Q. I am a 24-year-old male Marine. I have all my money in the G Fund ($2,500), but I never knew anything about TSP. I never knew the control I had over my portfolio. The only advice I have is what I can remember from my high school economics teacher back in 2010. He told me that while I am young I can afford to invest in riskier funds. As I grow older and get closer to retirement, I need to relocate those to something like the G Fund. So today I put my future investments to go 70 percent, 20 percent…
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.
Portfolio diversification is a concept that every TSP investor should understand and use to their advantage. It’s also a concept that few seem to properly employ. Over the past 15 years, there have been calls from participants to add all manner of specialized investment funds to the Thrift Savings Plan – Internet, real estate, energy, gold, health care or any other market that has been hot — in the name of diversification. Ironically, these calls for more ability to diversify wouldn’t really help to improve diversification. Instead, adding these kinds of funds will, more than anything, allow participants to…
Q. I am thinking about retiring July 2016 at 56 years old. This is my minimum retirement age (MRA), but I will only have 28 years federal service. Will I be penalized if I start TSP withdrawals before age 59½?
Q. I am retired from the military with 30 years of service. I have five years of creditable service with the federal government. Can I choose to leave my TSP investments in the account?
Q. I have retired under FERS from the U.S. Postal Service. I was single when I retired; now I am married. When I decide to withdraw monthly payments from my TSP account, will my wife have to sign anything?
Q. I will be eligible for MRA+10 in a few years. Can I take my TSP funds and roll them over into my traditional IRA account? If so, how would I do so?
Q. I am 36 years old and make about $125,000 a year and file as single head of household. I have a $300,000 in a traditional TSP and about $50,000 in the Roth TSP. However, starting this year I will be making more than the $117,000 limit to invest in my private Roth IRA. I like the idea of Roth because I live in Nevada, which has no state income tax, and federally I am in the 25 percent tax bracket. In retirement I plan to leave Nevada to go to a state that has a 6 percent state income tax, while…
Q. I am in the middle of my career. Is there any way to move a portion of my TSP to a Roth IRA and then use it for my kids college without a major penalty?
Q. I am retiring in a few months. My retirement plan includes a monthly pension (about equivalent to my current net pay) and the money saved in my 401(k) and TSP. I do not get Social Security. I put two children through college and have expensive loans (7 percent) and a 6-figure balance. Does it make sense to pull the money out of my TSP and use it to pay the student loans off? The monthly student loan payments are approximately $1,500.
Q. I will be 61 when I plan to retire with 38 years in service under CSRS the entire time. I am not counting on the TSP as part of my retirement and plan to use the money for home repair, paying certain loans, etc. What penalty/tax percent will I incur? I was planning on retiring in December, but January might be better for taxes on less income received.