Q. For the past five years, I’ve been contributing the maximum to the traditional Thrift Savings Plan (balance north of $127,000). In 2014, I plan to switch all contributions ($17,500) to Roth TSP.
I have more than four years until military retirement (April 2018). At that time, will I be able to transfer all Roth TSP contributions to my Roth IRA? I have no plans of transferring the traditional TSP balance. The goal is to combine Roth TSP/Roth IRA contributions and pay cash for retirement home. We don’t want any debt, including mortgage upon retirement.
A. You may not selectively request the distribution of your Roth TSP balance. Any withdrawal will come, pro-rata, from your Roth and Traditional TSP balances, so you may want to use a different strategy for accumulating the funds to buy a home.
