Share Your TSP Balance and Your Age Thread

[blkflm6888]

28 years old, 7 year Active duty, $2X,000. Roth. Last year 8%, this year 9%, then switch to new retirement plan for match. Thinking of coming down to 7%=12%. Currently in a 75% L2050/25% C allocation.

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[FAB1]

Age - too old
time served - too long
tsp - not enuf

reading you guys posts is getting me depressed. I will have to work forever.

 

[FAB1]

Before anyone replies to my post let me tell you how NOT to do it.

My first ten years of service did not do anything with the TSP the autos went to the G fund then got laid off about 3 yrs (not my fault, heh.) but after returning to duty status I STILL didn't do anything different. So yeah I missed the Unlimited trades period
but also missed the Crash in 2008-09. :cheesy:

It was late 2009 I think I found this site and with about 5K in G fund after nearly 10 yrs got serious about TSP.

So my balance is a lot lower than most for about 15 yrs service, I have already embarrassed myself
enough suffice to say kicking myself isn't going to do any good....for 8 years of active investing the balance isn't
that bad - would like to retire in about 4-5 years with something north of 100K and keep the account open TSP max.

 

[Jackbnimble]

I'm 49, 22 years of service with a balance just north of $400,000. My goal is to save as much as I can for the next 8 years until retirement. I have always stayed invested in the stock funds (except for a short time in 2008-2009), but I have started moving some to G to protect and preserve. My retirement plan calls for me to use some of my TSP immediately when I retire.

 

[Boghie]

Age: 50
Balance: $340K
Investing: Did not start till I was about 32 (What a waste, I would not have to contribute a dime if I started earlier)
Expected Balance at age 65 (using Quicken and DinkyTown.Net):

• Age: 65
• Expected Return: 8% - Done better, but being conservative and considering I will be more conservative at age 60 or so
• Expected Inflation: 3% - For quite some time now it has been in the 2's. That is very nice...
• Expected Balance: $1.4 mil - $1.5 mil
• Expected Annual Withdraw (20 years): $75K
• Expected Annual Withdraw (30 years): $60K

However, unlike my retired military friends, I will have to pay for my medical insurance and I will only receive a pension from age 65 onward (if that is when I retire) and I do not receive commissary privileges nor VA loans and some other niceties. However, I did get a good match and I do not have to hope that a future politician will honor promises of past politicians. Personally, knowing what I know now, if I were a young military dude I would much prefer a matching TSP to the pension. It would transfer for those who get out before a pension, it would not be in view of politicians seeking cash, and I can watch my assets rather than having them slammed into the G Fund. Just my two cents.

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:

 

[Pill]

Been a few days since I lasted posted. However I still read the site almost daily and keep up with the auto tracker. I feel like I am doing good compared to my coworkers, however I still feel like I need to do more. I guess thats a good thing.

41y/o
13 years of service
$258k TSP balance, with a goal of 800k-1.3m
Plan to retire in 8-13 years, depending on balance.
I could stay to the maximum age for me of 57 in hopes of a 1.7m balance but don't want to stay, but things could change.
From day one started with saving 13%, and increased from there. Reached 25% for a time, but hover around 18% now.
Stayed mostly with a buy and hold approach, currently 30C, 40S, 30I. Plan to stay this way with a slight reduction of the I fund.
I owe a lot of my success to my dad who said I should max tsp out, then TSPtalk!(found in 2004) And now I am addicted to Bogleheads.org

 

[cjmruns]

43. Lost it all after a divorce so stated again in 2010.
Current balance is $196,500 - Gradually increased until I got to the full $18k annually.
Buy and hold at 70/20/10 c/s/i.
I'm also contributing $5,500 to an outside Roth hoping to make up for lost time.

 

[coquina]

51. In FERS/TSP since before college grad - roughly 32 years. Made max contribution for the past 17 years but before that put at least 10% of pay in. Just crossed $700,000. Could have been better had I aggressively invested in equities but stayed pretty true to a 40% C, 10% S, 10% I, 30% F, 10% G allocation throughout. My main disappointment is the I Fund. I haven't gotten stock market type returns with that piece.

 

[Tsunami]

I love this thread, it reads like a therapy session. :smile: Hi, my name is Tsunami, I'm 56, married, and...

I could retire now if I had 3 bad days in a row at work, but I just took a new position with a big promotion and it wouldn't look too cool to leave soon, so my plan now is 12/22/18 or 3/31/19, unless I'm really liking the new job by then in which case I'll go to the end of 2019 to get full benefit of the new pay in my high-3. If I get wiped out by a stock market nosedive, then I'd likely to age 62.

I'm coming up on 33 years as a Fed, almost 8 years under CSRS in the 80s as a nuclear engineer for DOD, then I left for greener pastures, then saw the error of my ways and came back to Uncle Sam in 1991 (and immediately bought back my CSRS years, so my annuity will get about a 10% bump from the CSRS component)...back of the envelope calculations at the time showed I could get to around $1.5M in my TSP by age 56, so with dollar signs in my eyes on my first day at the new job I signed the paper to leave CSRS Offset and go to FERS, argh. A subsequent divorce then stung my TSP growth (I'd started my TSP in Nov 1991), since between that and the high cost of living in California I had to cut my contributions to just 5% for 12 long years. Now my second wife of 20+ years and I are building our empire, and I'm catching up to my goals and in the TSP I max'd out with the $24k contributions last year for the first time...current balance $527K, with projections of $675K by 12/31/17. Our net worth recently topped $1M, so that was a nice milestone.

