Q: I’m currently contributing to the 2050L fund of the Thrift Savings Plan. Is it possible to transfer my TSP funds to a Roth individual retirement account without getting penalized? I don’t want to touch the money, I just want to invest in precious metals instead of Fortune 500 companies and small businesses. A: If you are age 59 1/2 or older, you may take one age-based in-service withdrawal from your TSP account. Check with a CPA (ideally, the one who will be preparing your tax return for the year) for advice on converting it to a Roth IRA.
Browsing: Roth IRA
Q: Will I be able to contribute to the Roth IRA and Roth TSP? What will be the combined limits if I can contribute to both Roths ($6,000 for each or $6,000 combined, if I’m over 50)? A: According to the TSP, your participation in the TSP’s Roth option, in itself, will not affect your eligibility to contribute to a Roth IRA.
Q. I am a Civil Service Retirement System employee with 33 years of service, and I plan to retire June 3. Can I roll my Thrift Savings Plan into the Voluntary Contribution Program before I retire, and will I be required to pay tax on that money? Can I later roll the VCP into an Individual Retirement Account, and is it best to go into a Roth or traditional IRA? A. You may not transfer your TSP money into the VCP.
Q. I am currently deployed and trying to read up on the upcoming Thrift Savings Plan Roth Individual Retirement Account. Will I be able to do an interfund transfer of my existing balance, as well as my contribution allocation, in the TSP from my other funds into the Roth IRA TSP? If so, will I be able to do so online, as I can with the other allocations/balances? A. We’ll find out exactly how the program works when the details are announced.
Q. I am a retired federal worker. I am in the Federal Employees Retirement System, a Thrift Savings Program participant, and, because I am over 70½ years old, I have been taking my Required Minimum Distribution in the form of monthly payments based on my life expectancy. I also have a traditional Individual Retirement Account with my local bank. I also have a Roth IRA at this bank. I want to consolidate some of my funds and increase my monthly payments by transferring my traditional IRA to my TSP account. I was told by the bank that the time for…
Q. Will TSP participants who have (or take out) a loan be able to make the repayments into the Roth portion of their TSP once the Roth option is established? A. The rules have not been published, yet.
Q. Will I be able to open a TSP Roth account and then roll my current Janus Roth IRA balance into it? How about after retirement? I have waited patiently for the promising TSP Roth, but it has been delayed time and again. Now it’s set for rollout in the second quarter of 2012. How nice: I’m planning to retire by the end of April, meaning that I may be ineligible for the TSP Roth if it is not offered by then. If the TSP Roth begins in May, June, or afterwards, am I out of luck? Since I plan…
Q. I am planning on retiring from the Federal Employees Retirement System in five years at my minimum retirement age. I consider myself a long-term buy-and-hold investor and have accumulated the following assets from regular investing at opportunistic times over 25 years: TSP ($250K) + max annual contributions in C fund, USAA Strategic Advisor Fund ($100K) and International Fund ($150K), First Command Roth IRA Destiny Fund ($150K), CDs and Money Market ($250K), Gold Fund ($50K). Is there any advice you could give me to shift my assets to best protect my investments for that five-year mark? I feel I am pretty…
Q. I will be retiring in 2012 and must also take a required minimum distribution from my TSP in 2012. I would like to do a partial withdrawal in the amount of the RMD prior to the date I retire, to be followed by monthly payments upon retirement. My question is whether I can rollover the RMD into a Roth IRA, so that I would be paying income tax on the Roth IRA withdrawals as the withdrawals are being done, rather than on the entire amount of the RMD. If I read the TSP material correctly, it appears that this…
Q. I am currently employed and have the option of receiving a lump-sum payment for my pension payout. I would need to roll that over into an account that I could receive a monthly payment from. Do you have any advice as to what kind of plan would be available for me to do that? A. A Roth IRA or an IRA are possibilities. You should consult a planner or tax accountant to figure out which solution is right for you.