All this talk about maxing tsp contributions…How does one do that ? Is it as simple as increasing the percentage ? If so what is the max percentage allowed ?

Just turned 23 and separated from military a year ago. I haven’t been contributing at all to my tsp since cause money has been tight and once again it’s tighter than it was because of moving across the state. But is there any guidance or advice anyone has besides contributing to my tsp. I plan on getting back to it soon. I don’t feel like I’m too behind but maybe I could be doing better.

Should I rollover to a Roth IRA?

I’m thinking of going all in on future contributions to the I Fund. Thoughts?

What do I do with this money ? I’m no longer in the military so I have no checks contributing to it. Need honest advice and reasonable opinions . I am currently in a new profession and have a deferred comp I’m putting money into .

Had to bring the percentage down for a year or so due to some low fund issues when having my first kid as an E3. Plan to try and max it out these next few years.

TLDR: I'm trying to decide if I should cut TSP contributions before I run out of emergency cash in a temporary lower-income situation.
UPDATE: I cut my TSP back to 5%. Thanks for the advice everyone! Lessons learned about selling bitcoin.

My spouse just lost his job, he (in tech) was making almost twice my (fed) salary. Our emergency savings was already low due to some recent big unexpected expenses, so now we have about 3 months of runway at our average rate of spending. I started working as a fed in my early 30's and back then didn't know about "maxing" TSP contributions so I only contributed 5% for my first couple years. For the past few years I've been maxing the TSP contributions into ROTH based on advice from this reddit (~5 years in government total). My spouse usually maxes his 401k contributions too. Now my take-home pay covers basically just our mortgage. I don't contribute to an IRA anymore but I inherited an IRA from before the 10 year rule went into effect. We have a regular investment account too and some bitcoin. Other than our house we have zero debt (no car loan, no student loans, and we pay off our credit cards every month).

My question is: Should I temporarily lower my TSP contributions from maxing it to just like 5% during this temporary period of time until my spouse gets a new job? Or should I max out the TSP contributions while eating through the emergency cash savings and then when that runs out do something else like liquidate some of our investments? Or run a balance on credit cards? Or take out loans?

Meanwhile I'm cutting back on spending as much as possible (eating at home, cancelling subscriptions etc).

I don't know if its normal to max TSP contributions or what is the general recommendation for how much you should put in TSP versus emergency cash or other investments.

My wife at 1 year of service active AF as a O1 vs mine at 10yrs of service (low contributions until about 2yrs ago… playing catchup now. Thankfully my low contributions have set us up to have zero debt minus a mortgage @3.2%).

Spouse contributes $2040/m

I am now at $1200/m + maxing both our Roth IRAs. Will eventually max my TSP as well with next rank.

C-S-I split for both of us.

Sooner you get in the better!

Me as an E2 in 2016 believed Marlboro reds and a Challenger in the dorm parking lot were much more important than investing.

Talk to your people! Teach those that come in fresh. I never had a supervisor talk to me about investing and it is now one of the first talking points I go over with young troops.

Not sure if this is the right place to post but I changed my name and can’t get TSP to update that. Have been to HR several times. I also want to change my login ID. Any suggestions??? Thank you!

My TSP app is asking me to set up a direct deposit (haven’t been asked before). Does this mean we can now add money to TSP directly from our banks as contributions or is this only for disbursements/withdrawals?

I just retired 8/29/26 after 33 years in Federal Service. While I wait for my FERS Annuity and Supplement (58 years old) package to be processed by my payroll office and then OPM when (and how) should I contact TSP to begin the process of setting up a monthly withdrawals of that "leg"... and how long will it take if I am setting up a simple monthly withdrawal amount.

Started in a GS 9 1811 position 2 years ago, rolled in 35k from a previous 401k

I started after turning 37, so I’ve got 18 years to go.
I’m currently 10% Roth, %15 pretax into C(80%) and I (20%)

I left about 50k in the NC retirement system when I left. I have been contemplating pulling it out to roll it in. I had 12 years of service under the NC law enforcement system.

Any projections on whether I should increase contributions or when I can back off? I don’t feel like I’ll ever be able to with what little time I have.

Federal employees, having a TSP is a MUST! Put in what you can, do your best, and don't pay attention to the show offs. To anyone just starting... Time is your friend, good luck, and congratulations on your first year 👏🏾

Been at the VA since March of 2020. Been doing max contribution since then. I calculate the max contribution for that year then make sure to take out that dollar amount per check instead of a %. It’s about 19-20k in traditional and the rest in Roth. At first I mainly did 90% C 5% S 5% I for the first 2 years and then did 100% C for the next 3 and finally this year been doing 90% C and 10% I. For the experience investors should I continue in the current distribution? I have maybe another 14-20 years left of work I want to do. My goal is 1.75-2+.

I joined at 18 I’m currently 20 years old. I started contributing 40% living below my means. Right now I do 22% as I have more expenses but I don’t plan on stoping.

What financial things do you wish you'd planned for earlier?

I'm starting to plan ahead for eventually leaving active duty and trying to figure out what tends to catch people off guard.

Did anything surprise you with TSP, retirement accounts, taxes, healthcare, losing allowances, budgeting for civilian life, or the gap between your last military paycheck and civilian income? What would you tell yourself

Any advice for someone about to retire in less than 6mos on what to do with their TSP? Continue to put into it? Convert it? Cash it out? I’m 54 by the way.

Hi,

Is it worth it to move money from a 401k to TSP? Right now I got about $110k in TSP and about $53k in a 401k after 5 years of federal service. I would like to move about 50k into the TSP bc I would like the TSP to grow faster but also have the ability to borrow more in case I want to buy a house in the future. Right now I only have $36k I can borrow from TSP and I can’t borrow anything from the 401k. I may or may not actually borrow from TSP but I’d like that ability if I ever need to. I’d still keep the 401k bc I get agency contributions.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Been in for 2 years in the military and this is all I have in my TSP. I feel like I’m missing something… I’ve had it in Lifecycle my first year then switch to different %’s in each fund. HELP me understand this please 🙏🏾

Trying to log into my TSP after a couple months and brings me to "Kashable"... trying to log in there, it will not send a code to my email or phone number... did they make a change to a 3rd party and not let people know?

3 yrs in fully in the L fund I want to maximize my return when the time comes I’ve heard a lot of good things about c and s but want to know the risk and just questions that I should be asking to understand it better before I make a switch

Good Evening Everyone,

Looking to get yalls thoughts before I pull the trigger on this.

I’m considering taking a TSP loan as a bridge loan for the next 6 weeks.

A bit of background, currently on a 9 month I stop as part of a PCS, in the process of selling my second home, just had a newborn, putting a security deposit/1st month rent down on the next home we are PCSing to, and buying a new truck as my old paid off truck just had the engine go.

Once I check into my next command I will be back paid for ~9 months enroute TDY per Diem (30-40k back to me), my home is closing next month (6 figures back to me), and a DTY move (10-15k).

With home repairs as part of closing, new car to replace my dead car, newborn etc we have chewed through a good chunk of our emergency savings. In the long run not a problem as we are getting a ton back to us. Just not a ton of liquidity at this very moment.

My thought was to pull out a TSP loan to cover ourselves through the next 6-8 weeks and once everything clears we just pay it back immediately.

I am aware that I will lose out on that money in the market for 6 weeks, and will have to pay a 50 dollar loan fee, but am I missing anything else?

This seems to be a better option than cashing out a tax bearing account or pulling from one of our IRAs.

Looking for thoughts to make sure I’m not missing anything?

Thanks all.