Retirement Plan:
- To not follow any more gurus ever again, I've subscribed to over 20 of them since 2001. I'll follow my own plan.
- To stay in the TSP upon retiring and do monthly withdrawals, adjusting annually to whatever 6% of my balance is, assuming 7% returns on average, hopefully I will do a bit better, but after any bad years the budget shows I'd be able to cut way back or stop the withdrawals and be OK.
- For whatever we don't spend from the TSP withdrawals (and non-retirement account investments), I will invest with a 50/50 mix of a dividend stocks portfolio (which I recently started with $100K in my TD Ameritrade account, $5K each of 20 stocks), which should net me 4.8% this year, or $400/month, and will grow from there...and with the other half I'll invest in ETFs using the same strategies I'm beginning to use in my TSP.
- If there's still more leftover after I get my wife her HGTV dream home, all the "stuff" she wants to fill it, and a pool girl for me, and taking a few nice trips each year and/or spending several months each summer away from the Florida heat (Viera, FL is our retirement destination) in places like Puget Sound, then I hope to start gifting the excess to our 3 kids.

 

[CoachGrif]

I retired at 59, with 30 years, being a GS 13 for 20 of those years. I put the full amount allowed by IRS in the TSP for all those years and the maximum amount allowed as a catchup contribution. I have been in the TSP premium services since their inceptions and have used either one service or all the services at various times. I have primarily used the S fund for the last 10 years and the C,S and I funds prior to that. I moved in and out of the market (timed it) regularly using a combination of the premium services and my tracking of political and financial news. When I left government I had $800,000 in the TSP and that was after suffering a $200,000 loss in 2007 and 2008. At present I have $1,140,00 in the TSP. I have never withdrawn any funds.


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[MeowPower]

Talk is cheap.

37 years old. 14yrs of service. All military (non agency matching). I have been investing since 2004. Just a little over $450K total

I have about ~$227K in my TSP and another ~$227K in my investment (Roth IRA and brokerage) accounts.

Here is my proof since talk is cheap.

 

[RealMoneyIssues]

Age - too old
time served - too long
tsp - not enuf

reading you guys posts is getting me depressed. I will have to work forever.

Amen, me too...

 

[drbama]

I'm 47 with a current TSP balance of $360K. Had been a buy-n-holder in C/S funds since start of service, but rode the 2008 crash all the way down. Found TSP Talk a couple of years ago, so have been transferring between funds based on input from forum regulars. I also subscribe to Tom's premium service. 2016 was a good year; just prior to the election I was top-50 on autotracker, but was out on election day, so missed a good bit of the post election gains. Still ended the year with 16+%.

I am currently contributing 10% to TSP. No other outside investments. Using Scottrade, I've tried to dabble with individual stocks and ETFs, but end up losing money. At 57 (my MRA), I will have 34+ years of service, with a high-3 average of $150k+.

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.

 

[evilanne]

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.

I wouldn't limit yourself to only one, but my order of preference would be 3, 1, 4. Depending on your AGI, Roth phases out between 117K & 132K. If you are worried about your current/future taxable income with option 4, you might consider municipal bonds as part of your investment strategy.

 

[1965Vintage]

I'll be turning 52 in a few days. I have 16 years of Federal Service and have a balance of $170,000 in my TSP. It would be more but I took out a $50,000 TSP loan to build a house last summer and am making minimum payments on it for the next 15 years. ($149 per paycheck)
I don't plan to retire early and may work till I'm well over 70, so I have lots of time to build up my TSP. At this time I am only contributing 6% each paycheck and have never contributed more than 10%.
I actively manage my TSP and really miss the unlimited trades!
I use the G, C & S funds only. I don't understand enough about International Markets or Bonds to mess with the F or I funds.

 

[dhstdog]

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! ��

 

[blueroadster]

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!

Isn't the issue of funds not being insured also true for pretty much all 401k and 403b retirement accounts?

 

[dhstdog]

Isn't the issue of funds not being insured also true for pretty much all 401k and 403b retirement accounts?

That depends where the money is parked however I don't see anyone posting their private 401k information here. Just a friendly word of caution my friend. Cheers

 

[badeye28]

I'm 51 with $292k in my account. I just started on tsptalk, looking to maximize my returns and avoid the down years.

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[uscfanhawaii]

I'm 47 with a current TSP balance of $360K. Had been a buy-n-holder in C/S funds since start of service, but rode the 2008 crash all the way down. Found TSP Talk a couple of years ago, so have been transferring between funds based on input from forum regulars. I also subscribe to Tom's premium service. 2016 was a good year; just prior to the election I was top-50 on autotracker, but was out on election day, so missed a good bit of the post election gains. Still ended the year with 16+%.

I am currently contributing 10% to TSP. No other outside investments. Using Scottrade, I've tried to dabble with individual stocks and ETFs, but end up losing money. At 57 (my MRA), I will have 34+ years of service, with a high-3 average of $150k+.

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.

Sounds like you have a good start!
And asking the question is good , anytime!
Have you looked at the Roth threads and the Investment Strategies threads? There are lots of good points to consider for your personal situation.
I will say (and have said in detail in the Roth vs Traditional IRA/TSP threads) I think everyone should have some Roth exposure for 'tax diversification' reasons, if nothing else. BUT, Roth TSP does NOT appeal to me at all. For Roth, go outside to a good IRA firm (I like Vanguard).
Good Luck in your investing!