Has anyone heard from any of their Congressmen?
I sent via webmail to Senator Hutchison and Senator Cornyn and Representative Culberson from Texas. Only Senator Cornyn sent back a reply:
Thank you for contacting me regarding the government employee's Thrift Savings Plan. I appreciate having the benefit of your views on this matter.
The Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) is a defined contribution plan similar to a 401(k), and is governed by the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board. Recently, the Board announced its intention to reign in escalating transaction costs by limiting trading fund transfers to twice a month. The Board still maintains flexibility within the TSP by not charging fees to investors for fund transfers, and this new rule does not apply to the low-risk G fund.
I understand the importance of improving our pension system, and I support efforts to strengthen 401(k) plans and employee stock ownership plans without implementing undue regulation. You may be certain that I will keep your views in mind should relevant legislation come before the full Senate. Thank you for contacting me.
Sincerely,
JOHN CORNYN
United States Senator
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Here's what I sent via their website (plagiarized from Paladin's questions plus some other stuff):
Reference:
[Federal Register: December 27, 2007 (Volume 72, Number 247)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Page 73251-73252]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr27de07-1]
Dear Sir:
The TSP(Thrift Service Plan) Board deserves a very poor grade for their past communication with TSP participants and their public affairs effort. But now things have gotten worse because they are demonstrating deceit and arrogance by posting this Federal Register notice [see reference above } during the Christmas-New Year's holiday week, and trying to make the Rule effective on Jan. 7th, a clear attempt to sneak it through before most Federal employees even realize what is going on. The attitude is..."we know what is best for you, and we don't really want any comments on this that disagree with us".
This is very poor behaviour they are demonstrating in continued contacts with the ETAC (Employee Thrift Advisory Council), Congress, and others. Even if they are right and there is a problem with trading costs (which they have not proven), the way they have approached this whole situation displays a shocking degree of callousness and arrogance. This type of behavior alone shows that we clearly need new leadership at FRTIB (Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board).
Bottom line:
please support efforts to eliminate or at least delay implementation of this rule that will restrict TSP trading limits. The federal register notice says this will only affect federal employees. This is wrong. It will affect retirees, U.S. Military service members, as well. And it will affect their spouses and families.
Also, the proposed "Interim Rule" also does not meet the legal requirements of the Administrative Procedures Act, in that there is NO EMERGENCY, and this "Interim Rule" violates 5 USC section 553.
Also, they have not given the legally required 30 day comment period and notice of proposed rule making;
There are MANY questions that have not been answered. Filing of this proposal at this time is an obvious attempt for the TSP board to avoid congressional oversight. Please don't let them succeed.
Everyone is trying to get to the TRUTH of this matter and to understand the real motivations behind the FRTIB's (Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board) proposal. However, the proposal itself raises some serious questions which the FRTIB has yet to answer: I would appreciate your help in supporting a delay in implementation.
As a minimum, there need to be an independent audit to answer questions below:
* How can 3,000 traders out of 3.8 million enrollees be responsible for driving up transaction costs when the L-Funds held by 543,213 members have to be rebalanced EVERY SINGLE DAY?
* Does the alleged rise in transaction costs reflect the fact that the TSP itself is growing by $40 billion each year?
* How much of the transaction cost is related to Barclays' inaccurate estimation of the Fair Value (FV) for the I-Fund?
* Why is the FRTIB so determined to enact such TSP-unfriendly restrictions when the transaction cost they are worrying about amounts to only $3.95 per person per year, or a penny a day per account?
* Why doesn't an independent auditor review the overall TSP expenses, consider alternatives, and make recommendations prior to the enactment of such drastic changes to the TSP program?
* If the majority of transaction expenses are in the I-Fund, then why not address the I-Fund problem and leave the other funds alone? There is absolutely no reason to restrict interfund transfers in the C, S, F and G funds since the FRTIB has already stated that these funds are not the source of the alleged problem!
* Why can't Barclays find a better way to make the I-Fund transactions at a lower cost? Why can't these be made in a single batch transaction like they do with the daily rebalancing of the L-Funds?
* Why can't a nominal fixed fee in the order of $10 per trade be charged for any excessive transactions? The discount brokerages are able to charge $7 per trade regardless of the number of shares traded, and yet the FRTIB says that it will cost TSP members thousands of dollars for a single interfund transfer? This simply does not make any sense!
* Why did the FRTIB propose an arbitrary limit of 2 trades per month instead of perhaps 5 trades per month which might be easier for TSP enrollees to accept? Again, where is their cost justification?
* Why is there not more concern about the fact that millions of dollars have been spent to enable TSP Shareholders to have a daily access to their accounts. Perhaps more caution and more study should be done to make sure it is smart to throw this investment away.
As you can see, there are many complex questions that need to be examined and understood before the FRTIB undertakes major changes to the TSP program. These complex financial considerations should be addressed by an independent auditing agency, as this is the only way that all parties concerned (FRTIB, ETAC, TSP enrollees, Congress, etc.) will have confidence that the issue of TSP transaction costs has been fully investigated and understood, and that all reasonable alternatives have been evaluated for the benefit of TSP enrollees and the management of their retirement accounts.
Sincerely,