The Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) tab allows editing a federal employee's cash balance plan. It is only enabled if the retirement account for the individual is CSRS, CSRS Offset, or FERS.
| Notes: | In the system setup, the Client's (and spouse's) TSP tab may either be disabled (default) or hidden when a federal retirement plan is not selected. |
To edit the default rates of return for the TSP funds, select Setup/System from the main menu and select Default Values in the navigator on the left.
Thrift Savings Plan data
Each prompt is discussed below:
Select the life cycle fund in which the participant is enrolled. There are the normal life cycle funds (Income, L2010, L2020, L2030 and L2040) and there are two custom funds:
1.If the client has funds in multiple life cycle accounts (e.g. L2020 and L2030), or one-or-more life cycle accounts and some customized allocation, select Mixed. Values must be entered in the columns for the Custom Allocation and Life Cycle Funds Allocation grids:
A.For the Custom Allocation grid, values must be entered in the Percent Allocated and Balance columns.
B.For the Life Cycle Funds Allocation grid, values must be entered for the Current Balance and Percent of Income (or Dollar Contribution, depending upon which column is showing) columns.
2.If the client has elected to custom allocate their contribution, select Custom GFCSI. (If Custom GFCSI is selected, values for the Percent Allocated and Balance columns in the grid must also be entered).
3.Select Mixed if the client has an allocation mixed between various Life Cycle funds and/or the custom GFCSI allocation.
| Example: | The Percent Allocated column refers to the percent of the contribution to the custom plan. In the example below: |
The client is contributing 3% to the GFCSI account. Of that 3%, 50% (or 1.5% of income) is being contributed to the G fund and 25% (or 0.75%) is being contributed to both the F and C funds.
Note: If the total percent allocated is not equal to 100%, TRAK will weigh the contribution. In the example below:
The total Percent Allocated is 6%. TRAK will weight-base the allocation, putting 3 out of 6 dollars (50%) in the G fund, 2 of the 6 dollars (or 33.3%), and 1 out of 6 dollars (or 16.6%) to the C fund.
Contribution Method
Select the method for entering the client's contribution
1.Percent of income, e.g. 5%.
2.Dollar, increase with raise. Contribution value will be entered as a dollar value, e.g. $100, and will increase when the client receives a raise by the same percentage of the clients raise.
3.Dollar, no increases. Contribution will be a constant value and will not increase.
The following prompts are only available if a life cycle fund is selected for the Allocation Method.
Current Balance (only enabled if a normal life cycle fund is selected for the Allocation Method).
Enter the current balance of the TSP account.
Percent of Income or Dollar Contrib. per Paycheck
Enter the value for the client's TSP contribution.
The following prompt will only be enabled if the Allocation Method is Mixed or Custom GFCSI.
Custom Plan Contrib. or Custom Plan Contrib per Paycheck
Enter the contribution to the custom GFCSI allocation. Do not include values for any specific life cycle fund contributions here.
| Note: | The L2010 fund was closed the end of 2010. Balance in the fund were moved to the L Income fund. If a previous entry had a balance for the L 2010 fund, a button will show up to the right of the grid that allows for quick-and-easy transfer of funds from the L 2010 fund to the L Income fund. |
Changes in Contribution
Changes to future TSP contributions may be made in the "Changes in Contribution" grid shown. The event that determines the change may be:
1.The participant's age
2.Last full year of employment
3.Last calendar year of employment
4.Next to last calendar year of employment.
Contribution type can be either a percent or the maximum limit for the year.
Distribution Method
Select the distribution method for the account. For detail information about distribution methods, click here.
Distribution Rate of Return
Enter the rate of return the account will earn in retirement.
Percent to Distribute
If the Distribution Method is Percent Of Account, enter the annual amount to payout.
Start Distributions
Select when to start distributions of the account.
Start Value
Enter the value associated with the Start Distribution method.
Rates of Return Column
The rates of return for each of the GFCSI funds must be entered in the Rates of Return column on the Allocation or Custom Allocation tab (caption changes depending upon the Allocation Method selected). By clicking on the TSP Rates of Return button below the grid a number of actions can be taken:
1.Assign Default Rates of Return.
Assigns the default rates of return configured in the system's setup.
2.Assign Historical 10 Year Average
Assigns the last 10 year average of historical data.
Note: Historical data is only available after data has been downloaded from the internet. Click on "Update Historical Rates of Return" (with an internet connection) to download data.
3.Assign Historical Average
Assigns historical rates of return for all years of the TSP accounts.
Allows for viewing historical TSP rates of return.
5.Update Historical Rates of Return
Updates the TSP historical data. An internet connection is required for this to occur. TSP rates of return are updated by the 5th of each month.
TSP Distribution Options
These are the options for distributing the TSP account during retirement.
Distribution Method
Select the distribution method for the account.
Distribution Rate of Return
Enter the rate of return during retirement.
Percent to Distribute
If the distribution method is Percent Of Account, enter the percent of the account to distribute each year.
Start Distributions
If distributions for the account are to be delayed beyond retirement, select the method for starting distributions.
Start Value
Enter the starting value corresponding to the Start Distributions method.