Steel_Magnolia's Account Talk

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nnuut said:
That's the Restricted Politics Forum, if you want access just PM Tom, if you're not a troublemaker he will give you permission.
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Come on in, the water's fine. Not flaming hot the way it has been in the past. Can't imagine Tom not letting you jump in if you still are inclined. Besides, you're the bionic woman now, you can handle anything! :D (not that you were a slouch before).
 
alevin said:
Come on in, the water's fine. Not flaming hot the way it has been in the past. Can't imagine Tom not letting you jump in if you still are inclined. Besides, you're the bionic woman now, you can handle anything! :D (not that you were a slouch before).
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I don't know, why do you think she had so many screen names, Ann, aka Lady, Maggie, Morgana and River?crying-with-laughter.gif​
 
alevin said:
Come on in, the water's fine. Not flaming hot the way it has been in the past. Can't imagine Tom not letting you jump in if you still are inclined. Besides, you're the bionic woman now, you can handle anything! :D (not that you were a slouch before).
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nnuut said:
I don't know, why do you think she had so many screen names, Ann, aka Lady, Maggie, Morgana and River?View attachment 20933​
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Ah Norm, you crack me up! And apparently you crack you up too ... is that where the bandages came from? ;D

For those of you who don't know me well, my given name is Ann. However I will always be an excellent Lady and several of you know why. Then my screen name became Steel Magnolia and someone (Frixxxx?) nicknamed me Maggie and it stuck. On another message board I started out as Morgana and then a very few of you know why I chose to be River.

There. Confession time is over. Now on with the show!! [grin]
 
I'm still in cash, waiting for the markets to settle after the elections.

My bionics are still working great. I'm being able to do a few things now that I haven't been able to do for years. Like go out to lunch with friends and linger at the table talking and laughing. Life is good!

And that reminds me of something else I wanted to share with you all. Some of you may remember when I posted a Youtube of a patriotic song by an unknown group my daughter works for. I'm pleased to say that their latest song is doing well. Here is one of the videos for that song. http://www.tsptalk.com/mb/vbtube_show.php?tubeid=930&name=its-time-lyrics-imagine-dragons
 
Albert Schweitzer once said, "In everyone's life, at some time, our inner fire goes out. It is then burst into flame by an encounter with another human being. We should all be thankful for those people who rekindle the inner spirit."

For me, you here are those people and in this month of thanksgiving, I'm thankful for you.
 
Why should I contribute to my TSP account?

"Why should I contribute to my TSP account?"

I’ve noticed that there are a lot of folks on the MB that are starting their careers, so I’d like to put in my two cents about contributing to your TSP.
I heard the question many times from my co-workers and I even thought about a variation of it myself on occasion. Why contribute to my TSP account when:

- The government puts in 1%. That’s enough.
- Money is really tight right now. The kids are young and need braces, etc.
- The kids are in college.
- I just paid for an expensive wedding.
- My spouse just got his/her hours cut.
- I want to go to the Bahamas for vacation.
- And so on…..

First of all, don’t throw away free money. The government will match your contribution up to 5%. So if you don’t contribute at least that much, you’re throwing away free dollars!

CaptureTSP.JPGFrom TSP.gov website


The next reason is that your money can grow fast through the wonderful concept of compound interest. Getting paid interest on the interest your account has already earned is a beautiful thing. [grin]

And another big point I’d like to make is that I’ve heard people say that they really aren’t going to need their TSP at retirement so why put dollars into it now. Well, it’s because if you make a small sacrifice each year, at the end of your career you can fund your DREAM.

Spouse and I just paid cash for our dream place. Three bed, two bath home on 20 acres with 300 ft. well and solar power. Way off the grid 25 miles north of nowhere, in the middle of some of the most beautiful country God ever created. We had to empty our TSP dollars to do it, but we had those dollars to use. If we hadn’t put that 5% into our TSP accounts faithfully each pay period we would never have been able to do it.

So what’s your retirement dream? Think it’s worth a few less trips to Starbucks or other small economies each month?

You’ll be astounded what you can do if you pay yourself first.
 
Re: Why should I contribute to my TSP account?

