Thrift Savings Plan

Thrift Savings Plan
The Federal Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) is a retirement savings plan for civilians who are, or previously were, employed by the United States Government and for members of the uniformed services. It is similar to a 401(k) in that it is a defined contribution plan that is managed by the employee.

Funds
There are five core funds in the TSP and a family of Lifecycle funds that invest in the core funds. The core funds are:


 * G Fund--an intermediate/long bond fund comprised of government securities specially issued to the TSP and guaranteed not to lose principal.
 * F Fund--a fixed income index fund that tracks the LBA Bond Index.
 * C fund--a large-to-mid cap stock index fund that tracks the S&P 500 Stock Index.
 * S fund--a mid-to-small cap stock index fund that tracks the Wilshire 4500 Index.
 * I fund--an international stock index fund that tracks the EAFE Stock Index. Note that the I fund does not have any emerging market holdings.

In addition to the core funds the TSP offers Lifecycle (L) funds. Each of the L funds maintains a mix of the above five core funds that adjusts over time in anticipation of the employee's expected retirement date (similar to Vanguard's Target Retirement Funds).

Characteristics
TSP funds are operated with extremely low expense rations, currently at 1.5 basis points (compare to a typical Vanguard index fund at ~20 basis points, which is already quite low by industry standards).

The federal government matches employee TSP contributions for certain civilian employees, but not for members of the military or employees under the Civil Service Retirement System. For those qualified for matches, the match rates are: 1% automatic match (independent of employee contribution), followed by 1% for each 1% of employee contribution (up to a maximum of 3%), then 0.5% for each 1% of employee contribution (to an additional 1% maximum). Thus, the employee may receive up to 1%+3%+1% = 5% of his/her salary in matching contributions.

A TSP participant may redistribute TSP assets across funds at any time (called an "Interfund Transfer" or IFT). IFTs submitted before noon Eastern are effective at close of business that day. IFTs sumbitted later are effective at close of business the following day. IFTs are limited in number per month to curb costs of frequent trading. Participants can make two unrestricted IFTs per calendar month. After that, only IFTs that transfer funds into the G fund are permitted. If one of the first two IFTs in a month moves funds into the G fund it counts toward the two unrestricted transfers for that month.

TSP and Vanguard Funds
In addition to the government match rates and low expense ratios (already described), there are two other features of TSP funds worth keeping in mind for joint TSP/Vanguard investors. One is that the G fund serves as an intermediate bond fund with no risk of principal. It is designed, but not guaranteed, to keep pace with inflation, so it is almost TIPS-like, though not identical to a TIPS fund. (To date returns have always exceeded inflation.)

A second feature is the lack of emerging markets in the I fund. TSP/Vanguard investors seeking exposure to emerging markets can either do so by holding the I fund and a Vanguard emerging markets fund or by placing international investments with Vanguard (e.g., in the Vanguard Total International Stock Index Fund).

Links to Resources

 * Link to TSP main page