Federal Employee Computation Calculator (With Agency Match)

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Navig8tor
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Federal Employee Computation Calculator (With Agency Match)

Post by Navig8tor »

Does anyone have a calculator, spreadsheet, or intimate knowledge of the requisite math that will give a new federal employee the correct per-paycheck numbers to maximize TSP contributions while taking into consideration the 5% agency match AND the catch-up contributions?

I know the max contribution numbers and the percentages for agency match. I know there is no agency match for the catch-up money, and that you have to max out the regular contributions in order to do catch-up. What I'm trying to compute is the required monetary contribution I need to fork out each pay period while insuring I don't hit the $18000 ceiling too early in the year and in turn lose the agency match.

I've read somewhere (Fed Soup maybe) that it equates to $693 per pay period for the regular TSP contribution and $231 per pay period for the catch-up contribution. $693 for the regular contribution to max out the year makes no sense to me because not only does that amount compute to more than $18000 over 12 months, it also seems to NOT consider the agency match.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong: if you intend to make a full yearly contribution that is accompanied by a 5% agency match AND the 5% match is based on your gross salary, am I incorrect in thinking that the agency match, say on a salary of $85,000, would total out at $4250 come the last pay period on the year?

In turn, that means you are putting in $13,750 to hit the $18000/yr max. Unless I'm all out of sorts, that means your per-pay period contribution would be $528.84 (based on 26 pay periods)????

Don't hold back if I'm all jacked up. DROP IT ON ME!!

I just retired after a 30-year military career. That math is EASY: $18000/12=$1500/month. Now you're talking pay periods (that may change year to year), agency matches, catch-up contributions...
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mjedlin66
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Re: Federal Employee Computation Calculator (With Agency Mat

Post by mjedlin66 »

Agency matches don't count toward the elective deferral limit. The 18,000 elective deferral limit and the 6,000 catch upcontribution limit are for employee contributions only.

18,000 + 6,000 = 24,000.
24,000/26 pay periods = 923.

This can be Roth, Traditional, or any combination thereof.
Owner/creator of TSPcalc.com - "Know your numbers"

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Navig8tor
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Re: Federal Employee Computation Calculator (With Agency Mat

Post by Navig8tor »

Yeah...I figured I was overlooking something so...dumb...that it was sitting there staring me in the face and I didn't see it :oops:

Skie, go ahead and delete this post before anyone else sees it...I'll lose what little street cred I had left. :shock:

Cro' will be lighting me up before sundown :lol: :lol: :lol:

Thanks mjedlin66 !!
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evilanne
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Re: Federal Employee Computation Calculator (With Agency Mat

Post by evilanne »

Typically the TSP Contributions & Catch Up are separate elections, so you need 693 & 231 (both rounded up to next dollar, $923*26 = $23,998, payroll will cut you off when you reach the limit in last pay period). If you just put it $923 as your contribution you will max out the $18K in 20 pay periods and miss out on the matching in the last 6

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Re: Federal Employee Computation Calculator (With Agency Mat

Post by mjedlin66 »

evilanne wrote:Typically the TSP Contributions & Catch Up are separate elections, so you need 693 & 231 (both rounded up to next dollar, $923*26 = $23,998, payroll will cut you off when you reach the limit in last pay period). If you just put it $923 as your contribution you will max out the $18K in 20 pay periods and miss out on the matching in the last 6


Good tip. I didn't know that. I'm 23 years away from catch-up contributions.
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TopNotch
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Re: Federal Employee Computation Calculator (With Agency Mat

Post by TopNotch »

And remember that catch-up contributions do not carry over into the new year, so in December you'll have to fill out the catch-up contributions form again.

viewtopic.php?f=14&t=13138
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Navig8tor
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Re: Federal Employee Computation Calculator (With Agency Mat

Post by Navig8tor »

Thanks for the info folks. Every little bit helps. I mastered the military side of the TSP, now I'm a newb on the federal side.

Another thing I'm looking into is merging my Uniformed account with my FERS account; however, I don't know that is a good reason for doing that. About 1/3 of my uniformed account was earned in a combat zone and is non-taxable. According to the TSP, the non-taxable portion cannot be merged into a FERS account. That said, I'd still have two TSP accounts anyway, so, what's the point of merging the remaining 2/3 into a FERS account??

