Share Your TSP Balance and Your Age Thread

[Christopher]

My wife (JD) began her Fed career in 1985 and is a GS-14; I (Chris) began my Fed career in 1989 and am a GS-12. She turned 49 and i turned 47 during December of 2015. Here's our short story:

At the end of 2003, we were invested 100% in G with balances of $7,464.40 and $5,120.29, respectively - only Uncle Sam was contributing to our TSP accounts. All of that changed in early 2004: just prior, my best friend (who worked in commercial banking) kicked me in the derriere when, during a discussion about investing, I told him my wife and I hadn't contributed anything to our Fed "401K accounts". :embarrest: SO ... LOL ... I kick started our contributing to both our TSP accounts and began managing them both, though ignorantly moving $ between funds at first because I lacked any real knowledge. I stumbled across TSPTalk not long after, but didn't become a member for a while - I just stood in the shadows and read a LOT of posts, researched cause and effect between market forces, scrutinized member methodologies, and tried to make some sense of all the chatter and banter - but began actively investing ("trading") the funds in our TSP accounts with my new insights.

Over the years, we've contributed between 5% and 10% to our accounts - I recall reducing the 10% to 5% to aggressively pay off the mortgage Christmas of 2005 and then again as markets began crashing during the Great Recession (where we lost a little better than 5% - mild compared to others we knew who were buy and hold types. We're still contributing 5% now). I'm honored to be among those notorious day traders who received the TSP board's "ultimatum" letter back in the day, and I don't regret a day of aggressively managing our funds during that time - it helped me to help US catch up some to where our TSP accounts would have been if we had contributed prior to 2004. Our combined balance hit $300K last quarter, and we're OK with that considering our "late bloomer" statuses. :smile:

My TSP slacker status regrets in 2015: 1) not consistently watching the markets, and 2) not consistently applying my own investing rules when I DO. I hope to be more intentional in 2016 and onward.

 

[Raymann1]

I expect to retire the beginning of Jan next year. I will be 62.5 years old, with 21 years of Fed Service I am retired USAF officer as well. My TSP balance is 370K. My goal is over 400K by the end of 2016. My wife is also a DoD employee with 34 years in Service. She is 60 and has over 535K in her TSP. She plans on retiring when she is 62. (She wants me to wait for her...which would put me at 63.5 years old) our combined total is 905K....our goal is 1 mil. We recently moved everything into the G fund. Our monthly investments are going into C.

 

[Kjazzinphx]

I am a soon to be former postal worker and have contributed for 31 years. My balance is $700,000. I always put in the max allowed. As they allowed more, I contributed more. When they lifted the ceiling altogether I raised it to 16% and have contributed that much for years. Early years mostly in C, but when L Funds came around I moved 70% to L and 30% in C. I didn't try to time the markets except once. Had a feeling the market was going to tank and was losing money fast so lost a lot less than those that stayed the course and got back in at the right time. Just dumb luck. Now fully in L Income because I retire in 10 days!

 

[Lakebound]

I am a soon to be former postal worker and have contributed for 31 years. My balance is $700,000. I always put in the max allowed. As they allowed more, I contributed more. When they lifted the ceiling altogether I raised it to 16% and have contributed that much for years. Early years mostly in C, but when L Funds came around I moved 70% to L and 30% in C. I didn't try to time the markets except once. Had a feeling the market was going to tank and was losing money fast so lost a lot less than those that stayed the course and got back in at the right time. Just dumb luck. Now fully in L Income because I retire in 10 days!

Congratulations on both your retirement and your balance. That number is something to be proud of and should provide you and your family with a nice income stream for the remainder of your life.

Frank

 

[burrocrat]

I am a soon to be former postal worker and have contributed for 31 years. My balance is $700,000. I always put in the max allowed. As they allowed more, I contributed more. When they lifted the ceiling altogether I raised it to 16% and have contributed that much for years. Early years mostly in C, but when L Funds came around I moved 70% to L and 30% in C. I didn't try to time the markets except once. Had a feeling the market was going to tank and was losing money fast so lost a lot less than those that stayed the course and got back in at the right time. Just dumb luck. Now fully in L Income because I retire in 10 days!

are you single?

 

[Kjazzinphx]

Thank you very much Frank! Just one more week to go!

 

[Kjazzinphx]

are you single?

LOL! Technically I suppose I am, but no, my partner and I met at the post office 31 years ago and have been together 25 years. He has his own TSP also and has 32 years, balance $400,000. He has another 4 years to reach retirement eligibility.
Guess I was the smarter TSP investor in the family!!

 

[burrocrat]

LOL! Technically I suppose I am, but no, my partner and I met at the post office 31 years ago and have been together 25 years. He has his own TSP also and has 32 years, balance $400,000. He has another 4 years to reach retirement eligibility.
Guess I was the smarter TSP investor in the family!!

well, do you folks think you will be hiring a pool boy anytime soon then?

congrats on your retirement (both).

