Q. I am 46 years old with 12 years of federal service under my belt. I am in the FERS system. I plan on working another 19-20 years. I currently contribute 7 percent to TSP, split up between the life-cycle funds 2030 and 2040. I would like to be able to contribute 15 percent, but at this time it is not possible. Would I be better off stopping the TSP and contributing to Roth — or a combination of both?
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Q. I can’t find data on the rates of return on the Roth TSP. How or where is the Roth TSP invested?
Q. Do you have a follow-up on a way to leverage a TSP loan? I thought it might be a good idea to take out a loan against the TSP and put it into a real estate investment trust such as MTGE or CIM that pays pretty good dividends and have those dividends pay back the loan payments. Do you have any articles about leveraging a loan against the TSP?
Q. I have a Traditional IRA and a Roth IRA outside of the TSP. I am maxing out my annual TSP contributions and my annual catch-up contributions. Am I able to transfer both of the outside IRAs into the TSP without affecting my annual contribution limits?
Q. I’m a Defense Department employee looking to retire in 2019. I attended an Air Force retirement seminar today; I’m not an Air Force employee, but they they allow Defense Logistics Agency employees to attend. The young man presenting the TSP training informed us that we could not or should not transfer funds from our TSP into a Roth IRA when retiring. He said I would incur a large tax that must be paid out of pocket not from my TSP transfer. He provided us with several option for TSP: full withdrawal. an annuity. a TSP monthly payout. an IRA rollover. He said the…
Q. I about to start working as a new federal employer soon. When I do join the federal agency, I’m deciding if I should roll over my 401(k) from my previous employer to my new TSP account. The question that I have is if I need to take a loan on my TSP, would the funds I roll over to my account be eligible for a general or residence loan?
Q. Allocation of TSP funds differ from person to person, but what would you suggest to a young person in their career to invest money within the TSP fund?
Q. My husband is 69 and turns 70 in February 2017. He took a job with the VA at the end of his career and became eligible for and invested in the TSP. He has a small amount in the TSP account, but most of his money is in Vanguard funds. My husband is now fully retired. Is there an advantage to rolling over his IRAs into the TSP?
You may have heard of the “4 percent rule” or one of a variety of its variants. Whether it’s the 4-percent rule, the 4.5 percent rule, the 3.14159 percent rule, or any other version of this legendary piece of retirement planning wisdom, the basic premise is the same. This rule is supposed tell you how much you can safely withdraw from your savings and investment portfolio in retirement without risking running out of money before you run out of life. The problem with the 4-percent rule, and the reason that I am writing about it here, is that it’s unreliable…
Q. I’ve heard that if you have several years before you plan on withdrawing money from you TSP account, that you can invest in a stock fund (such as the C Fund). I have between nine to 11 years before retiring. I already have $400,000 in the L 2040. Would it be a safe bet for the next five years to invest in the C Fund?