So if you were in the military and did not get matched contributions would you still think TSP was as important to invest through? I've considered stopping contributions to TSP and simply investing them on my own through a brokerage since I have a lot more control that way. I already max out my Roth IRA each year, but seem to be doing well in my individual account. I just can't stand the limitations of TSP and it seems there is no benefit to it for me being in the military. I'll get taxed on it when I pull it for retirement so what benefit is it to me without matched contributions? I'm not an expert with tax stuff and people have raised points in the past, but I just don't understand it I guess.

Thanks!
 
Re: Why should I contribute to my TSP account?

MaStA said:
So if you were in the military and did not get matched contributions would you still think TSP was as important to invest through? I've considered stopping contributions to TSP and simply investing them on my own through a brokerage since I have a lot more control that way....Thanks!
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Yes, I would contribute to TSP because I know that the money gets saved that way. If you are an extremely disciplined person and you KNOW you'll put the money in the broker account every payday without fail, then it probably doesn't matter which you choose. But I did try to do it on my own once and it was easy for me to find somewhere the money had to go instead of saving it.

Thanks for stopping by and good luck with your saving!
 
Re: Why should I contribute to my TSP account?

TSP is cost effective and easy to work with - they do all the work. Put money in the C fund via dollar cost averaging and take a nap for 10 years - growth will happen no matter the economic situations.
 
Re: Why should I contribute to my TSP account?

MaStA said:
So if you were in the military and did not get matched contributions would you still think TSP was as important to invest through? I've considered stopping contributions to TSP and simply investing them on my own through a brokerage since I have a lot more control that way. I already max out my Roth IRA each year, but seem to be doing well in my individual account. I just can't stand the limitations of TSP and it seems there is no benefit to it for me being in the military. I'll get taxed on it when I pull it for retirement so what benefit is it to me without matched contributions? I'm not an expert with tax stuff and people have raised points in the past, but I just don't understand it I guess.

Thanks!
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You may be right, TSP may not be as beneficial for you without the matching. And you're right, you will be taxed on that money when you pull it out. But when you pull it out, if you're in a lower tax bracket, you will be taxed less on that money than you are now. There is however, always the risk that tax rates increase, and you could end up paying a higher tax rate by deferring the tax until withdrawal. A great way to offset this, however, is to put money in the TSP Roth. This way your Roth contribution limit is way higher than in your Roth IRA. You could potentially stuff away $17k/year into the Roth TSP. You'd pay tax now, and zero at withdrawal. This way, if you end up in a higher tax bracket at retirement, you will have saved yourself from paying the higher rate. I think the main benefit for the TSP if you don't get matching is that your Roth TSP limit is $17k.
 
Re: Why should I contribute to my TSP account?

craigerv said:
You may be right, TSP may not be as beneficial for you without the matching. And you're right, you will be taxed on that money when you pull it out. But when you pull it out, if you're in a lower tax bracket, you will be taxed less on that money than you are now. There is however, always the risk that tax rates increase, and you could end up paying a higher tax rate by deferring the tax until withdrawal. A great way to offset this, however, is to put money in the TSP Roth. This way your Roth contribution limit is way higher than in your Roth IRA. You could potentially stuff away $17k/year into the Roth TSP. You'd pay tax now, and zero at withdrawal. This way, if you end up in a higher tax bracket at retirement, you will have saved yourself from paying the higher rate. I think the main benefit for the TSP if you don't get matching is that your Roth TSP limit is $17k.
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So you can put $5k into a Roth IRA and still put money into the TSP Roth? I thought when using TSP Roth it goes against your cap of $5k/year? Maybe I'm wrong...
 
Re: Why should I contribute to my TSP account?

That's right. Your TSP elective deferral limit is is the limit for contributions to traditional and Roth TSP, and for 2013 is $17.5k. Even if you max out your Roth IRA contributions, you can still max out your TSP Roth. I would say that is the most useful benefit for Roth TSP, $17.5k per year can net you a huge retirement benefit if you can afford to save that much.

Also, maybe a moderator can move this discussion to a Roth TSP discussion. Sorry to hijack your Account Talk, Steel..
 
Re: Why should I contribute to my TSP account?

Hope you put out a salt lick for your four legged neighbors that live in the area. That's real nice.
 
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