Share Your TSP Balance and Your Age Thread

[DrDetroit]

Question: If I could only do one of these, should I: 1) continue to increase my contributions to TSP to 15%, 2) start contributing to TSP Roth, 3) contribute to Roth outside of TSP, 4) steadily contribute to mutual funds. I know I have to be careful to not exceed the max allowed, and can contribute an extra amount once I reach 50.

I know the answer starts with "it depends", but would appreciate any advice. Thanks much.

Maxing Roth IRA then TSP traditional at least up to match would probably be my advice. As far as the Roth TSP that does depend on one important thing: will you be in a higher tax bracket when you retire? If the answer is yes then use the Roth TSP, if the answer is no then don't bother with it. No one knows what the tax rates will be 10, 15, 30 years down the road but they aren't likely to be all that different than they are now. In the same vein we don't know if the rules on Roth contributions/distributions will be changed, but that is just as much a threat as the tax rates IMO.

Have an emergency fund too, then fund the TSP up to the max, outside investments, etc. A Roth IRA can also double as an emergency fund because you can always take the principal without taxes or penalty.

 

[DrDetroit]

I assume you all are aware that your TSP is not insured. Money in the bank or credit union or broker accountant yes insured. I won't post that much information in a public forum, definitely don't cut and paste from TSP. If someone drains your account or takes a loan out. You get to file a police report but that money is GONE! Not insured... good luck I have .90c in my puny acct!

Doesn't hurt to be safe I guess but stealing money from a TSP account, especially if you haven't yet retired, is pretty tough. TSP needs to go away from the passwords however and go to multi-tiered authentication. I thought they said they were working on that, but haven't heard anything in a while.

This is one password I would never write down anywhere. Memorizing your account number, password, always checking from a fire-walled home/trusted computer, and not telling guys on the train how much you're worth is always smart. I wouldn't be paranoid about someone draining my account though, there are enough security measures in place to make that very difficult.

 

[mbrogz3000]

I'm not saying what my balance is, but will give some insight... it's empowering to have a significant base amount saved by the time you are in your mid 30's. You start understanding the big picture of government work, and what's really needed to move up (ie bullshitting and kissing up and managing smart people becomes more important than doing the job itself)...and once you run the numbers and realize campaigning to move up isn't going to 'really' earn you that much more both salary and extra-TSP matching wise... it's just extremely satisfying to know that you don't 'need' to move up for more money. And also that you don't need to leave government work to make more either, unless you get an offer from Google of at least doubling or tripling your salary while keeping the same amount of personnel leave time (very unlikely for most).

Forget saving a percentage folks...drive to save that maximum contribution amount each year.

(Before anyone complains, I wrote this on my own personal leave time, not Govt time.)

 

[Globalpack]

Forget saving a percentage folks...drive to save that maximum contribution amount each year.

I agree, aim for max contribution early as possible. I started the maximum about a year ago, then stopped just a few pay periods later because we want a bigger house. Max will happen again hopefully within a year or two.

I'm 46 and TSP balance 198K.

 

[sushicam]

46 years old, 21 years of federal civil service, $625K.

Contributed 5% for the first 6 years, then bumped that up to the max for years 7-18, then went back down to 5% once I reached what I determined to be my coast-point. (Coast-point meaning the compounded growth of my existing balance will far out strip any additional contributions over time, but no sense giving up any matching funds.)

Was lucky to avoid a major haircut in 2008. (-14% that year)

 

[47_Dodge]

50 years young, 22 years of TSP contributions,and a TSP balance of 610,000.
Not to bad for an old "TURN-KEY" from southern Illinois making less than $69,000 per year.

