Share Your TSP Balance and Your Age Thread

[Soupguy]

45 with 12 years in. Current balance is 417k. For the first 6-7 years I didnt contribute max. I think I started around 7% and increased my percentage until I was able to max contributions a few years back. I have been mainly in c/s. Id love to believe I will hit 1M before 56 or 57 but I doubt we will see the same bull run we had over the past decade to make it happen.

[Cattman]

Soon to be 61 with $225K currently. Had been above that 5 years ago and Big D chopped 100K off of it. Will hit 39 years service end of May 17+ years under CSRS then switch to FERS. Target retirement date is 12/31/22 unless I hit the wall before then. Do more with less is not working well for USDA.

[Fit2bol]

Retired in January 2020 in CSRS with 40 yrs of service (62 yrs old) and a TSP balance of $560K ...just before the pandemic hit. Got more time in my hand and did well the last 13 months since I retired and my current balance today is $857K. Haven't started withdrawing yet.

[bmneveu]

age 67, contributed 24 yrs, sitting at 560k now. retired in 2014. had a 68.40% return last year, haven't pulled the trigger on ss yet

68%!! Wow, that's gotta feel good!

[TSPuser]

Greetings my fellow TSP'ers///posting Retirement + 8 month update on TSP performance
Since retirement at end of June 2020 at age 61 with ~36 yrs of service, finding TSP now in excess of $1.5 M.
A fundamental question upon attaining retirement, is it more advantageous to hold a large block of shares, for example ~22,000 S fund, or to shift 20% in G fund, and the rest in S funds?
It now appears the historic fund to fund valuation ratio guard rails are showing substantial stress from the S fund valuation growth curve...
thanks for sharing best practices for TSP upon retirement....

[Scottydog007]

I think this is my first post on TSPtalk.

Anyhow, my current balance as of this morning was $983k and I'm currently 46. I'll have 20 years in with the federal government in a couple of months. Only recently did I get my GS13 so it hasn't been like I'm a high earner. I've had a mix of 48% C, 26% S, and 26% I for as long as I can remember. I rebalance every now and then but no interfund transfers moving all my money to one fund and so forth. It's been a max out the contributions and keep it steady. Just got my 2020 TSP Annual Statement yesterday and according to the data on there, I've contributed $283k with my balance being $983k so I'm pretty happy with the returns so far.

Not to offend anyone but market timing makes me nervous, especially now with a balance close to $1M. A few slip ups and you're down $100k or more....difficult to make that up. My planned working time horizon is another 10 yrs, maybe and extra year or two beyond that but I'm planning on retiring at 57 with 30 years in. I've been fortunate enough to front some of my contributions during downturns like the financial crisis back in 2008-2009....last year's debacle...etc.

[Boghie]

age 67, contributed 24 yrs, sitting at 560k now. retired in 2014. had a 68.40% return last year, haven't pulled the trigger on ss yet

And, probably will never have to pull that trigger with returns like that. Amazing... GLHF

[Boghie]

Based on my previous entries I'm well in front of my target:

Age: 57
Balance: $737K (as of 2020/12/31)
Investing: Alternate between three allocations (Conservative, Normal, Aggressive)
Expected Balance at age 65 (using Quicken and DinkyTown.Net):
Retirement Age: 65
Expected Return: 8.00% - This is under my IRR since 2004.
Expected Inflation: 3.0% - I still expect very muted inflation.
Expected Contributions: 20% of Gross Salary, 15% from me, 5% match

Results (inflation adjusted):

• Expected Balance: $1.564 million
• Expected Annual Withdraw (20 years): $93K
• Expected Annual Withdraw (30 years): $75K
• Expected Annual Withdraw (38 years): $68K

According to my financial advisor at Edelman Financial Engines, we need about $42K out of total retirement assets to live comfortably in retirement. We do have other retirement investments that will help out. It was Ron at Edelman that recommended that I use age 103 as the 'This is the End' date - basically when my wife will turn 95. Anyway, in the end I now need to have a return of about 5.6% in TSP alone to meet my retirement goal - and, we do have a decent nest egg outside of TSP.

A word of warning to the unsuspecting out there!!!
DO NOT EXPECT 20% gains in your TSP! TSP is merely a brokerage account. A 20% gain is an outlier. If you can handle volatility than figure a 9% or 10% average annual gain - which would be the 'C Fund'. A 20%+ gain like last year is not super rare, but you cannot count on it. Plus, if you nearing retirement age (say 60) ask yourself 'What would my retirement be like if my TSP balance was cut by 20% or 30%?'. If the answer is "Meh, no problem. I won't panic and I can live comfortably while the market recovers over three to five years" then invest in risk (C/S/I). If the answer is "I'm bailing because I want at least a good quality of Alpo" then Nope, don't go there. Look back at your transactions in 2001, 2002, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011, and even 2015. If you bailed on the bottom than DO NOT invest fully in risk (C/S/I). Those corrections are also NOT super rare - and you will not have time to recoup from losses. Be careful out there.

