Q. I plan to retire under FERS in three years at age 65 with 10 years of federal service. My TSP balance is $130,000. I also have a rollover IRA with our financial adviser from a past employer with a value of $150,000. Would it make sense to roll over my IRA into a TSP now? I’m paying a 1.25 percent annual management fee on the $150,000 and earning about 4 percent annually. A steady 3-4 percent return would be my goal within TSP, as I am getting close to retirement. Would the age-appropriate L Fund be my best bet?
Author Mike Miles
Mike Miles
Mike Miles is a Certified Financial Planner licensee and principal adviser for Variplan LLC, an independent fiduciary in Vienna, Virginia. Email your financial questions to fedexperts@federaltimes.com and view his blog at money.federaltimes.com.
Q. I have 27 years as a federal law enforcement officer under my belt and four before I am mandatory. If I retired on disability, would it affect my 401k and health insurance? I had a kidney transplant in 2011 and open heart surgery for aortic sleeve and valve replacement. I need my current health insurance just to help me with medication costs. Could I access my 401k while waiting to be approved? How long does one receive disability retirement assistance?
Q. I am planning to retire sometime in 2016 with more than 40 years of service. I have been reading about the voluntary contribution program and have opened a VCP account with OPM. I am currently waiting to get a determination of how much I can contribute to the program. My plan is to contribute to the program and then roll over the contributions to a Roth IRA. Can I immediately roll over the entire amount deposited into the VCP to a Roth IRA? I am 60 years old, so the 59 ½ year age-withdrawal restriction would not apply, but would…
Q. What indicators should I look for to move into a lower-risk fund? I’m new to investing and I see that the rate for the fund I’m currently in has dropped a few points. It currently has the highest rate.
Q. I am a federal employee contributing the maximum to TSP (Traditional). I currently own a Traditional IRA and a Roth IRA, and my wife owns a Roth IRA. As our combined income will soon exceed the threshold for the standard approach to contribute to our Roths, I am investigating strategies to utilize the back door approach to making Roth contributions. The fact I still have a traditional IRA is the issue — it is comprised of $12,000 of after-tax contributions, and $48,000 of pretax earning thus far. If I use the back door approach, I would have a large…
Q. We are approaching the age to take required minimum distributions from our TSP accounts as well as three IRAs. The IRS allows one to take the entire calculated RMD from a single IRA (rather than each account) to satisfy the RMD. Can the TSP’s mandatory RMD be declined if one is taking the total calculated RMD from an IRA outside of TSP? If not, it might make sense to roll over our TSP accounts to IRAs to be able to use the combined withdrawal rule.
Q. I was terminated from my position with the Federal Bureau of Prisons (I later got my job back through arbitration), and I’ve withdrawn money from my TSP. I was forced to pay a 20 percent penalty and another 10 percent on top of that. I was told I may be able to get back the 20 percent because it was from a termination. Is this true? If so, how do I accomplish this?
Q. Would it be wise to take an age-based withdrawal from TSP to pay off/down credit card debt before retirement?
Q. How much does TSP charge per year and when does the money get taken out?
Q. I am looking at my current contributions and comparing Roth, Traditional or a combination of both. In retirement, can I withdrawal from just the traditional side of TSP and leave the Roth alone until later in retirement?