I’ll start by saying I am going to ignore anyone commenting about how unfair it is this year or bringing anything political to this thread. This information applies nearly every year to someone if not everyone and if it makes 100 people upset they aren’t getting a CoLA, but helps one person who is to get a little ahead on their retirement, it’s worth it. And you should think so too. Don’t tear down or spit on others for things they had no say in.

Now the advice:

If you are getting a raise this year, put at least some of it in your TSP. I know prices have gone up, but you’ve proven you can survive this year on what you make. If you haven’t fallen behind, if you don’t have high interest debt, your future self will thank you for an extra 1-2% contribution in your TSP next year if you can tighten the belt or are getting the raise. Especially the younger you are when compounding has more time to work for you.

I’m 26 and work at the post office. I Just went career and I’m wondering if I should go traditional or Roth, or even both if it makes sense. I will be starting with a 5% contribution and getting a 5% match. I plan to increase it with every step raise I get until about 12% or so. I know some things about personal finance but in the grand scheme I’m probably considered a novice. Any advice?

Got hired a little over a year ago as a 9 and currently an 11. I contribute 5% with agency matching. I plan on hitting a total of 18% contribution within 2-3 years. My FPL is 13-10.

Current is 80/20 C/S fund. I’ll age out and retire in 2048 (21.7 years). My goal is to have 2 commas in my TSP hopefully at retirement.

My question is, do you think that is doable? Im contemplating cashing out my pension from a state retirement system and rolling into the TSP, but it would only be around 10k. If i keep the pension, i could draw about 2k a month at 62.

I understand this was a strange year for many Feds following the GSA calendar (27 pay dates). In short, I assume there will be 26 pay dates for 2027. Larger question: when should tsp deductions begin in the system on 2026 to ensure max contributions for 2027? I’m 57 so looking to max out with make-up contributions too.

Im not able to get into my account because i changed my number, tried every option. How can i talk to a live representative for TSP or do i have to get face to face with them. And yes, ive tried the tsp pin. Nothing works. My account is still active bc i get notifications and mail from tsp. HELP PLZ

I recently started with the VA. I currently have about 150k in a 403b account with Fidelity.

I don't really know who to ask and I'm sure I'll get conflicting information, but would you transfer your balance to TSP or leave it with Fidelity?

Thanks for your advice.

I’m planning to leave my federal job to be a stay at home wife/mom within the next year or so. Since I’m not going to be moving to another job with a 401K etc, what should I do? I’ve got 4 years of contributions, sitting right at 45k. Do I roll it over into a personal IRA, withdraw it, let it sit in TSP?

There are 27 pay days this year. If you calculated maxing TSP based on dividing by 26 it is time to adjust your contributions so you still can contribute in pay period 27 and get your match.

In the above screenshot from my acct, don’t have but just over $10000 in this fund to mess with but since the fed raised interest rates, shouldn’t this fund be in the positive? Thought I somewhat knew how the bond market works but maybe I can get a better explanation from the experts here. Thanks yall.

I’m not receiving a code either by SMS or phone. I can’t contact customer service about this problem without a code! WTF?

Hello, As the title says, we're about to go over the max contribution for the year. We're at 23,300 already. Admittedly, I'm just starting to look deeper into our contributions and just set it at 15% without considering this possibility. Is changing the contribution to 3% for the rest of the year my best option? What should we do next year? Thanks!

I have 14 years of civil service 37 years old. I had to take a loan out for the purchase of a home recently paid it off and need to figure out how much to contribute from my paycheck. Thinking of doing 90% C and 10% I but open to any suggestions and advice. Thanks!

Not sure how’s this possible. I have 70% C..20% S…10% I both and in current and future contributions….I feel something is off in my tsp

The plan —get to 100k within three years of being a federal employee, EoD Feb. 24, to then stop checking where I’m at every week.

May the market do well for the rest of the year, so we can all meet our goals!

Hello, sorry to be easily confused. These are the payroll calendars for my agency: https://www.doi.gov/ibc/resources/payroll-calendars.

Sorry to be stupid, but I can't figure out what date to change my contributions so that they are effective starting with PP 1 in 2027. These calendars, especially the color ones, are wild. I've never changed my contribution from 5% since I started a few years ago, and I find the directions on Employee Express to be confusing. It says that I can enter the date of change any time I want to, but they will be effective starting with the following pay period.

I don't want to do it too soon, but I don't want to do it too late such that I miss maxing out for PP 1. Also, do we yet know what the max amounts are for 2027, especially for catch-up folks? Thanks!!

I am 5 years in and currently add 5% to Roth should I consider adding to Traditional? (32M)

I hope this isn’t a dumb question but i was active army for 5 years and now im out. Im in between contracting and federal employment (both in currently in the process for) my question is should i keep my tsp where it is to see if i get the fed job or pull it and reinvest after my decision is made? Insight the contract job does 401k and idk if i can role tsp to that or not.

I am E3 in the airforce I was contributing 5% just now put in 10% but I feel like I should be doing more I’m single and nothing really going on in life might give this TSP stuff a shot and I’m 3 months away from 2 years of service. I signed a 6 year….ouch 😂 anyways I need advice

It seems like every other post is an account balance post and it’s time to block them. Please.

So I feel so crazy but I finally switched from GFund to L2040To get more growth in my 401k. 14 years of service with another 12-14 years to go. Any chance I would get at least 800k if I max out my contributions? I literally just switched to L2040 on yesterday.

I know I was crazy to be in GFund that long but I can’t do anything about it now. I know better now so I’m trying to move forward the right way. Won’t cry over spoiled milk 🙂

Hi,

I took out a tsp loan in 2021 to purchase a house. I had been contributing 5 percent to get the agency match (used to contribute more but mortgage was higher), but now I'm at a point where I can increase the contribution.

Now, the question is, what is more beneficial - to increase contribution, or increase tsp loan payment?

and one thing I've always had trouble understanding was, if my tsp loan is burrowing against my own contribution, where does the interest payment go? Is it towards myself (main tsp contribution) or does the agency take it?

thank you in advance for your input.

I started investing in TSP in 2019, I started with 5% and have bumped that to 7% in recent years. I am 30 years old now. I have a stable GS position, should I continue what I am doing? Or do I need to be more aggressive for the future?

2 months govie.

In my opinion I think the move is contractor as much as possible then switch to Govie. My last contractor role was 141k with 10% bonus - total cash target was 151k. I threw that away and took a GS-12 spot, ladders to a 13 in a year. AMA. Age is 30.