Anyone have any experience with merging accounts??
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ArrieS
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Re: Federal Employee Computation Calculator (With Agency Mat

Post by ArrieS »

Navig8tor wrote:Thanks for the info folks. Every little bit helps. I mastered the military side of the TSP, now I'm a newb on the federal side.

Another thing I'm looking into is merging my Uniformed account with my FERS account; however, I don't know that is a good reason for doing that. About 1/3 of my uniformed account was earned in a combat zone and is non-taxable. According to the TSP, the non-taxable portion cannot be merged into a FERS account. That said, I'd still have two TSP accounts anyway, so, what's the point of merging the remaining 2/3 into a FERS account??

Anyone have any experience with merging accounts??



I merged my accounts. No real reason to do it if you will still have two accounts.
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crondanet5
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Re: Federal Employee Computation Calculator (With Agency Mat

Post by crondanet5 »

Have you thought about merging it into a 401k and buying Amazon stock?

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evilanne
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Re: Federal Employee Computation Calculator (With Agency Mat

Post by evilanne »

Navig8tor wrote:Thanks for the info folks. Every little bit helps. I mastered the military side of the TSP, now I'm a newb on the federal side.

Another thing I'm looking into is merging my Uniformed account with my FERS account; however, I don't know that is a good reason for doing that. About 1/3 of my uniformed account was earned in a combat zone and is non-taxable. According to the TSP, the non-taxable portion cannot be merged into a FERS account. That said, I'd still have two TSP accounts anyway, so, what's the point of merging the remaining 2/3 into a FERS account??

Anyone have any experience with merging accounts??

I'm not military, but curious about the combat zone part...wouldn't that be same as Roth or was it before Roth was available? If so, I think that the contributions would be treated as after tax contributions but the earnings would be tax deferred like regular TSP. I can see the benefit of having 2 accounts in that it allows you to better manage withdrawals. If you are planning to wait until 70.5 it really wouldn't make much difference

You signature & profile indicates that you are retired military. So when did you go back to work & why? Just curious...seems like a long time between retired and going back to work. What's your story? Are you planning on contributing to Roth or Traditional TSP as a civilian?

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Navig8tor
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Re: Federal Employee Computation Calculator (With Agency Mat

Post by Navig8tor »

crondanet5 wrote:Have you thought about merging it into a 401k and buying Amazon stock?


Negative on your last Ghost Rider. I don't have the time, nor the wherewithal, to dabble with individual stocks.
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Navig8tor
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Re: Federal Employee Computation Calculator (With Agency Mat

Post by Navig8tor »

evilanne wrote:
Navig8tor wrote:Thanks for the info folks. Every little bit helps. I mastered the military side of the TSP, now I'm a newb on the federal side.

Another thing I'm looking into is merging my Uniformed account with my FERS account; however, I don't know that is a good reason for doing that. About 1/3 of my uniformed account was earned in a combat zone and is non-taxable. According to the TSP, the non-taxable portion cannot be merged into a FERS account. That said, I'd still have two TSP accounts anyway, so, what's the point of merging the remaining 2/3 into a FERS account??

Anyone have any experience with merging accounts??

I'm not military, but curious about the combat zone part...wouldn't that be same as Roth or was it before Roth was available? If so, I think that the contributions would be treated as after tax contributions but the earnings would be tax deferred like regular TSP. I can see the benefit of having 2 accounts in that it allows you to better manage withdrawals. If you are planning to wait until 70.5 it really wouldn't make much difference

You signature & profile indicates that you are retired military. So when did you go back to work & why? Just curious...seems like a long time between retired and going back to work. What's your story? Are you planning on contributing to Roth or Traditional TSP as a civilian?


Thanks for the input Evilanne.

My story: I retired from the military 3 weeks ago today. Did 30 years and 3 months and hung it up on 1 May 2017. That was because of federal law; not because I WANTED to retire. Coast Guard Chief Warrant Officer's can do only 30 years and 3 months; otherwise, I would have gladly and enthusiastically remained on active duty for another 10 years. Pure idiocy to me to MAKE good people retire when they are at the top of their game. Bottom line is CWO4's who have been in 30 years cost too much money (Equivalent to a GS-15 Step 1 where I live in TN), and the Coast Guard refuses to make a W5 pay grade as the other DOD branches have already done. It's much less costly to the government to force us to retire at 30 years and replace us with W2's who have been in 18 years (and make much less money). Most W2's won't remain in long enough to make W4 so the government saves a boatload of money every time a W4 retires.

