Thread: Retired guy needs some advice with rollover to ira.

I retired Jan of this year. Rolled my TSP into an IRA at Schwab in Feb and never looked back. I use Schwab commission free ETFs. ETFs trade like stocks and fees are very low. More than TSP, but not by much.

Fatman,

I'm in the "Roll It !!!" camp !!! Most of mine went into a USAA self-directed brokerage account...left a little in TSP to pull a specified monthly withdrawal until I hit 59.5...I'm there now !!!

IF you make that move, you kinda have to settle on an investment "strategy" that works for you...ETFs, mutual funds, bonds, or individual stocks...I'm conservative in my retirement, so I have a mix of all of the above, including a chunk in plain old money market cash !!!

I DON'T trade 100% of my holdings, so you could run in to problems with settlement rules, if that's your thing...WAY better than the 2 IFT limit of TSP, IMHO !!! I guess there is trading on margin, but that's not my thing...

Good investing to you !!!


Stoplight...

Originally Posted by Kaufmanrider

I retired Jan of this year. Rolled my TSP into an IRA at Schwab in Feb and never looked back. I use Schwab commission free ETFs. ETFs trade like stocks and fees are very low. More than TSP, but not by much.

Kaufmanrider, what you are doing is what I am thinking of doing. However the trade restirctions concern me. Some require you hold for 60 days before selling at no cost, other are 30days.. I have looked a Schwab, Vanguard and Fidelity. There is so much to learn, due to so many different investing options, The old saying of, " i don't know what I don't know beacuse I don't know" is rolling around my head.

If TSP would only let us retirees take out of our accout as we wanted, I ( and I bet alot of others) would be a happy camper. But I will not hold my breath, so back to research for me.. Thanks for the info.

Originally Posted by FatMan

Kaufmanrider, what you are doing is what I am thinking of doing. However the trade restirctions concern me. Some require you hold for 60 days before selling at no cost, other are 30days.. I have looked a Schwab, Vanguard and Fidelity. There is so much to learn, due to so many different investing options, The old saying of, " i don't know what I don't know beacuse I don't know" is rolling around my head.

If TSP would only let us retirees take out of our accout as we wanted, I ( and I bet alot of others) would be a happy camper. But I will not hold my breath, so back to research for me.. Thanks for the info.

FatMan, the 60 days hold you talk about is probably Mutual Funds, ETF's have no such trade restrictions, only a three day settlement period like an individual stock. Mutual funds trade like TSP funds based on the end of the day price no matter what time
during the trading day you buy/sell. An ETF buys/sells at the price it is trading at when you make your transaction.

Turn your IRA money into an income stream and allow for free dividend reinvestments - that way your money is always working in both good and not so good times. I just racked up 167 dividend increase announcements ytd with hopefuly three more to go. This will persist as long as I own equities and my heir holds true to form.

FATMAN, just wondering what you have decided to do? I am planning to retire soon and in the same dilemma...

Interesting article on the main page.

TSP moves to expand investment, withdrawal choices - The Washington Post

Originally Posted by sillbeer

Interesting article on the main page.

TSP moves to expand investment, withdrawal choices - The Washington Post

Good article but all they are offering is tid bits. Sure they are willing to offer up a few mutual funds but what is that really going to do for most of us? This sounds like some underdog politician doing his dance to get attention. The bottom line, that unspeakable taboo subject they won't even hint is NUMBER OF TRADES PER MONTH. Everybody knows this is the 800 lb gorilla in the room yet they just like the neutered politician just keep tap dancing around the subject and hoping nobody notices. They keep referring to the high load mutuals and broker fees and sure they are out there but I would guess anyone with enough experience and cash to head outside is smart enough to easily avoid them.
I was surprised to see the number of retirees bailing at 40, now it's up to 55%. I'm sure they get this,its not rocket science. The trouble is they just don't want to do it so they keep offering up tid bits. I think the heady days of day trading have faded into the past so what's the harm in one or two more trades a month? Looking at those numbers though I truly think these guys are going to have to cave in and it will be sooner rather than later and offering up a few tid bits just ain't gonna cut it. Either way it goes I will probably be joining the exodus myself next year. I keep looking for reasons not to stuff the whole thing in with my other Vanguard account and I keep seeing none at all.

I rolled mine into a pre-existing traditional IRA, takes 30 days for OPM to notify TSP. You'll pay a fee but you'll get service. They'll give you a questionnaire to determine your risk level and go from there, I'm level 2 next to no risk at all. I'm happy with the results so far, 5 years now.

Very interesting article about TSP. I retired about 1 year ago and still fully invested with tsp. I spoke with my broker shortly after retirement and he suggested rolling it over into an IRA with many options, I have not done so yet but considering. A wise veteran I worked with told me 25 years ago that if the gubmint offers you something it's not for your benifit. That was when they tried to get CSRS to convert to FERS, which I did not do thanks to Albert. As a federal employee working I never forgot that.

Albert was a smart Dude, I didn't move to FERS myself, it didn't make sense to me.