 

[Kjazzinphx]

well, do you folks think you will be hiring a pool boy anytime soon then?

congrats on your retirement (both).

Ha! Are you interviewing for the job?
No. But maybe someone to cut the grass when it's 110 degrees.

 

[Kjazzinphx]

I expect to retire the beginning of Jan next year. I will be 62.5 years old, with 21 years of Fed Service I am retired USAF officer as well. My TSP balance is 370K. My goal is over 400K by the end of 2016. My wife is also a DoD employee with 34 years in Service. She is 60 and has over 535K in her TSP. She plans on retiring when she is 62. (She wants me to wait for her...which would put me at 63.5 years old) our combined total is 905K....our goal is 1 mil. We recently moved everything into the G fund. Our monthly investments are going into C.

Congratulations! You have done well! I hope the next two years go by quickly for you.

 

[burrocrat]

oh i can make hay alright

 

[scsiguru]

I'm 56 and covered under FERS. Next year I'll have 29 years of service. My current TSP balance is $555K and I'm contributing the max $24K. My wife is retired under CSRS at 55, due to health issues caused by work stress and her TSP balance right now is $114K. We haven't had any need to touch her TSP, and might tap into it when our daughter gets married. I'll be eligible to retire in 18 months and I'm just taking a "wait and see" approach as to when I will retire.

 

[1mech]

I have been employed by the Postal Service for 22 years now, started out saving around 10%, then with each pay increase, I would step it up another percent until reaching the max. I have no military time and my wife is not employed, so she has only my retirement funds.
I now have a balance of about $365,000 with about eight years to go before being a former postal employee.
I mostly stay invested in the C and S funds and have found I lose more by getting out into the G fund than I do by staying in the C & S funds, always bad timing.
Hope the Trump market keeps going strong!

 

[uscfanhawaii]

60 yrs old, 30 years in FERS/TSP, TSP balance 800K. 250K of that is from matching funds (and growth on those funds)!

The matching funds really adds up over time! Never go below 5% contribution, so you never lose out on any matching funds.

Okay, update time. And maybe some additional info.

Now 62, still working. All TSP acct is from my contributions and matching (did not roll any into TSP from outside.) Never was in the military, so all is from Federal workplace. Now 32 years in FERS/TSP. (I was one of the few nationwide that switched from CSRS to FERS, when the latter came out!)
TSP Balance $880K. Down from my max of 905K in June of 2015. From the start of FERS, I always put as much as allowed into equities (you will recall that when it started it was all G.) Then I did Dollar Cost Averaging with C/S/I when we were allowed to. As the account grew, I started moving $$ around (yes, I was one of the TSP'ers to get "The Letter".)

Tried to stay at 15% contribution most of the time, and a few times was able to sock away the Max (including max catchup). But mostly 15%.

My goal has always been to get to $1MM. Planning to work 1-2 more years, so goal is still achievable.

I encourage all the younger workers to contribute the max possible, as early as possible. Set your goals high! And stick to your plan! :unitedstates:

 

[gboper]

Day one on the site, this seemed like a good place to start. Age 46, gs9, step 2, RUS, balance of $104k, 10 years of FERS. Planning on "retiring" in 10 years. My retirement plans are more like doing something different, possibly in a community service type position. and make just enough money to pay the electric bill. My TSP target is $400k.

 

[tsptalk]

Welcome to TSP Talk folks! Thanks for joining us.

Don't forget to get added to the AutoTracker! It's beneficial to start before January 1st so that you can track your 2017 return for the full year.

More info: http://www.tsptalk.com/mb/rules-tos...es-how-get-started-post320464.html#post320464

 

[Jqsomera]

44 yrs old, 5 yrs with FERS, 20 yr Army retiree, have a balance of approx. $131k, currently contribute 11% in lifecycle, C & S funds. Plan to increase contributions to 14-15% at the beginning of 2017 - thanks to our projected raise - Yay!!

 

[Skorcher]

I have been in the TSP since the G fund was created on April 1, 1987. I recall the government started us FERS people off with a 3% match on accumulated wages earned from my July 1984 start date to March 31, 1987. Unfortunately I was only a GS-4, 5 & 7 during that time frame so the free match wasn't much. I usually contributed the max which started out at 10% then through the years went up to 15% then eventually the IRS max for 401k. My balance is about $825K and I am hoping to retire 12/31/17.

 

[sillbeer]

37 years old
11 years federal civil service. I'm in the process of buying back 7 years of active duty Air Force time.
I've always contributed 6% or more and am currently at 6%.
$96,770, all since I started civil service, no active duty contributions.
I should be getting a gs-13 in a couple months and will definitely increase my contributions. Goal is in the million plus range.

 

[Globalpack]

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.

Continuing the updates theme...my previous post - August 2014 I was $148K, but now 2.5 years later January 2017 I'm $189.5K (up $41,500) thanks mostly to the economy.