Q. Yesterday, I read your article dated May 20, 2013, “How to be a good pension fund manager.” I wish I had read it before I moved money from my TSP to an outside IRA last year. I wish I had taken some other steps as well. I now want to add back cash to my Thrift Savings Plan before I retire. I could retire at the end of November 2014. Can I do that with catch up contributions?
My major disappointment is with the TSP staff and the absence of an onsite adviser in human resources. Does it benefit the TSP not to go an extra step to inform investors? For those of us who, as you say, are “unsuspecting” and naïve and succumb to IRA sales people, we need a little more hand-holding. I did get a phone call from the TSP, but they never mentioned anything about the impacts of reducing my TSP through an in-service, age-based withdrawal. How can this be changed?
A. If you’re age 50 or over, you may make catch up contributions to the TSP. You may also move the IRA money back into the your TSP account. The TSP, like most employer sponsored retirement plans, does not give investment advice to its participants because it doesn’t want the liability associated with this activity. One of the reasons employers shifted from defined benefit pension to plans to defined contribution plans was to reduce their liability.
