How many federal workers use TSP as exclusive retirement vehicle?

[Jobster]

Originally Posted by outdoorman

I'm hoping to work another 5 yrs before retiring, so now I thinking I should continue to contribute from my paycheck into TSP since they match 5%.

Also look to transfer my current IRA being managed by Raymond James (1% fee) to a different IRA made up of index mutual funds with lower fees.

I also have some savings currently managed by Raymond James in a separate/ non-IRA account (made up of mutual funds also at 1% fee). So I should move that into index mutual funds with low fees.

Does this sound like a good idea??

The TSP is a great fund. If you want to avoid volatility but still give you some exposure to the equities, you might want to consider no more than an 80% in investment grade bonds which is the F fund and no more than 20% in equities, preferably only utilizing the S Fund which historically has had the highest return and continues to have the highest average return for the last several years running.

If you are highly concerned with volatility, you should further reduce the ratio of equities and perhaps consider holding some government treasuries as well.

[NJ2MDdude]

I have a friend who has over $1 million in his TSP account. He's 54 and started working for the federal government after graduating from college in 1984. He maxes out his TSP contribution at $24k ($18k plus the $6k catch-up).

[ABQ2015]

Originally Posted by outdoorman

I'm hoping to work another 5 yrs before retiring, so now I thinking I should continue to contribute from my paycheck into TSP since they match 5%.

Also look to transfer my current IRA being managed by Raymond James (1% fee) to a different IRA made up of index mutual funds with lower fees.

I also have some savings currently managed by Raymond James in a separate/ non-IRA account (made up of mutual funds also at 1% fee). So I should move that into index mutual funds with low fees.

Does this sound like a good idea??

Definitely contribute to the TSP at least enough to get the matching - it is free money.

As far as transferring your other accounts to index mutual funds, I think you have asked that before so you might go back and review what others recommended. I assume you have managed your TSP yourself - how has that worked out compared to the managed accounts? That should give you a good idea of whether to go it alone without a financial adviser.