TSP Rollover to IRA

[TNCarters]

My wife is retired from VA, now 60, and left her TSP account just sitting after retirement. We originally thought we'd do a monthly withdrawal after I retire but I think this site has convinced us to roll it into a small Fidelity IRA she has. I read the TSP directions that we get account info from Fidelity and send the withdrawal form (TSP-70 I believe) to TSP.

Is it as simple as that and anything I need to know to keep them from fouling it up?

I hope to be doing the same as I retire from Army Civilian in the next year.

[rcozby]

Probably doesn't need to be said, but...

Be sure to check the cost of your IRA vs. other options that Fidelity offers. Fidelity offers a wide range of products with an equally wide range of fees. If you find a product, e.g. an ETF, that meets your needs with smaller management fees than your current IRA, call Fidelty and ask if you can switch your IRA from where it is to where you want to be. They may (may) be able to make the change at no cost.

Best wishes!

[TNCarters]

Thanks, I'll look into that before doing a transfer. This is just a small IRA she's had for almost 20 years. We hardly pay any attention to it. Don't recall it having much of any cost but will check. If we move the TSP money we want to get it into the broader index funds like TSP has. Guess we'll have to find a MM to fill in for the G Fund.

[crondanet5]

Call Fidelity. They'll do the TSP Form 70 on the phone with you and forward it to Thrift Savings Plan, It will take about 2 weeks to extricate your wife's money from the TSP. Take it all out and roll it into Fidelity as they recommend. You will receive the appropriate rollover forms from TSP to keep clear of any IRS penalties. By doing it this way you can make a monthly withdrawal or not make a monthly withdrawal as you choose. And you can decide how much to withdraw each month. That is not the way it works if you left your money in the TSP. Their program, in one word, is gross.
For planning purposes your wife should expect to live to 83 or there about. Don't plan a lot of trips or house repairs that exhaust her account. The idea was to cover "old age" expenses, not be used to pay early retirement expenses. How soon can she begin receiving Social Security Pension checks?

[TNCarters]

Cron, Thanks, My wife is a lifelong CSRS employee so no SSA. I'm minimally eligible but do not count on it for much. We'll be fine between two pensions, two TSP accounts and a seperate investment account. I estimate with minimal monthly withdrawals from the three investment accounts we can net better than 90% of what we are now. Only fly in the oitment is we are still paying a small motgage and supporting a kid trying to figure out what she wants to do in life. At least we got her through college while I was working.

[crondanet5]

You're welcome. Hope you enjoy the call with Fidelity. Remember you can call them 24/7/365. When you make withdrawals be sure to have federal tax and (if applicable/) state tax with held so there are no surprises April 15th. Fidelity calls it "net out" which means you tell them how much you want to get after taxes. It is available for withdrawal as soon as they punch the button moving the money to a checking account, Have you figured out how to invest it to make some money while you wait to draw it out?

[TNCarters]

I'm not much for market timing, individual stock or high risk. Probably just do something like the TSP indexes spread out some. I do occasionally shift my high percentage areas between stock and bonds but not the multi times a month some people here try to do. Thats roughly how my seperate investment accout is now. I've learned over the years I'm too much of a sucker for historical numbers that then go down if I move into those funds.

[crondanet5]

That's fine. I know another Gamer who uses VTSAP.