Retirement Income Modeler

General TSP Discussion.

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Scarfinger
Posts: 810
Joined: Mon Jan 30, 2012 12:00 am

Retirement Income Modeler

Post by Scarfinger »

Has anyone tried the "Retirement Income Modeler"? on teh new site accessed from "calculator" section before you log into the new site... kind of confusing. But you click on it and then you log in to access it.

At first it seemed like a pretty good tool.

Except that... no matter how large I made my withdrawals... My balance never went to $0. So something with it doesn't work. Not sure what the problem with it is. But it is suspect...
I am just an average Joe. I have no clue to what the market will do.
TimboSlice wrote: "People really need to stop overthinking this."
Paul Merriman 2 fund strat: (age - 25) x2.5 = TDF + balance into S fund or variation of

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evilanne
Posts: 2067
Joined: Thu May 14, 2015 6:52 pm

Re: Retirement Income Modeler

Post by evilanne »

You really don't want your balance to go to $0, but if you go out to 120 and use the Income Fund, the balance should go down significantly the further out. you go. I don't think they are properly calculating RMDs

I just. tried it and it appears to be a COTS program that dumbs it down compared to the prior calculator that showed you what your life expectancy and RMD payments were by year based on different assumptions.

The only. way you can change your anticipated RoR is by selecting one of the L Funds (I don't like the L Funds but they. seem to be pushing them) that are further out and it is really hard to see what they are actually using in their calculations. It appears that they are using and average, even though it allows you to factor in income that starts or stops at aa certain date, e.g. SS, Rental Income.

Note:
"DISCLAIMER: This calculator is provided for informational purposes only..."
Tool is only for planning purposes. It doesn't let you use any past dates if you are already retired and it seems to default to 5 years out. Old tool was more helpful as you could use yuor TSP balance to see different scenarios based on different assumptions and get actual detail based on liife expectancy
Distributions Disclaimers
While you can take distributions after separating from federal service, there is a 10% penalty for early withdrawals if you are younger than age 59½ at the time of the withdrawal.

The Internal Revenue Code (IRC) requires that you begin receiving distributions from your TSP account in the calendar year you are both 72 or older and are separated from federal service.
The 10% penalty statement is inaccurate if you are over 55 when you retire (50 for LEOs)

I also. had difficulty. logging in at first. and when it kicked me out, it wouldn't take the same user name & password to get back in. It is like there are 2 parallel systems using the same login but very frustrating. I think logging into the system 1st and then going to the calculator on 2nd screen works.
After getting back in and re-entering the amounts, iit appears that they actually revert to Life Expectancy or RMD tables at a certain point depending on your requested monthly amount. I wouldn't rely on their tool

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Scarfinger
Posts: 810
Joined: Mon Jan 30, 2012 12:00 am

Re: Retirement Income Modeler

Post by Scarfinger »

Thanks for the reply Evilanne. I agree that the old site had much more planning tools that actually seemed helpful. The new site is... a disappointment. I will not be using the MFW and the new site is solidifying my plan on transferring my money to Fidelity at retirement. 11 years and counting.

Take care.
I am just an average Joe. I have no clue to what the market will do.
TimboSlice wrote: "People really need to stop overthinking this."
Paul Merriman 2 fund strat: (age - 25) x2.5 = TDF + balance into S fund or variation of

crondanet5
Posts: 4330
Joined: Tue Aug 19, 2008 8:51 pm

Re: Retirement Income Modeler

Post by crondanet5 »

Your retirement account does not have to go to zero-- it is not a passbook savings account. It can be an active brokerage account if you want. And even with that you could just buy the etf QYLD and take a monthly dividend while your account balance stays fairly level. and even with the mrd you can manage your retirement account so you have to take a bigger mrd every successive year.

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Fund Prices2024-03-28

FundPriceDayYTD
G $18.15 0.05% 1.05%
F $19.08 -0.06% -0.74%
C $82.21 0.11% 10.55%
S $82.43 0.30% 6.92%
I $42.57 -0.24% 5.95%
L2065 $16.38 0.02% 8.37%
L2060 $16.39 0.02% 8.38%
L2055 $16.39 0.02% 8.38%
L2050 $32.73 0.01% 6.95%
L2045 $14.91 0.02% 6.58%
L2040 $54.38 0.02% 6.22%
L2035 $14.34 0.02% 5.79%
L2030 $47.67 0.02% 5.38%
L2025 $13.15 0.03% 3.43%
Linc $25.61 0.03% 2.82%

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