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Thread: What would you ask TSP if you had the chance?

  1. #1

    Join Date
    Dec 2005
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    Billings, Montana
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    Question What would you ask TSP if you had the chance?

    I am going to a half day workshop at the end of the month by the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board, the government agency that administers the Thrift Savings Plan.

    If you had the opportunity, what questions would you ask?

    Here are a few I have:

    What are the circumstances when the federal government has withdrawn funds from the TSP in the past and how was it repaid?

    What are the chances that the TSP deadline could be moved closer to the end of the trading deadline or closer to the beginning of the next day's trading open?

    Who has access to information about the members' trading moves as a whole between the TSP daily deadline and the end of the trading day?

    Is there a possibility that policy will change and my surviving spouse can stay in the TSP and not be required to cash out after I die?


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  3. #2

    Join Date
    Mar 2007
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    Kentucky (somerset)
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    Default Re: What would you ask TSP if you had the chance?

    I'm curious if they will make a tsp roth ira. I know they've been talking about it...but as my grandfather used to say "want in one hand, crap in another...see which fills up first."
    "Live like nobody else, so later you can live like nobody else." -Dave Ramsey

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  5. #3

    Default Re: What would you ask TSP if you had the chance?

    Roth Roth..I am with CO. We need a Roth.
    I can answer a few of your questions.

    1.The federal govenment with some fuzzy accounting can't go above the debt ceiling. When it gets close to this ceiling it takes steps like borrowing from the TSP and such. They always pay it back with the interest that would have been earned on it in the fund. They pay it back with borrowed money once the debt ceiling is raised.
    The real question is, & this is limited by my little knowledge.They only borrow from the G fund and the G fund is as I understand it invested in government securities. Would them borrowing from the G fund, which is already loaned to them once, be like having 2 100% loan value mortgages on your house?

    2. I predict they will not move the deadline for transfers since they don't really like "market timers".

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  7. #4

    Default Re: What would you ask TSP if you had the chance?

    Please ask why the TSP board does not act like a mutual fund company in regards to being able to make a change to an account by 2:00pm rather than 11:00 CST. This would be benificial to all of us.

    Now, I would assume the change to account is automated? If it is, then it shouldn't matter. If there is something manual that needs to be done then I can see why. But, I would hope everything is automated. If they come back and say, this is how they keep the fees reduced. Then I would ask what is the cost difference? and make a proposal to move the time frame to the afternoon. The beneifits for us are greater than the cost of missing a trade or position in the long run.

    Thank you very much.

    Steve Douglas

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  9. #5

    Join Date
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    Default Re: What would you ask TSP if you had the chance?

    The TSP Board has always, at least so far as I can remember, discouraged market timing but then they switched over to daily valuation - which to me is sort of like wanting to have your cake and eating it too.

    It would be nice if they created a trading deadline that is based upon local time - but I dont think they'll do that because it would give members in the west an unfair advantage. Since the market opens at 9:30 Eastern, everybody gets to see how it is behaving for 2.5 hours before making a decision. If they were to push the deadline to, say, 2pm local time, then traders on the east coast would have to make trades before the market closed while traders on the west coast would be able to make trades afterwards.
    To get to the light at the end of the tunnel, you have to be willing to face the train.

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  11. #6

    Default Re: What would you ask TSP if you had the chance?

    Why do they think a TSP/Roth is a bad idea when the rest of the country is moving towards 401K/Roth's?

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  13. #7

    Default Re: What would you ask TSP if you had the chance?

    True there are many pros and cons when comparing Roth 401k's vs. traditional 401k's. You can read about some of them here http://www.roth401k-center.com/index_best.htm or on wikipedia. I would contribute to both if that was a TSP option. That would allow you to effectively choose your tax rate for each year of retirement, or per event.

    For example, say I'm retired and the wife wants to spend Christmas in Hawaii. Say it's going to cost me $3000. I could withdraw the amount from the Roth 401K and that would be it. If I withdrew it from the traditional 401K I would have to pay and additional $840 in taxes. (Assuming a 28 % tax rate)

    As far as costs go, TSP could charge the extra amount it costs in setting up the program to the participants that choose to take the ROTH TSP option. Once it is programed in, it shouldn't cost any more to administrate.

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  15. #8

    Default Re: What would you ask TSP if you had the chance?

    Quote Originally Posted by BeaverState View Post
    True there are many pros and cons when comparing Roth 401k's vs. traditional 401k's. You can read about some of them here http://www.roth401k-center.com/index_best.htm or on wikipedia. I would contribute to both if that was a TSP option. That would allow you to effectively choose your tax rate for each year of retirement, or per event.

    For example, say I'm retired and the wife wants to spend Christmas in Hawaii. Say it's going to cost me $3000. I could withdraw the amount from the Roth 401K and that would be it. If I withdrew it from the traditional 401K I would have to pay and additional $840 in taxes. (Assuming a 28 % tax rate)

    As far as costs go, TSP could charge the extra amount it costs in setting up the program to the participants that choose to take the ROTH TSP option. Once it is programed in, it shouldn't cost any more to administrate.
    However, you can set up your own Roth account now (and many have done so). There seems to be little additional advantage (and substantial start up cost to TSP participants) having TSP involved in setting up an entire system for what is already quite easily and inexpensively available.
    Official Retirement Date: 06-31-2014!

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  17. #9

    Default Re: What would you ask TSP if you had the chance?

    Why doesn't TSP offer a value fund option? Even better, a large cap value fund and a small cap value fund.


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  19. #10

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    Post Re: What would you ask TSP if you had the chance?

    Index funds contain both growth and value. For comparison go to www.Stockcharts.com "perfChart" and enter the 3 ticker symbols for ETF small caps: IJS (value), IJR (index), and IJT (growth), see how they plot!...

    Quote Originally Posted by BeaverState View Post
    Why doesn't TSP offer a value fund option? Even better, a large cap value fund and a small cap value fund.

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  21. #11

    Default Re: What would you ask TSP if you had the chance?

    Quote Originally Posted by Spaf View Post
    Index funds contain both growth and value.
    True. However, TSP did split the total market index into the C & S funds. One could argue that there is value in that. One tends to perform better than the other for several years in a row.

    There are ample academic studies (FAMA/FRENCH, etc) that show over long periods of time Value Funds do better than Growth Funds. Again, one tends to outperform the other for several years in a row....

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  23. #12

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    Default Re: What would you ask TSP if you had the chance?

    1. I would glady keep the 12 noon deadline if TSP would upgrade their site. Would you please allow us access to things such as average cost basis and recent contributions in each fund?

    2. Is there a way to find the total amount of IFT's in each fund on any particular day in the entire TSP universe?

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