TSP Description

The TSP offers a variety of investment options for your retirement. You can choose your own mix of investments from a short-term U.S. Treasury security to index funds made of domestic and international stocks. Or, if you prefer, choose one of TSP’s Lifecycle (L) Funds that uses a professionally determined investment mix designed to deliver a balanced approach to investing based on when you’ll need your money.

Simplifying The Funds

G Fund

The payment of G Fund principal and interest is guaranteed by the U.S. Government. This means that the U.S. Government will always make the required payments.

The G Fund rate is calculated by the U.S. Treasury as the weighted average yield of approximately 136 U.S. Treasury securities on the last day of the previous month.

F Fund

By law, the F Fund must be invested in fixed-income securities. The Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board has chosen to invest the F Fund in an index fund that tracks the Bloomberg Barclays U.S. Aggregate Bond Index, a broadly diversified index of the U.S. bond market.

The U.S. Aggregate Index consists of high-quality fixed-income securities with maturities of more than one year. Because the U.S. Aggregate Index contains such a large number of securities, it is not feasible for the F Fund to invest in each security in the index.

The FRTIB Executive Director currently allocates the selection, purchase, investment, and management of assets contained in the F Fund to BlackRock Institutional Trust Company, N.A. BlackRock selects a large representative sample of the various types of asset-backed, U.S. government, corporate, and foreign government securities included in the overall index. The performance of the F Fund is evaluated on the basis of how closely its returns match those of the U.S. Aggregate Index.

C Fund

By law, the C Fund must be invested in a portfolio designed to replicate the performance of an index of stocks representing the U.S. stock markets. The Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board has chosen as its benchmark the Standard & Poor’s 500 Stock Index, which tracks the performance of major U.S. companies and industries.

The S&P 500 Index is an index of 500 large to medium-sized U.S. companies that are traded in the U.S. stock markets. The index was designed by Standard & Poor’s Corporation (S&P) to provide a representative measure of U.S. stock markets’ performance. The companies in the index represent 157 industries classified into the 11 major sector groups shown in the chart. The stocks in the S&P 500 Index represent approximately 82% of the market value of the U.S. stock markets.

S Fund

The FRTIB Executive Director currently allocates the selection, purchase, investment, and management of assets contained in the S Fund to BlackRock Institutional Trust Company, N.A. The Fund is invested in the Dow Jones U.S. Completion TSM Index, which contains a large number of stocks, including illiquid stocks with low trading volume and stocks with prices lower than $1.00 per share.

Therefore, it is not efficient for the Fund to invest in every stock in the index. The S Fund holds the stocks of most of the companies in the index with market values greater than $1 billion. However, a mathematical sampling technique is used to select among the smaller stocks.

The performance of the S Fund is evaluated on the basis of how closely its returns match those of the Dow Jones U.S. Completion TSM Index. A portion of S Fund assets is reserved to meet the needs of daily client activity. This liquidity reserve is invested in futures contracts of the S&P 400 and Russell 2000 (other broad equity indexes).

I Fund

By law, the I Fund must be invested in a portfolio designed to track the performance of an index of common stocks representing international stock markets outside of the United States. The Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board has chosen as its benchmark the MSCI EAFE (Europe, Australasia, Far East) Index, which tracks the overall performance of the major companies and industries in the European, Australian, and Asian stock markets.

The EAFE Index, published by MSCI, is an index of the equity markets of the developed world outside of the United States and Canada. It is the most widely used international stock index. As of December 31, 2017, the index covered the equity markets of 21 countries, as shown in the table.

The FRTIB Executive Director currently allocates the selection, purchase, investment, and management of assets contained in the I Fund to BlackRock Institutional Trust Company, N.A. The I Fund holds common stocks of all the companies represented in the EAFE Index in virtually the same weights that they have in the index. The performance of the I Fund is evaluated on the basis of how closely its returns match those of the EAFE Index.

L Income Fund

You should consider investing in the L Income Fund if you are currently withdrawing money from your TSP account in monthly payments or you plan to begin withdrawing money before 2021.

The L Income Fund’s investment objective is to achieve a low level of growth with a high emphasis on preservation of assets. Unlike the other four L Funds, the L Income Fund’s asset allocation does not change quarterly. However, like the other funds, it is rebalanced daily to maintain its target investment mix.

L 2025

You should consider investing in the L 2025 Fund if you plan to withdraw from your account between next year and 2027.

The L 2025 Fund’s investment objective is to achieve a moderate level of growth with a moderate emphasis on preservation of assets. The Fund’s allocation in the G, F, C, S, and I Funds is adjusted quarterly. The L 2025 Fund will roll into the L Income Fund automatically in July 2025 when its allocation becomes the same as the allocation of the L Income Fund.

L 2030

You should consider investing in the L 2030 Fund if you plan to withdraw from your account between 2028 – 2032.

The L 2030 Fund’s investment objective is to achieve a moderate to high level of growth with a low emphasis on preservation of assets. The Fund’s allocation in the G, F, C, S, and I Funds is adjusted quarterly. The L 2030 Fund will roll into the L Income Fund automatically in July 2030 when its allocation becomes the same as the allocation of the L Income Fund.