Why am I going back to work? I'm 49 years old...I can't sit at home and do nothing while I'm perfectly capable of working. I have been on terminal leave (using accrued leave to spend my last 97.5 days on active duty sitting at home in a fully paid status) since January 20th, the day POTUS instituted the federal hiring freeze. The hiring freeze put a bit of a crimp in my job hunt; however, I landed a position after just three interviews.

Although I've been applying for jobs since January, it literally took me 3 weeks after my actual retirement date to land a job. The past 118 days since I hung my uniform in the closet have been...quite dull. It's difficult to come to all-stop after going 100 mph for 40-50-60-70 hours a week for 30 years. I know it seems counter intuitive but it's really not. I'd say the first month was "good." After that, one can only clean the house and mow the yard so much. My wife is digging dinner being on the table when she walks in the door from work...but I'm getting rather tired of cooking all the time. I already cook 9 months of the year as it is :lol:

As for the money earned in a combat zone: No idea other than that's what the TSP told me. Said you can merge a Uniformed Account with a FERS account, but the non-taxable portion earned while in a combat zone cannot be moved. Makes no sense to me either. When you start your draw-down, the monies in your account are pulled proportionally. It's beyond me why that concept can't/doesn't carry over to a merged account.

Am I going to do ROTH TSP or Regular: I'm thinking I probably have to go regular because I already have an outside ROTH that I max out every year. I haven't yet researched the dollar figure but I think we (me and my wife) may now make too much money for me to continue to put into a ROTH.
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evilanne
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Re: Federal Employee Computation Calculator (With Agency Mat

Post by evilanne »

Thank you for you 30+ years of service.
You may want to update your profile under occupation to include your civilian status. The "Retired (1992-2017)" made me think you were retired for a long time, but I get it that military commonly put "Retired" after their title.

It makes sense to me that they cannot transfer that portion since it is handled differently than either civilian traditional or Roth TSP accounts--it is unique to military.
Combat Pay Treatment
The contribution limit doesn’t apply to tax-exempt combat pay. A military member can contribute combat pay to his traditional TSP even after he has reached the contribution maximum. A military member doesn’t get a tax deduction for contributing tax-exempt combat pay, but when he withdraws his combat-pay contributions at retirement, he won’t owe income tax on that money. However, earnings on combat-pay TSP contributions to a traditional TSP will be taxed when withdrawn. --http://finance.zacks.com/tax-deductions-military-tsp-contributions-1185.html

If you ever transfer it to outside IRA, it is important to know exactly what the combat pay basis is to ensure you don't pay taxes on that portion when withdrawn. TSP should keep you strait on the taxable basis when distributed.

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Re: Federal Employee Computation Calculator (With Agency Mat

Post by mjedlin66 »

Navig8tor wrote:
Am I going to do ROTH TSP or Regular: I'm thinking I probably have to go regular because I already have an outside ROTH that I max out every year. I haven't yet researched the dollar figure but I think we (me and my wife) may now make too much money for me to continue to put into a ROTH.


Note: Roth IRAs have separate limits from Roth 401(k)/Roth TSP.

For example, you can contribute:
$5500 Roth IRA + $18,000 Roth TSP

Once you are 50 and eligible for catch-up contributions, you can contribute:
$6500 Roth IRA + $24,000 Roth TSP

These limits apply separately to you and your spouse. She gets her full limits, and you get your full limits.

This assumes that your income does not exceed the Roth IRA threshold. If it does, then you may be able to file jointly to get twice the threshold. If you can't beat the threshold, then you can still contribute to Traditional IRA. Also, Roth TSP/Roth 401(k) has no income threshold- you can always contribute those limits.
Owner/creator of TSPcalc.com - "Know your numbers"

ksmoly04
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Re: Federal Employee Computation Calculator (With Agency Mat

Post by ksmoly04 »

Also note the max $54K annual addition limit if you get deployed to a tax-free zone...

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