Happy Hunting...

[James48843]

I think this is my first post on TSPtalk.

Anyhow, my current balance as of this morning was $983k and I'm currently 46. I'll have 20 years in with the federal government in a couple of months. Only recently did I get my GS13 so it hasn't been like I'm a high earner. I've had a mix of 48% C, 26% S, and 26% I for as long as I can remember.

Wow. You have done extremely well, and I commend you for your actions and your ability to stick to it. You are doing great, and I wish you blessings and all the best!

Congrats, and best of luck die your future. Kept up the good work!


Sent from my iPhone using TSP Talk Forums

[nasa1974]

A word of warning to the unsuspecting out there!!!
DO NOT EXPECT 20% gains in your TSP! TSP is merely a brokerage account. A 20% gain is an outlier. If you can handle volatility than figure a 9% or 10% average annual gain - which would be the 'C Fund'. A 20%+ gain like last year is not super rare, but you cannot count on it. Plus, if you nearing retirement age (say 60) ask yourself 'What would my retirement be like if my TSP balance was cut by 20% or 30%?'. If the answer is "Meh, no problem. I won't panic and I can live comfortably while the market recovers over three to five years" then invest in risk (C/S/I). If the answer is "I'm bailing because I want at least a good quality of Alpo" then Nope, don't go there. Look back at your transactions in 2001, 2002, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011, and even 2015. If you bailed on the bottom than DO NOT invest fully in risk (C/S/I). Those corrections are also NOT super rare - and you will not have time to recoup from losses. Be careful out there.

Happy Hunting...

Bogie,
Well said.

I finally woke up back in 2004 that I wasn't handling or paying attention to my TSP as much as I should have. Since 2004 I have pretty much been a buy and hold, mostly in the S fund. I have dabbled in the other funds or played the less then 1% game for awhile. Being CSRS I didn't get matching funds I also didn't reinvest into my TSP when I would get a promotion for family financial reasons, but that's another story. When I retired from Government service back in 2012 with 42 years of service. I stayed in TSP instead of transferring into something else and it has worked out pretty good so far. Currently I am sitting at $335K and would have been farther ahead but in 2013 I did a one time withdrawal of $70K to pay off my daughters college loans and some other debt.
In response to Bogie's post I have been fortunate enough to see almost double digit gains every year since 2004. With that said there have been some rough patches.

2004 16.96%
2005 17.38%
2006 17.85%
2007 7.57%
2008 12.82%
2009 14.14%
2010 20.87%
2011 2.17%
2012 15.09%
2013 33.40%
2014 7.58%
2015 2.17%
2016 15.46%
2017 18.40%
2018 12.15%
2019 28.96%
2020 31.17%
2021 14.16%

Honestly it's more luck then skill.

[1mech]

27 years of Postal service, started saving as soon as possible. Started out around 7% getting the max match, then every step increase or contractual increase, added another one or two percent. I have been maxed out on contributions for probably 10 years now. Sitting in the $800K range with three more years before retiring. My motto is "I have lost more money being out of the market, than I have being in the market" Sometimes it hurts, but it is not usually easy to perfectly time the market!

[Workingfortheman]

Greetings,

New poster here. Enjoyed reading through this thread.

Currently 54 (FERS) with $917,000 in TSP. Approximately 80% C Fund, 20% L Income. Maxing out for at least the last 10 years and catchup contributions since turning 50. All paychecks go 100% to C Fund.

Read a previous post about not timing the market. While I agree, there are times to consider doing just that – I’ve been pretty lucky!

In 2018 I was 100% invested in C & S, but market volatility surrounding the trade war with China led me to rebalance my portfolio at about 50/50 between C and L Income. The S&P was hovering between 3000-3200 at the time.
When the market crashed in March 2020, I made 2 buys on 16 March and 23 March – which happened to be the rock bottom date. The S&P was 2386 and 2237 on those 2 dates. Having a chunk of change parked in the L Income fund allowed me to buy about $250,000 worth of shares in the C Fund at the dip. If I was fully invested in C, S, or I, I would have only been able to ride out the storm and not take advantage of the opportunity.

I track our TSP investments regularly and chart them in excel.

On 1 Jan 2020, my account was $660,000. Close of business Thursday that had grown to $917,000--39% growth over 20 months.

Retirement plan is 62 – 7 years and change from now. As a GS-15/10 with 39 years total Fed service (including 6+ years in the military with time bought) I’ll draw a decent pension and plan to take SS at 62. Figure I can stay aggressive for at least 7 years, using my wife’s TSP as a bridge in retirement ($305,000 currently) keeping mine untouched for 6-7 years post retirement. She’ll draw a small VA pension (14 years) at 62 and a State pension at 65 and can delay SS to 67 or later.