Turning accumulated savings in the Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) into a stream of income is a goal for federal employees who are hoping to retire at a comfortable level. This is particularly true for FERS employees who get a less generous pension than employees who are covered by CSRS.
Are you thinking of returning to work as a federal employee after retirement? This article does not address why you might want to do this but factors to consider if you are wondering how to go about returning to federal employment.
Your retirement annuity, whether you are CSRS or FERS, is determined by your length of service and your high-three salary. Your annuity is calculated by multiplying your high-three salary by a percentage factor that is derived from your length of service.
After the July 1, 2010 adjustment in the L 2010 Fund of the federal Thrift Savings Plan, its allocation will be identical to the L Income Fund allocation. However, the money will remain in the L 2010 Fund until the end of December 2010.
On July 1, 2010, all the money in the L 2010 fund will disappear. In fact, the entire L 2010 fund will disappear as well. On that date the fund mixtures in the L 2010 fund will mirror those in the L Income fund and the two funds will become one.
For the last several months the TSP has been running a beta test of its new website. Many of you who have accessed your TSP accounts have been given an opportunity to test the site and to make comments. The TSP claims the new site is “Better. Faster. Easier.” and that it is “improved” and “user friendly”.
There is potential good news on the horizon for federal employees who plan to retire with a large annual leave balance. The news relates to the ability to contribute their annual leave balance to the Thrift Savings Plan.
In 2010, there is no income limitation that affects your ability to convert a Traditional IRA to a Roth IRA. This doesn’t mean that you should rush right out and do a conversion. Here are some important factors to consider in order to determine whether a conversion makes sense for you.
This year, being 2010, there is no federal estate tax, regardless of the size of your estate. But what happens in 2011?
Many readers have asked retirement author John Grobe about what happens to your TSP contributions if you die with “money in the pot.” Here are some answers.
