Q: I consider myself very good at saving money for and with my family as well as managing my family’s budget. We have a young toddler, and my wife and I are still building our family. I am 34, have been with FERS (active employee) since I was 33, and I have four years of active military time I am almost done buying back. I have my wife saving a little more than 11 percent of her incoming from teaching school (company doesn’t match), and I save 15 percent per paycheck (20 percent if you count my federal match). I…
Browsing: G fund
Q: Can I retire and leave my savings in the Thrift Savings Plan? If yes, will there be a service charge? Will the account grow if I switch to the G Fund (government bonds)? A: Yes, you may — and I generally recommend that participants do — leave your money in the TSP after you separate from service. There are no “service” charges, just the extremely low expenses of running the program that apply to all participants. The G Fund is not really a bond fund. It’s a guaranteed income contract with a stable share value and interest paid based…
This is my last Money Matters column for 2009, so I’ll take the opportunity to remind those of you who are still active federal employees to carefully plan your retirement savings contributions for the coming year. Unless there is a compelling reason to do otherwise, I strongly recommend you first direct your retirement savings contributions into your Thrift Savings Plan account — before you contribute to any other accounts. You should contribute the maximum allowed to your TSP account — which in 2010 is $16,500 if you are under age 50, or $22,000 if age 50 or older — before…
Q: Could you elaborate on a couple of statements you made in your “Mistakes to Avoid” column that appeared in the July 13 issue of Federal Times? At mistake No. 2, “not having enough insurance,” you said “Once you are retired, long-term care insurance is a prudent thing to consider.” Many feds signed up for the federal long-term care insurance program when it first became available years ago. Are you saying that most of us workers don’t need to get long-term care coverage until we’re actually retired? You stated “Many people follow this rule of thumb: ‘It’s generally safe to…