Leaving federal government, other tps like options?

[nittney]

I have been managing my TSP overseas for the past 6 years from Japan and Bahrain. No issues here.

[Winner]

great idea, thanks bigmike. whats your opinion on etrade?

I have accounts with Etrade for over 15 yrs and I am not recommend unless you are active trader to get the benefit of Etrade Pro (150+ per quarter) and 7.99 per trade, but compare to tsp fees it is cheaper if you transfer your tsp balance to 401K.

Related to tsp, I will move it to 401K since the 2 trades limit per month and the cut off at noon will limit the capital growing . I will go with Revelant "If you like the investment choices within TSP you may want to read my white papers on 401k and IRA investing. You can roll over your TSP to a self directed IRA brokerage account on-line and use ETF's that mirror the TSP funds."

This is another reason and the reason I WILL NOT keep my money in with tsp a day longer with tsp for the "Expense ratios may also be expressed in basis points. One basis point is 1/100th of one percent, or .01%. Therefore, the 2012 expense ratio of .027% is 2.7 basis points. Expressed either way, this means that expenses charged to each TSP account in 2012 were approximately 27 cents per $1,000 of investment." https://www.tsp.gov/investmentfunds/fun ... atio.shtml That is $2700 per month for the balance = $100K or $27K for $1M balance for two trades per month with Etrade it cost you only $20 to manage on my own (so I let you move around 5x with Etrade it still cost you less than $100), so just base on you retirement date that you will have over $100K saving from management fees to add to your account balance.

Sorry that I missed count the expense cost, but anyway here is another reason that I referred BUY/WRITE Strategy options that I post at viewtopic.php?f=44&t=4676

[gaijinbori]

3 thumbs up on the answer winner! I am currently reading "investing for dummies" and will follow.with your white papers and the.podcast previously mentioned.

[crondanet5]

Here is an update on the podcast site: http://www.jillonmoney.com/radioshow-13 ... trategies/

Glad to hear the conversation turned back to the idea of rolling your TSP money out of the TSP and its restrictive trade practices. I urge you to complete my other recommendations immediately so you enter your new employment without reservation. If you choose to hire someone to manage your retirement account use the Baron Growth Fund annual rate of return as a benchmark to compare how well that person manages your account.

[nomny2020]

I have accounts with Etrade for over 15 yrs and I am not recommend unless you are active trader to get the benefit of Etrade Pro (150+ per quarter) and 7.99 per trade, but compare to tsp fees it is cheaper if you transfer your tsp balance to 401K.

Related to tsp, I will move it to 401K since the 2 trades limit per month and the cut off at noon will limit the capital growing . It will go with Revelant "If you like the investment choices within TSP you may want to read my white papers on 401k and IRA investing. You can roll over your TSP to a self directed IRA brokerage account on-line and use ETF's that mirror the TSP funds."

This is another reason and the reason I WILL NOT keep my money in with tsp a day longer with tsp for the "Expense ratios may also be expressed in basis points. One basis point is 1/100th of one percent, or .01%. Therefore, the 2012 expense ratio of .027% is 2.7 basis points. Expressed either way, this means that expenses charged to each TSP account in 2012 were approximately 27 cents per $1,000 of investment." https://www.tsp.gov/investmentfunds/fun ... atio.shtml [u] That is $2700 per month for the balance = $100K or $27K for $1M balance [/u]for two trades per month with Etrade it cost you only $20 to manage on my own (so I let you move around 5x with Etrade it still cost you less than $100), so just base on you retirement date that you will have over $100K saving from management fees to add to your account balance.

Whoa, whoa, whoa! I think somebody needs to check their calculator and the ER rules. I could be the one that is wrong on this, but I think your numbers are WAY off. First, I'm pretty sure the ER is charged annually, not monthly. Second, $1M X .027% = $270, not $27K. Using your math, somebody getting charged 1.2% ER (not hard to find fees like that : Principal charges around 1.3% ER for small cap), on a $1M balance would be charged $1.2M in fees - Monthly?!?!?!

gaijinbori, slow down. Deciding on how to invest in you and your families future is a HUGE decision. Don't just read a post or two on this site (including mine) and make a decision that WILL effect your retirement. Leaving government service, assuming no pension plan in your new job, means that you will have to rely on your investments that much more. For now, leave your money in the TSP. I say that not because I think I am right, but because once you take it out you can't change your mind. Read, research and read some more. Look into comparisions of market timers VS DCA investors with a well thoughtout AA based on risk tolerance.

As for Etrade, investing in individual stocks is no way to plan for your future (in my opinion only). For every Tesla, there are ten Enrons. After you have everything else setup and in order, sure, buy stocks as a hobby or a diversifier. Do not make your retirement nestegg at such a young age based on individual stock picks. And watch the fees...they will eat you alive.

[gaijinbori]

Nomny,

Thanks for your post. For now my plan is to leave things in the TSP and join the company's 401k. I will continue to manage my TSP while I read about investments. I started with "investments for dummies" to better understand the terms and how different investment vehicles work. I will follow with reading other books about investments and talking to a financial adviser for advice in regards to what approaches minimize my tax impact. Depending on the impact of taxes (especially considering I am planning on retiring in Japan) and what approaches provide me the most diversification I will proceed.

For now I am taking it easy. I am looking at making more moves in the next few months, but need to get more educated. I have received a lot of useful advice on these post and I will review them to see how they fit my scenario.

[skiehawk11]

On a million dollar balance, the TSP fee is 270 dollars a year or 22.5 dollars a month.

Nothing really compares to that. The cheapest around tends to be Fidelity and Vanguard. They generally have higher fees than TSP with their ETFs. On top of that, you will be charged fees to trade which is around 5 to 7 dollars per trade.

The commission free trading that is out there is based off of limited trading and can get expensive quickly if you want to day trade your 401k.