 

[RazorCat]

Hi, my name is Jim and I’m an invest-aholic (Can I get a Hi Jim?). I was a serial TSP contributor most of my working life. I started out as a 5%er and just got worse from there. Before I knew it I was up to 10%, then 15%. When I finally came clean with my wife it was too late. I was rolling all my raises into TSP and contributing the IRS maximum + $5,000 in catch-up contributions + investing heavily in highly profitable outside ventures. Yeah, I had gone over to the dark side of non-TSP investing. It was an addiction with no cure..........
Until I met my retirement counselor. She saved me (but not so much my money) from myself. She convinced me that retirement was the only way to beat my TSP contributions addiction. So, at 56 I retired and stopped contributing. It was hard, and I backslid a couple times. My wife finally gave me an ultimatum when she caught me rolling my annual leave lump sum into my outside 401k. She demanded that I set up monthly withdrawals from TSP or my other 401k and start spending some of the money I had saved over 30+ years. Wait WHAT? NOOOOOOOOO!
I've been clean for about 4 years now (except for the yearly rollover of interest payments back into outside investment accounts that she doesn't know about :27. I've found other addictions like fishing, boating, regularly sampling a variety of beers, remodeling a lakehouse, and some light posting on various websites.
At 60, I'm retired, permanently unemployed, and have more $$$$$$$ then I can ever possibly spend (unless I buy that Aston Martin I've been eyeing). My TSP and 401k balances are far, far beyond anything I ever dreamed of. Haven't quite reached the million dollar mark, but getting close. Maybe in the next 3-4 years with luck.
I love me some compound interest.

 

[dannyboy]

I read an article that said you should have ten times your annual salary saved by retirement. I don't see that happening personally and was wondering how the folks here compare.

It may also serve as a good motivation tool to save more.

So what's your TSP balance and how old are you?

Me, Im 44 and have $148K.

Maybe rename this thread: FANTASY TSP?

 

[GREENBAYPACKERS]

31 years old. 8 years service. $117000. 100% stocks but only do 10% since my wife is stay at home with two kids.

 

[1mech]

Hi, my name is Jim and I’m an invest-aholic (Can I get a Hi Jim?). I was a serial TSP contributor most of my working life. I started out as a 5%er and just got worse from there. Before I knew it I was up to 10%, then 15%. When I finally came clean with my wife it was too late. I was rolling all my raises into TSP and contributing the IRS maximum + $5,000 in catch-up contributions + investing heavily in highly profitable outside ventures. Yeah, I had gone over to the dark side of non-TSP investing. It was an addiction with no cure..........
Until I met my retirement counselor. She saved me (but not so much my money) from myself. She convinced me that retirement was the only way to beat my TSP contributions addiction. So, at 56 I retired and stopped contributing. It was hard, and I backslid a couple times. My wife finally gave me an ultimatum when she caught me rolling my annual leave lump sum into my outside 401k. She demanded that I set up monthly withdrawals from TSP or my other 401k and start spending some of the money I had saved over 30+ years. Wait WHAT? NOOOOOOOOO!
I've been clean for about 4 years now (except for the yearly rollover of interest payments back into outside investment accounts that she doesn't know about :27. I've found other addictions like fishing, boating, regularly sampling a variety of beers, remodeling a lakehouse, and some light posting on various websites.
At 60, I'm retired, permanently unemployed, and have more $$$$$$$ then I can ever possibly spend (unless I buy that Aston Martin I've been eyeing). My TSP and 401k balances are far, far beyond anything I ever dreamed of. Haven't quite reached the million dollar mark, but getting close. Maybe in the next 3-4 years with luck.
I love me some compound interest.

Hi Jim, sounds like you are doing ok, I too have been adding to my TSP starting out with 5 or 6 %, I don't really recall, then with each pay or step increase, I would add another 1% to my TSP deposits until I maxed out. Last year I dropped it down a bit so as not to miss out on a couple of year end matches due to exceeding the max. Now I am back to max. My balance grew by about $80,000 since this time last year. I just ran a report on retirement income and it says, with my current balance and amount of contributions, I should retire in seven years, just shy of 1 million $ at a 7% return rate; hopefully it will be better than that. If I withdraw $5000 per month, my account will continue to grow faster than my withdrawals and I will soon be north of 1 Million $ and growing!
Best of success to you in your retirement!

 

[RazorCat]

Hi Jim, sounds like you are doing ok, I too have been adding to my TSP starting out with 5 or 6 %, I don't really recall, then with each pay or step increase, I would add another 1% to my TSP deposits until I maxed out. Last year I dropped it down a bit so as not to miss out on a couple of year end matches due to exceeding the max. Now I am back to max. My balance grew by about $80,000 since this time last year. I just ran a report on retirement income and it says, with my current balance and amount of contributions, I should retire in seven years, just shy of 1 million $ at a 7% return rate; hopefully it will be better than that. If I withdraw $5000 per month, my account will continue to grow faster than my withdrawals and I will soon be north of 1 Million $ and growing!
Best of success to you in your retirement!

