Q. I am a FERS employee and will have 30 years of service at age 56, my minimum retirement age. Thus, when I retire at 56, can I start withdrawing from my Thrift Savings Plan without any tax penalty? Or do I have to wait until 59½ to start withdrawing from my TSP to avoid any tax penalty? A. In the circumstance you describe, your TSP withdrawals will not be subject to the early withdrawal penalty.
Monthly Archives: November, 2013
Q. I am 63 years old and still working. Is it possible to transfer IRA into the Thrift Savings Plan to consolidate? A. Yes, as long as doesn’t contain any after-tax money (usually from contributions that weren’t tax-deductible when you made them). Use Form TSP-60.
Q. I am 63 years old and will be retiring under CSRS in January. I have about $150,000 in my Thrift Savings Plan account. I have talked with a financial adviser who told me it would be better to buy from outside and cheaper than MetLife annuity. The annuity is from Prudential and has a living benefit rider. They claim it is the cheapest one out there. Can you give me any advice as to which annuity would be best? A. Your “financial adviser” is not an adviser but a salesperson. Don’t be foolish. Now is not the time to buy a fixed annuity…
Here are the five basic Thrift Savings Plan funds in order from the highest to the lowest rate of return for the month of October: C Fund (4.60%), I Fund (3.38%), S Fund (2.94%), F Fund (0.89%), G Fund (0.19%). And here are the year-to-date results: S Fund (31.13%), C Fund (25.34%), I Fund (19.43%), G Fund (1.52%), F Fund (-0.78%). Interesting? Maybe to some. Useful? I don’t know how. As an investment manager — or TSP participant, as you are more commonly known — you are responsible for making, or delegating the making of, a massive series of decisions.…
Q. I am 63 years old with 37 years in the Postal Service and still working. I plan to retire in two years. I have $250,000 in my Thrift Savings Plan. I have read about contributing 10 percent of my career earnings to the Voluntary Contribution Program, and then moving the VCP money back to Roth IRA to save the taxes. For example, if my 10 percent is $150,000, can I withdraw it from TSP and move it to VCP and not pay any taxes on my TSP withdrawal? A. No.
Q. I am a FERS employee who turned 71 in September. I plan to retire in January 2015. When do I need to start taking my required minimum distribution? A. Under the current rules, and these circumstances, your first RMD, for tax year 2015, will be due by April 1, 2016.
Q. I withdrew the bulk of my Thrift Savings Plan account a couple of years ago and rolled it over to an IRA, thinking I could get better earnings on my investment. It has not worked out that way. Can I put this money back into my TSP account? I have not yet retired and am still contributing 5 percent of my earnings to my TSP. A. As long as the IRA contains only untaxed money, you can and should transfer the money back into the TSP. Use Form TSP-60 to do this.
Q. I have an IRA with Prudential Insurance. Can I roll over my IRA into my wife’s Thrift Savings Plan account with the federal government? The money would be hers, not mine. This way, when she retires in a year or two, she’d have more money in her TSP account. I already have a pension and don’t need that money, but my wife’s retirement will be less than mine and I’d like her to have more in her TSP. A. No.
Q. My financial adviser is encouraging me to move my Thrift Savings Plan funds immediately to a Roth account. Is this a good idea if I am retiring in the next 12 months or earlier? A. No. It’s not a good idea unless there is a good reason to do so. I’ll bet that your “financial adviser” is nothing more than a salesperson trying to take your money. Confusing the two is usually a costly mistake.
Q. My wife and I are FERS employees. We are both considering retiring early if offered Voluntary Early Retirement Authority at ages 50+/- (both with more than 25 years of service). With children still in the picture for some time, access and flexibility with our Thrift Savings Plan accounts are crucial to any plan. I would like to accomplish two things: 1). 72(t) withdrawals until 59½ in one account. 2). Flexibility to roll over funds currently in TSP into a Roth IRA held at another institution (from an IRA as I see no method to do that while the funds…