Question for government employees: TSP or IRA?

[TheBDB]

I'm in the military so I was wondering if I should contribute to the Thrift Savings Plan. Does it offer any benefits over opening an IRA with someone like Fidelity (I already have an investment account with them)? As far as I know they don't match funds, so no free money. Also, if I got out of the military after my initial commitment and joined a company that had a 401k plan and matched funds, how would that work if I already had a TSP or IRA account?

 

[KoolAidKid]

Standard advice: Contribute to your TSP up to the matching limit, then put anything else in a Roth IRA. For example, my employer matches 100% of my contributions to the TSP for amounts up to 5% of my gross salary. I contribute 5% to TSP and the rest of my retirement savings goes in a Roth IRA.

 

[TheBDB]

bump

 

[TheBDB]

anyone?

 

[Davegod75]

max out your TSP before you contribute to a private IRA....15% is current max

 

[Ogg]

they definitely match your contributions to your TSP as with any ret acct.........

also I was able to pull in my existing 401k from fidelity into my tsp when I went federal so Im assuming that it could go the other way as well.......would just have to wade through all the forms and find the right one to fill out!!😉

 

[Triumph]

Originally posted by: KoolAidKid
Standard advice: Contribute to your TSP up to the matching limit, then put anything else in a Roth IRA. For example, my employer matches 100% of my contributions to the TSP for amounts up to 5% of my gross salary. I contribute 5% to TSP and the rest of my retirement savings goes in a Roth IRA.

An IRA is limited on how much you can contribute each year ($3k for 2004). Depending on your salary you might not be able to save as much if you followed your advice. If I followed your advice I'd be saving $3k less annually.