Youve got a good handle on things. That’s what your shooting for. Be able to grow your account faster, at reasonable rate of return, than what you plan to withdraw. You’ll do fine in retirement.

 

[felinecrl]

50 years young, 22 years of TSP contributions,and a TSP balance of 610,000.
Not to bad for an old "TURN-KEY" from southern Illinois making less than $69,000 per year.

Wow! That is awesome! Based on what you earn, your consistency over the long-tem is looking very nicely. Congratulations!

 

[felinecrl]

I'm not saying what my balance is, but will give some insight... it's empowering to have a significant base amount saved by the time you are in your mid 30's. You start understanding the big picture of government work, and what's really needed to move up (ie bullshitting and kissing up and managing smart people becomes more important than doing the job itself)...and once you run the numbers and realize campaigning to move up isn't going to 'really' earn you that much more both salary and extra-TSP matching wise... it's just extremely satisfying to know that you don't 'need' to move up for more money. And also that you don't need to leave government work to make more either, unless you get an offer from Google of at least doubling or tripling your salary while keeping the same amount of personnel leave time (very unlikely for most).


Forget saving a percentage folks...drive to save that maximum contribution amount each year.

(Before anyone complains, I wrote this on my own personal leave time, not Govt time.)

LOL! Good advice. I trust you do have a substantial amount invested, based on your truths.

 

[felinecrl]

Hello All: I became 55 y.o. this Nov. I joined TSP Talk sometime last year and don't have enough time to keep up with all the threads, so I generally post to the Fund Talk thread, and just noticed this one today. After reading a bevy of posts, I have to commend everyone for just investing something.
Most of my career has been civilian/corporate and I have been with the federal government since July 2008. Prior to that, I have invested in 401Ks and some without a match. My philosophy was to follow the advice of my grandparents, which was to pay yourself first and save something up for retirement, no matter what the amount. So, while raising two daughters after a short-lived marriage of 6 years and very little child support, I remember investing $25 per month to an investment company during the early 80s through early 90s, when I discovered the fees were eating into my investment.
To fast forward: On average I have Roth and Traditional outside 401Ks and an annuity in the amount of approximately $32K. Since 2008, I started investing 25% of my salary in TSP, lost some of it prior to transferring what was left into the G fund. At some point the next year, I started investing the max as a GS 9, and continued to max as I promoted to GS 13 since two years ago. During the year I turned 50, I contributed the max and catch up, literally trying to catch up, so I can invest as much as I can until my target retirement of MRA + 10, which is December 2018. My TSP balance is approximately $239K, and I generally invest in the C, S, I, L2050 and F, but since April 2017 I have stayed the course in C35, S30, I25, F10.
I plan to continue to invest as aggressive as possible without taking too much risk, so I pay more attention to the market now. Since my husband has a much nicer retirement nest egg, I will not withdraw a pension upon retirement but at age 62 or 65. Also, our plan is to not withdraw funds from TSP until 70, unless we necessarily must. We will travel and do the things we weren't able to, due to raising kids, helping family and working, while we still have our good health. During the times we're not travelling, I will substitute teach high school, in order to keep my teaching certification valid. Our kids are grown, and we have two grand kids who we will spend more time with also.
I didn't see anyone post anything about life insurance options, but they too are part of or financial plan. I also have a life annuity insurance plan with Alliance, formerly Aviva that operates like an annuity or life insurance plan. My plan has a max of $260K, which is payable in lump sum if I depart prior to age 65. After age 65, I becomes an annuity in which I can receive lifetime payments from its appreciated value. Our mortgage will be paid off in 1 year, have a balance on credit cards that an be paid off monthly, and 1 car note. So, I don't think I'm doing too bad on my catch up endeavor.

 

[paulsz28]

34yo
10 years service (mid-upper GS-12 equivalent currently)
$179K balance

I didn't watch my balance after I started, didn't know what I was doing, and it took me until the end of 2011 for my gains to really start taking off. At the time my balance was $45K, only $3K of which was gains. Ouch! I was reacting at the wrong times, now watching my balance, just a plain noob throwing money away.

