Off The Net For Awhile -- Boxing Day, 2019

In an earlier post I mentioned the "TSP," the Thrift Savings Plan. In addition there is the Roth TSP.

I don't recall the exact date but I believe the federal TSP was made available to active duty military in 2000. It's possible active duty military were always eligible for the federal TSP, I forget, but something changed around 2000. I had seven years left to serve in the USAF and in those seven years I maxed out my TSP contributions.

From the Federal News Network;

Your Thrift Savings Plan account. Uncle Sam’s generous in-house 401(k) plan. As of the end of last year, the TSP had almost 4.9 million participants. That includes active-duty federal and uniformed military personnel as well as tens of thousands of retirees. It dwarfs all other plans. And if you are like most feds working today, the money you (and Uncle Sam) put into your TSP could be the source of from one-third to one-half of all the income you have in retirement.

It really is an incredible program. I've long forgotten the specifics but some data points from the internet:

• TSP accounts continue to increase by an average of about $3,000/month;
• in April, 2019, the average TSP account was $145,423;
• $36,000 / $145,000 = about a 25% rate of annual return
• administrative expenses vary, but in general, about 0.040% = 0.0004 or about 40 cents per $1,000 invested;
• at the end of December, 2016, there were 9,599 TSP accounts were worth more than $1 million;
• there is at least one TSP account holder who had a balance greater than $5.3 million in his/her account

I point this out because I keep reading about a lot of high school graduates / college students who do not consider the military as an option. The military is a great option for many women and men coming out of high school or college.