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A thing to consider if you're deciding between putting money in TSP vs IRA; My suggestion is to put your first 5% in TSP to get the match, but after that, use your and your spouse's IRA (if applicable)after that before finishing to your max TSP contribution.
The reason is that when you retire, you have to annutize your TSP in order to be eligible to continue your health plan. Generally speaking, annuties are a bad deal because they are figured based on very conservative earnings rates, and your heirs could lose near everything if you were to die soon after you retired. However, health insurance isa major thing to consider whether you can retire or not since its so expensive, so it would probably be appealing to be able to continue this coverage.
Its possible that the annuity is such a bad deal, that it'd be better to get independent health coverage, and take your lump sum TSP anyway, despite these plans being very expensive. Of course, once you hit 65, medicare will kick in and you'll only need a smaller policy to cover over and above that.
Naturally, if you can afford to do both, then do both. I cant afford it yet, so.....
A thing to consider if you're deciding between putting money in TSP vs IRA; My suggestion is to put your first 5% in TSP to get the match, but after that, use your and your spouse's IRA (if applicable)after that before finishing to your max TSP contribution.
The reason is that when you retire, you have to annutize your TSP in order to be eligible to continue your health plan. Generally speaking, annuties are a bad deal because they are figured based on very conservative earnings rates, and your heirs could lose near everything if you were to die soon after you retired. However, health insurance isa major thing to consider whether you can retire or not since its so expensive, so it would probably be appealing to be able to continue this coverage.
Its possible that the annuity is such a bad deal, that it'd be better to get independent health coverage, and take your lump sum TSP anyway, despite these plans being very expensive. Of course, once you hit 65, medicare will kick in and you'll only need a smaller policy to cover over and above that.
Naturally, if you can afford to do both, then do both. I cant afford it yet, so.....
Whoa, you're mixing apples with oranges.
Anyway, she has 4 different IRA's and I'm going to consolidate them into 2. One from her current place of employment and one into a Scottrade IRA account. Can Scottrade furnish me with the appropriate roll-over forms or do I contact the company's that the IRA's are actuallly with?
Of course, if you truly believe you will be in a lower tax bracket when you retire, max the TSP.