I ended up getting into a contribution allocation I liked for "buy and hold" risk exposure and settled on:
G - 8%
F - 15%
C - 42%
S - 35%
I - 0% (at the time, the Greek thing seemed to be tanking the I-fund, although I realize now I-fund is more interested in British and Japanese markets)

That did reasonably well for me, and I have since gained $56K compared to $69K in contributions, not counting this quarter. I'm now trying to stay in touch with TSPTalk to improve those gains (by getting on board which whichever fund(s) is performing best at the time), and minimize losses during down turns.

Right now, I am contributing 5% matching + 1% Roth, plus maxing out a Roth IRA. I was in the 10%-12% contribution range for a little while, but life expenses have taken me down from that. Planning to up TSP by 2% with each pay raise until max is reached in 5 years.

 

[fretwell]

I read an article that said you should have ten times your annual salary saved by retirement. I don't see that happening personally and was wondering how the folks here compare.

It may also serve as a good motivation tool to save more.

So what's your TSP balance and how old are you?

Me, I'm 44 and have $148K.

You don't say what age you want to retire by, but I think you still have very good shoot at $1M+ by age 62.

I put together the attached spreadsheet a couple of years ago. (Hopefully it attaches. And, hopefully my logic putting this together is good too.)

I made an adjustment to use your age and TSP balance. It shows someone that averages a GS-7 Step 1 salary, contributes 5%, gets an annual 10% return, can save $1M+ by age 62.

View attachment TSP_GS7_step1_starting_ with_148K.xls

And, as you probably already know, you're probably going to have to invested in either the C, S, or I funds; or a combination of those funds, to average 10% annually.

 

[fretwell]

Some of you will wonder where I came from. Well, I've been one of those viewers in the background for a very long time, probably 20+ years.

I just turned 54 and I have almost 31 years worth of service (started January of '87) and I'm currently a GS-13. My current TSP balance is just over $930k.

I started out in a job series that went GS-5/7/9/11, so I got to GS-11 fairly quick. And, got a GS-12 just a couple years later. I only got my GS-13 a few years ago.

At one time I was contributing about 15% to the TSP, but for about the last 10 years I have only contributed 5%.

You will see I start out conservatively. Luckily, I had a friend /co-worker that basically hounded me to contribute more and to get more aggressive. And, you will see below I did get more aggressive starting about year 5. I got pretty lucky that I did not lose too much between 2007 and 2011. What is not reflected below is that I was early to move to the G-Fund during this time and avoided a big loss. But, I was actually slow to fully move back into the market full-time, so I missed a really big gain too.

And, my thoughts the last few years have been...if I want to retire early, I more afraid of being out the market, than being in the market. If being in the market does not work out, I can always work more years. And, if I decide to be conservative, I will have to work more years anyway. Therefore, to me it is worth the gamble of staying 100% in either the C, S, or I funds.

Also, I created a spreadsheet probably 25 years ago that lead to me believe that $1M+ was possible by my MRA. This probably helped me stay the course.

Below are most of my balances over the years and how I was invested:

Starting working at age 22 in January of 1987.
1/31/1988 - 100%G - $7.20 (first TSP deposit was probably just a 1% match)
1/31/1989 - 100%G - $327
1/31/1990 - 100%G - $3,313
1/31/1991 - 100%G - $7,268
1/31/1992 - 75%G/25%C - $12,886
1/31/1993 - 15%G/85%C - $20,898
1/31/1994 - 10%G/90%C - $30,482
1/31/1995 - 9%G/91%C - $37,941
1/31/1996 - 6%G/94%C - $59,952
1/31/1997 - 100%C - $81,661
1/31/1998 - 100%C - $104,982
... (not much happen here, so I left these years out)
1/31/2003 - 100%C - $134,169
1/31/2004 - 90%C/10I - $195,442
1/31/2005 - 90%C/10I - $223,911
1/31/2006 - 25%C/25%S/50%I - $271,611
1/31/2007 - 28%C/22%S/50%I - $324,858 * (Basically 4 years of almost no growth) *
1/31/2008 - 100%S - $324,034 *
1/31/2009 - 100%I - $294,075 *
1/31/2010 - 100%I - $296,487 *
1/31/2011 - 75%S/25%I - $339,653 *
1/31/2012 - 100%G - $417,926
1/31/2013 - 100%S - $478,460
1/31/2014 - 100%S - $565,458
1/31/2015 - 100%S - $620,055
1/31/2016 - 100%S - $596,869 * (Lost money this year)
1/31/2017 - 100%S - $806,439 ** (Great year! Hopefully get another one just like it soon!) **
12/14/2017 - 50%C/50%I -$930K+

So, I just turned 54 and God willing hope to have $1.2M+ by my MRA of 56.

