roth and just a bit to the Traditional. As the years pass and you presumably make more money, you can gradually increase contributions to the Traditional and decrease contributions to the Roth.

This way you are taking advantage of both the tax-free withdrawals of a Roth TSP, and the tax-deferred withdrawals of a Traditional TSP, and reducing your taxable income when you are making more, later in your career. Don’t forget to always contribute at least the amount that your agency will match.

What About Other Retirement Income?

You will have Social Security benefits when eligible, and if you are a civilian federal employee you will have an annuity from the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) or the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS). If you are a member of the uniformed services, you will have Social Security benefits and your military retired pay.

The amount of income you have in retirement will vary according to the amount you contribute to your TSP, the amount that is taxable to you in retirement, and how you allocate your TSP contributions to the various funds and the return that your choices get. Even considering market variables, strategically contributing to your TSP is sure to maximize your income in retirement. 

About the Author

Veronica Baxter is a legal assistant and blogger living and working in the great city of Philadelphia. She frequently works with David Offen, Esq., a busy Philadelphia bankruptcy lawyer.