Q: Because of the limited ability to withdraw TSP funds in a totally efficient manner for me, I am considering rolling my TSP account to Vanguard in two years when I retire. Vanguard provides the ability to withdraw Roth funds separate from 401k funds in any amounts I desire. As I understand, TSP requires withdraws to be equally prorated between 401k and Roth, based on the total balance. How does a TSP transfer occur … are the TSP Roth funds moved to a Vanguard rollover Roth fund and the TSP 401k funds placed in a taxable rollover account? It seems…
Browsing: Roth
A. I am a FERS employee at the Department of Defense (from my TSP, 25 percent is in the general fund and 75 percent goes to a Roth. I am told that when I leave service, I must terminate my TSP. This is distressing. Any advice?
Q. I understand the lump-sum annual leave payment at retirement cannot be put into the TSP for deferred tax or matching purposes. However, can you elect to defer to receive the lump-sum payment until the following calendar year, such that it counts as earned income in that following year rather than the year you retire? If nothing else, it would at least count as earned income on the basis of which I can make another year’s worth of contributions to my brokerage Roths.
Q. My husband plans to withdraw all his money from the TSP with an in-service withdrawal when he turns 59½ in November. A portion of his account is a Roth that will not meet the five-year rule until January. For tax purposes, it is best that the withdrawal be made in November rather than January. He does not have an outside Roth set up, but I (his non-working spouse) have had an outside Roth account for more than five years. Is it possible to deposit my husband’s TSP Roth portion into my Roth account in November and then withdraw it in January…
Q. I recently retired and would like to start taking monthly payments from my TSP account. Unfortunately, in 2013 I started putting a small portion of my contributions into the Roth option. This money will not pass the five-year test until 2018. There isn’t much money there, but I don’t want the hassle of figuring out the tax penalty and would prefer to grow the Roth in a separate account. I called TSP and got no help figuring out options. I read your solution about transferring almost all of the account out of the TSP, separating them, then transferring back the…
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?
Q. I have $200,000 in my TSP. I probably will have eight more years to go to work. Can I convert my TSP balance over to the Roth TSP account?
Q. I can’t find data on the rates of return on the Roth TSP. How or where is the Roth TSP invested?
Q. I am a 62-year-old government employee and will have had a Roth TSP opened for five years by 2018. I plan on doing a rollover to a Roth IRA after I retire from government. Does the five-year window restart for tax-free withdrawals after the money has been transferred from the Roth TSP to the Roth IRA?
Q. When I turn 70½ and have to withdraw the money in my TSP, can I take half and put it in a Roth account and then what is left the next year have them pay me in an annuity?