I have 3 fed friends that are already TSP millionaires. One is a GS-13, another retired as a GS-14, and the last works for the FAA as an Air Traffic Controller (okay, his pay scale is off the chart).

Anyway, it appears $1M+ by retirement is possible by normal fed workers. Actually, I believe it is possible by anyone that averages just a GS-7 Step 1 salary, contributes 5%, averages annual 8% return, and works from age 23 to 62. Attached is spreadsheet I put together in 2016 that shows it is possible. (Hopefully, my logic used to create this spreadsheet was good.)

View attachment TSP_GS7_step1_estimate.xls

Hopefully, my story encourages others to just go for it.

 

[Boghie]

Since others are posting updates:

Age: 52
Balance: $425K
Investing: Alternate between three allocations (Conservative, Normal, Aggressive)
Expected Balance at age 65 (using Quicken and DinkyTown.Net):

• Retirement Age: 65
• Expected Return: 7.69% - My actual IRR since 2004. I have obviously gone more conservative...
• Expected Inflation: 2.5% - I still expect very muted inflation. Could change, but...
• Expected Contributions: 15% of Gross Salary, 10% from me, 5% match
• Expected Balance: $1.3 million
• Expected Annual Withdraw (20 years): $74K
• Expected Annual Withdraw (30 years): $60K

I'm OK with that. My guess is that my IRR will raise over the next 2 - 4 years so the ending balance should be higher. I think my focus should be on keeping my average annual return about 5% higher than inflation. Happy:cheesy:

Have a Great 2018 folks - 2017 was stupendous!!!

Age: 53
Balance: $499K (as of 2017/12/29 - Dang market lost a fraction of a percent)
Investing: Alternate between three allocations (Conservative, Normal, Aggressive)
Expected Balance at age 65 (using Quicken and DinkyTown.Net):

• Retirement Age: 65
• Expected Return: 8.25% - My actual IRR since 2004.
• Expected Inflation: 3.0% - I still expect very muted inflation. Could change, but...
• Expected Contributions: 15% of Gross Salary, 10% from me, 5% match
• Expected Balance: $1.425 million
• Expected Annual Withdraw (20 years): $80K
• Expected Annual Withdraw (30 years): $65K

Edelman Financial's VERY Conservative estimations:
Age: 53
Balance: $499K
Investing: Alternate between three allocations (Conservative, Normal, Aggressive)
Expected Balance at age 65 (using Quicken and DinkyTown.Net):

• Retirement Age: 65
• Expected Return: 5.5% - A disgustingly conservative number.
• Expected Inflation: 3.0% - I still expect very muted inflation. Could change, but...
• Expected Contributions: 15% of Gross Salary, 10% from me, 5% match
• Expected Balance: $1.111 million
• Expected Annual Withdraw (20 years): $50K
• Expected Annual Withdraw (30 years): $37K
  
• Edelman Financial determined that I need 40K annually inflation adjusted from my TSP account for thirty years of retirement and an additional 8 years for the wifey. There are additional assets ($140K) from the sale of the house that bring the 30 year window distributions to well over that requirement - at 5.5% return. Yowser...

 

[RazorCat]

I frequent another website (BBC) where we discuss everything from fishing, to boating, to finance. I have to say, the overwhelming majority of the members on this site should be very satisfied with where they are financially, and how well they're prepared for retirement.
After reading some of the personal accounts regarding retirement savings (or the lack thereof) of some of the folks on that other site all I can say is OUTSTANDING WORK. :bigok:

 

[mboja]

What fund(s) are you currently contributing into?
Are you following any TSP strategists, TSP Calculator?
How frequently do you move between fund(s)?