Thread: Christopher's Account Talk

Originally Posted by nnuut

The TSP is NOT supporting it, and NO I don't like that!

I recently wrote a pretty substantial letter to both the Head of the Thrift Board, Chairman Michael Kennedy, and the current executive in charge at TSP, Director Ravindra Deo, and outlined four specific things they could do, in my opinion, to improve: the quality of service at TSP; support for their decision to change the I fund to be more inclusive of developing markets; and asking to go to three IFT’s in order to make the TSP more flexible. In that argument, I provided detailed evidence of about three pages that cutting to two moves had actually ended up COSTING MORE in operational overhead, and that the decision made in 2008 to restrict it to 2 moves was faulty.

A few weeks later I got a formal letter back from Executive Director Ravindra Deo, along with a copy of the original 2008 Federal Register Notice cutting the number of trades to two. It was obvious that neither Mr. Deo nor Mr. Kennedy either understood how their own operation, in combination with their contracted trading agent, actually functions, nor the details of how costs are actually incurred in those trades. That apparently was too far into the weeds for either of them to comprehend.

The letter I got back basically stated there was no reason for them to consider relooking at the actual data, because back in 2008, those in charge made those decisions, and , well, they wouldn’t have made those decisions then if it actually was going to cost more.

In short- no, they weren’t going to relook at it, because somebody once said they looked at it before, and no, they didn’t understand the process well enough to second guess the experts who made those decisions more than a decade ago.

Oh, and as far as the other suggestions to request Congress make some tweaks, like allowing more sector funds (precious metals; REIT funds, etc), that was proscribed by law and their hands are tied. (Obviously nobody told either that part of their jobs is to review both current trends in investing, and make proposals to Congress for consideration of improvements).

I am done trying to shine light on how to make the TSP better for employees. I will soon be among the retired, withdrawing money from the TSP.

And oh, did I mention that the Employee Thrift Advisory Counsel (ETAC) has an over- representation of Postal employees, and an. Extreme under representation of military members (1); and that even though about HALF of all TSP account holders are no longer active federal or military members, there isn’t a single member of the ETAC dedicated to representing retired members withdrawing funds, or separated members who won’t be using funds until 30 years from now?




Sent from my iPhone using TSP Talk Forums

Thanks James for giving it another try! Bureaucrats are just that.

Originally Posted by nnuut

Thanks James for giving it another try! Bureaucrats are just that.

Yes... thank you, James. Now that I've been retired (from the USAF) since 2011, perhaps it is time that I rollover my TSP into my TD Ameritrade account where I will have more flexibility and control over my $$$. But, first I must recoup my 5% "losses" from the past couple of days.

I’m not planning on moving ANY of my money out of TSP anytime soon- I give it great credit for its low costs today- I just wish they did some tweaks to make it better. Take everything I say with a grain of 🧂. I am satisfied enough with TSP, including the round of changes they recently made, that I plan to use it for the foreseeable future.


Sent from my iPhone using TSP Talk Forums