r/ThriftSavingsPlan

What feels like the first big milestone, a 6 figure balance.

With "success" I struggle check to check. I maximize (what I can) for my retirement. From the beginning I started with less than 40k salary contributing 15%. I scaled back to 10% when I took a loan to help get my family into a house. Just recently I have bumped my contributions back up to 14%.

The Mix:

14%

7%roth

7%traditional

Broken down into 40% C 40% S 20% L65

Life creep is a thing sure, however unexpected medical bills with the addition of 2 kids to my family has me spent further than I expected.

Mortgage rates are just insane (my rate ~6.5%) on a +$300,000 home 30yr loan.

I am one emergency away from having to borrow against my own money yet again.

(Current loan - remaining balance just under 1900)

I do have some emergency funds outside of my TSP but not much.

I am currently trying to scale down expenses to further my retirement account.

My goal to financial independence is 2 million invested. I plan to work to minimum retirement age of 25 years of service. Leaving me with ~18 more years working. I fear that 2 million will not be obtainable within my age goal. Maybe I work for 27yrs or the dreaded 30yrs of service....

I am currently seeking new employment with the FEDS in order to get more money to push the retirement button sooner. Current salary (75k)

Am I on track? Am I far from my goal?

Is 2 million doable?

Can someone explain to me how to convert my traditional to Roth like I’m a child. Sorry , new to this and don’t want to fuck up. Not quite sure if i was in the right place to convert or what it’s saying here because i have more than the $1700 they’re saying is eligible to convert. And when I convert will future contributions continue to be Roth?

EDIT: solved. Thanks to everyone that broke it down for me! Appreciate you guys

1 year as a Fed employee. I started at paycheck contributions of 5% traditional and with my promotion recently I changed to 6% traditional, 1% roth. I plan to increase it more once I am settled in and save a little more money in HYSA.

I have 58% in L fund, 20% in C, 11% in S, and 11% in I funds. Any advice for setting myself up for success?? I have no idea what I’m doing and am the first fed employee in my family so i dont really have someone I can ask questions about TSP.

Hello, I have been in the coast guard for now a year (20) and now looking deeper into my TSP. I need some words on if my % are smart, and if not; any suggestions. Hoping to learn this now to benefit my future.

6 years in and 45, but i made it!

For context, I didn’t know what a TSP was during my first year in the Army. In my second year, I started contributing about 5% of my base pay to the Roth TSP. I put everything in the S Fund and mostly left it alone, so I’m not sure whether that was the best choice.
Now that I’m in my third year, I’m taking it more seriously. I increased my contribution to 8% of my base pay and changed my mix to 70% C Fund, 20% S Fund, and 10% I Fund.
I’m hoping to retire sometime between my early 50s and early 60s. I plan to stay in the Army until retirement for now unless things change but the idea is each year increase the amount I put in and even more when I start ranking up. What advice could you give me to achieve my goals or what changes would you make?

Fed for 9 years. Regrettably, I didn’t max for the first serval years, and took two loans over that time for emergencies (never doing that again), but all paid back and max every year now. Still have 18 years until I want to retire, so feeling pretty good at this point.

I know a lot people find these posts annoying, but I think they can be fun and inspiring. Joined federal service in 2015 and maxed every year except for one year I dropped down a couple thousand during some leaner times. I hit my first $100,000 in 2019. The really crazy thing is I hit $250,000 in mid 2024, so I doubled in just two years.

I think we will have a major correction eventually. Time in market is better than timing the market, as they say.

I’m 38 and plan to work until 50 when I will also start receiving a pension. I started at the equivalent of a GS-10, and am equivalent of GS-13 now.

Here are the milestones from December of each year:
2015: $10,050
2016: $33,863
2017: $64,096
2018: $82,238
2019: $125,443
2020: $174,487
2021: $193,450
2022: $177,431
2023: $245,007
2024: $339,621
2025: $425,332
Now: $500,554

I have my investment split between L2060 and stocks. But I've realized there is no benefit to doing that. If I were to move all of my portfolio into L2060 what ramifications (if any) would there be? If someone wants to outline some extra positives in moving it feel free. Or should I just ride with this plan into the sunset. I'm relatively young so I have much time to let this grow regardless of how it's split.

My hope with this post is to glean what information I can from the veterans of the TSP and see what advice I can learn from you all. I’ve watched some YouTube videos and read some articles, but I want to hear from the pros.
I would love to hear your “I should’ve done this,” “I recommend you do this,” or “Def don’t do this”

A little background context: Newly commissioned O-1 in the Air Force out of ROTC. 2ish months of Active Duty service. Plans could certainly change but I intend to do at least 20 years in the Air Force.

My wife works Full Time as a nurse. No kids, yet, probably within the next year or so! We have no debt but are planning on purchasing a home in the next 2 months.

Any advice is readily welcome! Thanks!

So I just opened my TSP after 5.5 years of being in to find it in L2050 and switched it to C fund 100%. Are there any recommendations to get it bigger, quicker? I’m 33, joined late, trying to get at least 1.5 Mil before I retire in 14 years.
I’m not gonna lie I completely forgot about my TSP until today.

I started government service as a GS-9 at 30 years old, and rolled over a measly $45k from my nonprofit 403b to TSP. I basically increased my contributions with each grade promotion and step increase, and held on during the 2020 COVID crash.

Currently my TSP is almost $600k and I can let it compound for 20 years when I reach 59.5 without contributing anything else. GS-13 past 6 years and maxing my TSP the past 3 years and invested in mostly C (70%) and the rest in S and I.

It was rough to get here especially while paying off my student loans and no one to talk to about investing in the TSP.

Not sure if this is good or not but seeing the numbers some of yall have after 2 years I’m trying to figure out if i’m in decent shape for my age I contribute 10%