First Time poster with questions.

[NMHS]

Hello Folks,

First time poster here and I just registered for the Autotracker. Here's my question. My wife and I are dual career Govt employess in the 25% tax bracket. I'm a GS9 (34 and retiring at 57, mandatory) and my wife is a GS11 (37 and retiring at 62). We still have 20+years left before retirement. I handle both TSP accounts and I have an unorthodox grasp of TSP, investments, etc. We've made close to 18,000 a piece on our TSP in the last couple years....by luck I'm certain.

We're currently splitting our TSP between C,S and some of I. We also have some money in a Roth and I'm pretty certain we'll be in the 25% tax bracket at retirement. So now that all this is out in the open what opinions and thoughts would all of you have for our situation. Should we stay with TSP or start moving more money to the ROTH. I'm looking forward to sticking around this site and gaining a lot of knowledge. I wish I would've found this place a lot earlier.

Thanks!

[tsptalk]

Welcome NMHS! Thanks for joining us.

Most of us here are not qualified to give specific individual retirement advice, but hopefully you'll get some feedback. Just understand that anything you read here is more than likely not a professional opinion and should be treated as such.

Good luck!

[Birchtree]

I'm qualified to give you individual retirement advice because I'm much older - been there and done that already. The more money you add to your Roth the more flexibility you'll have over time. TSP is very cost effective but has limitations. Always buy individual stocks for your Roth and apply dividend reinvestments. I've received 77 dividend increase announcements so far this year for my Birchtree 300 fund. Welcome aboard.

[dannyboy]

[I handle both TSP accounts and I have an unorthodox grasp of TSP, investments, etc. We've made close to 18,000 a piece on our TSP in the last couple years....by luck I'm certain.

We're currently splitting our TSP between C,S and some of I. We also have some money in a Roth and I'm pretty certain we'll be in the 25% tax bracket at retirement. So now that all this is out in the open what opinions and thoughts would all of you have for our situation. Should we stay with TSP or start moving more money to the ROTH. I'm looking forward to sticking around this site and gaining a lot of knowledge. I wish I would've found this place a lot earlier.

Thanks![/QUOTE]
Greetings,
You can benefit greatly if you tune in often. That amount," We've made close to 18,000 a piece on our TSP in the last couple years" can be changed to every year and with compound interest, that is a low estimate? :) Find a strategy, observe how others here are doing, proceed with caution.
db

[nnuut]

Welcome to the Message Board NMHS, and best of luck with your investments.
Norman

[NMHS]

Welcome to the Message Board NMHS, and best of luck with your investments.
Norman

Thanks! :)

[RealMoneyIssues]

Welcome!!

Oh, and I WISH I was in your situation... ah, the possibilities :D

[Boghie]

NMHS,

Nice returns!!!
Anyway, being in the 25% bracket at your age and career level leaves you in a tough spot for that decision. The 25% bracket is considered the tipping point. Here are some definites:

Fund your TSP to at least 5%. That way you get the full free money match.
Then, I would probably fund the Roth. You might end up earning too much to fund it later.
Finally, when the Roth is funded, stick the rest back into TSP.

You will have to do some math to number crunch this. I would figure out how much total I would want to invest in all my retirement accounts, then calculate the 5% number, then subtract that number from the difference of the total and Roth investment. That is:

Full TSP Contribution = Total Contribution – 5% of Salary (already toward TSP) – $5,000 (to Roth).

Ex: Full TSP Contribution = $15K - $4K (5% of $80K example) - $5K (Roth) = $6,000
Thus, in this example (where you are making $80K) you would contribute $10K to TSP and $5K to Roth. That would leave you a very nice and flexible nest egg…

[NMHS]

Thanks!

[SkyPilot]

The both of you may be able to lower your AGI enough to drop a bracket with maximum contributions to your TSP! I agree... get your matching, max your roth, then max your TSP non roth... learn as much as you can, stay engaged and look forward to a sweet and well funded retirement!