L 2035

You should consider investing in the L 2035 Fund if you plan to withdraw from your account between 2033 – 2037.

The L 2035 Fund’s investment objective is to achieve a moderate to high level of growth with a low emphasis on preservation of assets. The Fund’s allocation in the G, F, C, S, and I Funds is adjusted quarterly. The L 2035 Fund will roll into the L Income Fund automatically in July 2035 when its allocation becomes the same as the allocation of the L Income Fund.

L 2040

You should consider investing in the L 2040 Fund if you plan to withdraw from your account between 2038 – 2042.

The L 2040 Fund’s investment objective is to achieve a high level of growth with a low emphasis on preservation of assets. The Fund’s allocation in the G, F, C, S, and I Funds is adjusted quarterly. The L 2040 Fund will roll into the L Income Fund automatically in July 2040 when its allocation becomes the same as the allocation of the L Income Fund.

L 2045

You should consider investing in the L 2045 if you plan to withdraw from your account between 2043 – 2047.

The L 2045 Fund’s investment objective is to achieve a high level of growth with a low emphasis on preservation of assets. The Fund’s allocation in the G, F, C, S, and I Funds is adjusted quarterly. The L 2045 Fund will roll into the L Income Fund automatically in July 2045 when its allocation becomes the same as the allocation of the L Income Fund.

L 2050

You should consider investing in the L 2050 Fund if you plan to withdraw from your account between 2048 – 2052.

The L 2050 Fund’s investment objective is to achieve a high level of growth with a very low emphasis on preservation of assets. The Fund’s allocation in the G, F, C, S, and I Funds is adjusted quarterly. The L 2050 Fund will roll into the L Income Fund automatically in July 2050 when its allocation becomes the same as the allocation of the L Income Fund.

L 2055

You should consider investing in the L 2055 Fund if you plan to withdraw from your account between 2053 – 2057.

The L 2055 Fund’s investment objective is to achieve a high level of growth with a very low emphasis on preservation of assets. The Fund’s allocation in the G, F, C, S, and I Funds is adjusted quarterly. The L 2055 Fund will roll into the L Income Fund automatically in July 2055 when its allocation becomes the same as the allocation of the L Income Fund.

L 2060

You should consider investing in the L 2060 Fund if you plan to withdraw from your account between 2058 – 2062.

The L 2060 Fund’s investment objective is to achieve a high level of growth with a very low emphasis on preservation of assets. The Fund’s allocation in the G, F, C, S, and I Funds is adjusted quarterly. The L 2060 Fund will roll into the L Income Fund automatically in July 2060 when its allocation becomes the same as the allocation of the L Income Fund.

L 2065

You should consider investing in the L 2065 Fund if you plan to withdraw from your account in 2063 or later.

The L 2065 Fund’s investment objective is to achieve a high level of growth with a very low emphasis on preservation of assets. The Fund’s allocation in the G, F, C, S, and I Funds is adjusted quarterly. The L 2065 Fund will roll into the L Income Fund automatically in July 2065 when its allocation becomes the same as the allocation of the L Income Fund.

Breaking Down The Different Phases of TSP

Accumulation Phase

The accumulation phase essentially begins when a person starts saving money for retirement and ends when they begin taking distributions. For many people, this starts when they begin their working life and ends when they retire from the work world

Maximization

Maxing out means that, if you’re age 49 or younger, you’ve contributed the maximum $23,000—as of 2024.  If you are 50 or older, and add the top catch-up contribution at $7,500, the max TSP contribution is $30,500.

Distribution Phase

In the simplest sense, retirement planning is the planning one does to be prepared for life after paid work ends, not just financially but in all aspects of life. The non-financial aspects include lifestyle choices such as how to spend time in retirement, where to live, when to completely quit working, etc. A holistic approach to retirement planning considers all these areas.

Understanding The TSP Distribution Methods

There are three basic methods of withdrawing money from your TSP account as a separated or participant:

  • installment payments
    • monthly, quarterly, or annual
    • fixed dollar amount or based on life expectancy
  • single withdrawals
  • annuity purchases

You can use one of these methods or any combination of them that you choose. There is no limit of the number of withdrawals you can take after you retire, though processing times limit you to no more than one every 30 calendar days. For detailed information on your withdrawal options, specific tax consequences, withdrawal change requests, and special withdrawal considerations, before you make a withdrawal from TSP consult a financial professional to help understand the tax consequences and benefits, and options available to you.

Required Minimum Distribution

RMD requirements

  • If you have left federal service and do not begin withdrawing from your TSP account balance in the year you turn 73, we are required to make the required distribution to you by April 1 of the following year.
  • If you separate from federal service after age 73, your account will immediately be subject to the IRS minimum distribution requirements.
  • If you’re already receiving a series of monthly payments from your TSP account when you turn 73, your monthly payments will be used to satisfy the IRS minimum distributions requirement. If the total amount of your monthly payments does not satisfy the requirement, we will issue a supplemental payment for the remaining amount in December.
  • If you’re a beneficiary participant, your deadline for beginning to receive required minimum distributions depends on whether your spouse died before or after his or her required beginning date.

Rates of return (as of March 31,2024)

Lifecycle funds
Individual funds

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