Q. Can I opt to use (say 10 percent ) of my TSP account monthly as a supplement with my FERS retirement to help me meet my debt obligations into my retirement? A. You may request monthly payments from your TSP account after you retire, but you are limited to a fixed dollar amount each month (which may be changed once each year) or payments automatically computed based on your life expectancy (which vary in both dollar amount and percentage each year).
Monthly Archives: March, 2012
Q. For Army employees: Have you heard anything regarding the Voluntary Separation Incentive Program and pretax payment? Or is there anything before Congress? What are the pros and cons to employees having their money from a VSIP benefit going to TSP? What would they need to do to ensure that money goes to TSP? A. A VSIP is not eligible for deferral to the TSP.
Q. I am civil service, with more than 17 years of federal service, in FERS, and approaching 59½ and would like to withdraw 50-75 percent of my TSP and roll the full amount over into my Roth IRA account. I would leave 25 percent in my TSP and let it continue to grow for my remaining time in federal service. How do I go about doing this, if I can? Does this make financial sense to do this? I plan on retiring at age 62; Dec. 31, 2014. A. You may take an age-based in service withdrawal once you reach…
Q. Is the term TSP Life Annuity synonymous with a Met Life Annuity? If I choose IV. Withdrawal Elections Monthly Payments is that subject to required minimum distribution? What happens to any money in the account when I die? They don’t ask for beneficiary information. A. As far as I’m concerned, TSP Life Annuity and MetLife Annuity are the same thing. You may elect fixed monthly payment or have the TSP compute your payments. In either case, you’ll be subject to the required minimum distribution rules, which require that a certain amount be withdrawn from your account each year, once…
Q. I am a federal civilian under the FERS system with less than 10 years of civil service. I am also a military reservist with 25 years of military service. I am not yet 50 years old and I do not intend to retire or separate from federal service in the next few years. I want to cease contribution to and close my TSP account, withdraw the entire amount immediately by rolling it over into a tradional IRA not associated with the government. I am unconcerned about any penalty I may have to pay. I could not find in any…
Q. I read your article in the Federal Times and found it very enlightening and maybe an answer to my money concern. I have approximately $50,000.00 in a Funds account and I have approximately $92,000.00 in TSP. I have 32 years in the federal government under CSRS plus about 11 months’ sick leave and 240 hours annual leave. I am interested in retiring from the government and working for private industry in a less paying, less stressful job. I am interested in finding out from you if it would benefit my wife and I financially to purchase or rent a…
Q. I am a FERS retiree from the federal government in March 2011. I received the VERA/VSIP in a lump sum of $25,000 ($18,000 after taxes). In July, I withdrew a lump sum from my TSP to pay off my mortgage, that amount was also taxed. Since the lump sums I received were taxed already, how is it that I have to claim them as income? I am preparing my 2011 taxes and those lump-sum payments make it appear that I earned more than $100,000 in 2011. It seems to me that I am paying taxes twice on the money.…
Q. I am a FERS employee, with 27 years of service, making $126,000. My wife focuses on raising our son, but does some substitute teaching making about $2,000 per year. Can I max out my TSP at $22,000 and max out a Roth IRA for myself at $6,000 and put an additional $6,000 into my wife’s Roth IRA? I do not understand IRS Pub 590. A. The answer will depend upon your Modified Adjusted Gross Income for the year of the contribution. If you don’t understand the tax rules and how they apply to you, you should hire a trustworthy…