Annuity Mentality?

[TWBubs]

Hi all!!

New to this forum and my first post. I know how forums work and want to apologize if I am suddenly "that guy" who just asked the same question that has been asked and answered a thousand times. I did a bit of searching and have not found a thread that addresses my question.

I had an epiphany the other day after investing in the TSP for 26 years, and suddenly being within two years of retirement. I have always contributed as much as I could, was fairly aggressive early on (C Fund), went with the L2030 when it became available, and have done pretty well. Per the title of this post, I guess I always had an "annuity" mentality in that I assumed my strategy should be to go aggressive early and then throttle back as I neared retirement.

Q1. Now that I have recently been contemplating leaving my money in TSP after retirement and taking monthly payments, should I ditch this "annuity" mentality and continue on with a long term strategy? I know the caveat about "we are not investment advisors", just looking for consensus.

Q2. Now that leaving your money in TSP is becoming fairly attractive, has this "annuity" mentality been discussed here before, and thus should the TSP mention this mentality/strategy when selling members on leaving their funds in the TSP and how that relates to the L funds?

Thanks a bunch!!

 

[felixthecat]

When I hear annuity...I hear surrendering your money to someone else who then gives you a fixed sum of money paid each year, for the rest of your life. Then when you die...they keep what is left over. Well, I'm not handing my money over to no one but my wife and kids. I decide what I will live on and who gets my money. I did not manage my money this long only to hand it to someone else. With that said, annuity if fine for those who do not want to keep track of their money or can't make good investment decisions on their own. You can do either. This is just what I prefer.

 

[tsptalk]

Welcome TWBubs!

You said you searched around so you may have come across this, but here's the annuity section with various discussions...

https://www.tsptalk.com/mb/annuities/