TSP Millionaires

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RealMoneyIssues said:
I've met him too, but I guess you got a better impression of him than I did...

j/k
:toung:

He's way smarter than me and seems to be doing everything right, so be careful, he WILL be a millionaire soon!
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I know he's way smarter than me. He didn't drool the eggs on the floor when we met in Temecula. I was embarrassing to be around. He had to move to the other edge of the country to save face...:p
 
Planning is good...actually necessary, but as the old saying goes, "don't count your chickens until they've hatched." Many things can and will happen between now and retirement time, but all one can do is plan, and hope for the best. Good Day!
 
law87 said:
I hate how Federal employee get matching but Military doesnt! they make way more than us!
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mick504 said:
Planning is good...actually necessary, but as the old saying goes, "don't count your chickens until they've hatched." Many things can and will happen between now and retirement time, but all one can do is plan, and hope for the best. Good Day!
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And that's all I'm saying, PLAN! If you don't have one or always expect the worst, then I guess certain ideas may seem out of reach!

Boghie/RMI - You guys are just as smart if not smarter than me.
 
Those who input 8-12% yearly growth are living in cloud cuckoo. I only use 4-5% in my yearly assumptions (generally 30 year yield plus S&P 500 dividend yield).

With TSP, we all have the ability to create a KISS portfolio with low fees and matching funds, but in the end the only thing you have any control over is your contribution rate.
 
Bullitt said:
...but in the end the only thing you have any control over is your contribution rate.
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Great discussion ! Glad to see so many of you "young Guys and Girls" are thinking ahead...wish I was as smart, when I was your age :) I'm NOT 1 of those "TSP Millionaires", but I could've been :embarrest:

Three thoughts come to my mind, as a FERS Guy about to hit his 1-year-retired anniversary : First...Stash as much cash as you can, when you're young ! Establish that "base" (and keep contributing !), take the tax break (in the traditional TSP...The Wife and I benefited from that, but I didn't have the option of the Roth, so YMMV !) , and let compounding do the rest ! At some point in your career, you'll reach the point where you realize "WOW ! That's a lot of money !" BUT...the tail is wagging the dog, and your yearly contributions don't make much difference in your "pot" at the finish line ! START EARLY, and "give till it hurts !" :)

Second : Don't underestimate the ability, as a FED, to retire "early" ! I see many are thinking of working to 62, or 65, or beyond, and that's great...you'll retire with gobs more money than I have ! OTOH, there's something to be said to be able to retire at age 57 (like I did, and I'm not in any of the special categories or anything)...and "Uncle" throws me an additional $1,100 a month (the FERS Supplement), to boot ! Retiring "early" is a blessing I really didn't think about, until just before I retired :D Now, so many of my Friends are like "Man ! I wish I could retire, with a full pension, at 57 !"

Last : Don't forget...once you hit 50, you can make "catch-up" contributions that will allow you to exceed the annual limits by a little bit, and just pad your balance even more :)

Granted...I was fortunate, as an Engineer, to be in an upper GS- pay scale for part of my career...that boosted my "high-3"...I'm also half of what used to be called a "DINK" - "Dual Income , No Kids" household, so we don't have kids in college or anything to plan for...we're sitting pretty right now :D

Best of luck to you all, and keep stashing (and making !) that $$$ !


Stoplight...
 
Try not to get jammed up with that 3.8% Obamacare tax that started this year. An AGI over $250,000 for married is when it kicks in.
 
Only a matter of time when the tsp millionaires will be demonized...I can hear it now...they really don't need that much money...lets spread the wealth around...how dare they accumulate that much...I heard our president mention something about capping retirement savings or something to that affect
 
rcknfrewld said:
Only a matter of time when the tsp millionaires will be demonized...I can hear it now...they really don't need that much money...lets spread the wealth around...how dare they accumulate that much...I heard our president mention something about capping retirement savings or something to that affect
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Add all the money in TSP up and divide by the participants, then it can be "even" ;)
 
So, all y'all got me interested in seeing how my TSP account "grew" through my career...

Many Thanks to Frixx and Bohgie, and the tips in the "Quicken" forum of "Budgeting Tools and Software"...I spent some time today, looking at my numbers back to 1/1/1993 :) Yes...I've been using Quicken a LONG time, too...like Steel Magnolia !!!

Anyway, here's what I came up with...started with TSP 6/1984, when I first started work for the Feds as a civilian...just MISSED the CSRS cutoff, but bought back 4 years military time ! No data before 1/1993...I was using a program called "MoneyCounts" on my 386-SX CompuAdd computer back then ! I LOVED that computer, and it was built like a tank !!! Still have it :nuts: And...I was like most of the sheeples...putting my money in "G", and not paying attention to it...

100K - 1996 (12 years)
200K - 2001 (5 years)
300K - 2005 (4 years)
400K - 2007 (2 years ; joined TspTalk)
500K - 2012 (5 years ; the "crash" took it's toll on me, too)
528K - 2013 (current; 1 year since retirement ; rolled most of my TSP into a self-directed brokerage IRA ; paying MUCH more attention to where I put my money ; pulling fixed monthly withdraw from my remaining TSP balance)

The moral of the story ? "Compounding is your Friend" ! And..."PAY ATTENTION !!!"

But...most of you KNOW that :D


Stoplight...
 
Stoplight said:
So, all y'all got me interested in seeing how my TSP account "grew" through my career...

....

The moral of the story ? "Compounding is your Friend" ! And..."PAY ATTENTION !!!"

But...most of you KNOW that :D


Stoplight...
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Amen Brother!
I could show mine and it would paint the same picture. I'm well north of seven figures.
 
I have a spreadsheet I created years ago because I like graphs and this was the only way I knew to do it. It simply shows contribution v balance. If anyone is interested, I will see if Tom will let me post it.

PO
 
Trying to attach this again.

In column A put any date series you want. Column B is for the account balance on the date in column A. Column C is for contributions during the column A time period. I enter my personal contributions. You can enter personal+matching+basic, whatever you want. Column D is a running total of column C. The axes are based on columns B and D.

PO
 

Attachments

For informative thread

I'm 42 and have 260,000 in my TSP, I'm currently 100%S and max my contributions at 17,500. My wife is 43 and has 210,000 and has the same allocations. I'm planning on working until I'm 65 but my wife will probably retire at 60. We also plan to make the catch-up contributions when we hit 50.

I've played with the calculators and the range is pretty big, we could have anywhere from 3-5 mill by the time I'm 65.

Is a combined 5 mill realistic in yall's opinions?
 
SJCX said:
Is a combined 5 mill realistic in yall's opinions?
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not in my world, unless i hit the powerball. or find me a sugar mama.

that's a lot of eggs in one basket. my biggest fear with that much scratch lying around would be a piano falling out of the sky and hitting me on the head before i could enjoy any of it.
 
SJCX said:
For informative thread

I'm 42 and have 260,000 in my TSP, I'm currently 100%S and max my contributions at 17,500. My wife is 43 and has 210,000 and has the same allocations. I'm planning on working until I'm 65 but my wife will probably retire at 60. We also plan to make the catch-up contributions when we hit 50.

I've played with the calculators and the range is pretty big, we could have anywhere from 3-5 mill by the time I'm 65.

Is a combined 5 mill realistic in yall's opinions?
Click to expand...

Yes...

But, if your wife does retire at 60 your total will be cut rather dramatically if you cannot live off your income. At that point the contributions will not matter nearly as much as time in the market for her side (or, your side as a matter of fact...).
 
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