Q. I will be retiring this year after 21 years in the Air Force. I have $20,000 in the Thrift Savings Plan and was wondering if it would be better to roll it over into an IRA or pay off all of my credit debt. How big of a hit would I take for withdrawing my TSP early?
A. It’s impossible to say which is better without some careful planning and analysis. If you trigger the early withdrawal penalty on a TSP distribution, you’ll pay 10 percent of the earnings distributed.
