Thrift Savings Plan

What is it?

Employees under CSRS, CSRS OFFSET, FERS or Uniformed Services retirement systems may participate in the Thrift Savings Plan (TSP). The TSP is a tax-deferred defined contribution retirement savings plan, comparable to private sector 401(k) plans

Public Law 108-469 of 2004 helped changed the traditional employee participation in to the TSP. Pending the changes on the open seasons; this is what is currently implemented. The Open Seasons run from April 15th to June 30th and from October 15 h to December 31st. Employees may also terminate participation in the TSP at any time other than an open season. If they do, they must skip one open season before they can resume contributions.

Employees may contribute to the TSP on a pay period basis in whole percentage amounts or whole dollar amounts. CSRS employees may contribute up to 10% of basic pay while FERS employees may contribute up to 15% of basic pay. Only FERS employees receive government matching contributions. Contributions are matched dollar-for-dollar for the first 3% of pay contributed per pay period and fifty cents on the dollar for the next 2% of pay per pay period. An agency automatic 1% contribution is also made for eligible FERS employees whether or not they contribute their own money.

There are 5 investment funds for the TSP investment accounts:
	The G fund	investments in short term, nonmarketable U.S. Treasury securities
	The C Fund	large capitalization US stocks
	The F Fund	a bond index fund consisting of a mix of government and corporate bonds
	The S Fund	small and mid-capitalization US stocks
	The I Fund	mostly large-capitalization foreign stocks
	The L Fund	The L-fund or life cycle funds – the strategy of the L-fund is to invest in a proper mix of the G, F, C, S and I funds for a certain time horizon and that is why this fund is called the “Fund of Funds”.

All employees may elect to invest any portion of their current account balances or future contributions in any or all of the funds. All participants also may make interfund transfers. An interfund transfer is the movement of all or some of the money in a participant's account among the funds. You can do this by going to the TSP website. You will need your TSP pin number and social security number to be able to do this.

	Lump sum contributions are not accepted into the TSP.
	The C, F, S, and I funds can be extremely volatile resulting in losses of your money.
	There are limits on the amount of money you can contribute.
	Funds are matched up to a certain amount for FERS employees.
	CSRS employees receive no matching funds.
	Withdrawal of funds prior to the age of 59½ can be subject to substantial penalties and certain restrictions.

In order to maximize your retirement benefits, we strongly suggest you visit with a Federal Benefits Specialist.

To request additional information, please CLICK HERE.

Request a Federal Benefit Analysis to help you see and to calculate your returns for your retirement.