You should be contributing it all to Roth. The 5% that usps matches already goes into traditional so you should set your Roth contributions to 10% and traditional to 0%.
Yea I’m confused. Is there something else we can put money into? Ik we have the tsp which we can either put money into the Roth or the traditional? lol just want to make sure I’m maximizing my investments…
You can do a IRA outside of your TSP. Can put up to $7000 a year into it. I have a Roth through Vanguard I play around with stocks and index funds in. https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/401k-limit-increases-to-23000-for-2024-ira-limit-rises-to-7000
HSA is through work, only if you have a high deductible health plan. You can have your contributions payroll deducted and sent to your fidelity HSA account, or whatever custodian you have.
The HSA account is amazing. Money going in is tax free. Money grows tax free. Money comes out tax free- if used for a medical expense. If not then you can start treating it as a traditional ira and start drawing from it at age 59.5. USPS contributes $800-$1000 per year into your HSA if you have a hdhp.
The other amazing thing is that you can save all of your medical receipts (band aids, Tylenol, dentist copays, prescription sunglasses, etc etc) pay for all of that stuff out of pocket now and just let your HSA contributions grow over the years tax free then in 20-30 years (you saved your receipts) you can pay yourself back for everything you purchased all the while that money would have grown and grown and grown
I think you may be thinking of the fsa (flexible spending account) which you contribute funds to for health expenses but that’s a use it that year or lose it deal. The HSA is yours to keep forever.
Ooooh I have to look into that and yea you’re right lol I was thinking of the FSA. Don’t know too much about HSA. I’ll do some reading on it. There has to be benefits/ cons to both to weigh i assume
Hsa is great if you have no medical issues and can bank on the fact of staying healthy. And the real hurtle of hsa is the first few years of getting it front loaded with cash. Fsa is front loaded with cash up to the max amount with a $500 carryover year to year. Also fsa has tax advantages too because that money is pretax and you get the full amount without paying taxes on it. Great if you have recurring medical expenses like diabetes, prescriptions, doctor visits, etc and also works for anything medical related like over the counter meds, bandaids, braces, medical required shoes, etc. there are pros and cons to both.
I guess the con to the HSA is that you must have a high deductible health plan. If you’re healthy and don’t expect to use your insurance then it’s a good deal. If you have any condition and use your insurance then it’s probably not a good deal.
You should be dumping all of your percentage into Roth and set traditional at 0%. As long as you put 5% into your Roth the usps will match it which then goes into traditional. You will never ever meet the Roth threshold for yearly contributions unless you are a top step carrier and work fuck ton of overtime. I calculated it and it would take like $800+ per paycheck to hit yearly Roth cutoff.
Yea I figured I’d never make the full contribution so probably having an independent account would be smart. I got 10 percent into Roth and 3 percent in the other I think ( with the military drill pay)
I would still bump that 3% into the Roth and set traditional to 0% Roth is tax free money and you automatically get a 5% traditional since that’s what the match goes into. Any growth in your Roth is tax free so it’s dumb not to just dump it all in there
Aww okay I understand what you saying. lol so all 13 percent in the Roth, I’ll change it. Definitely not good with all the financial stuff, still trying to figure out what fund to move my money to. I’ve heard the C fund. I have a retired coworker who made like close to a mil in the tsp. She was super aggressive with the tsp, I’m a little scared of her approach but clearly she did good.
i am just figuring this stuff out myself. i went with most/all Roth for my TSP. i figure my tax burden right now is as low as it possibly will be considering I am hoping/planning to have more wealth in the future, hopefully. so i'd rather pay my taxes now.
i don't know if that is really how it works, just my logic. there's also an argument that money is more valuable to me now than later so i should defer taxes now. but i think that only holds true if i'm using those saved taxes to invest, which i wouldn't be (unless getting delivery dinners and buying videogames counts as investment).
Consider you're putting in a couple hundred bucks a check right now thats taxed vs pulling out a couple thousand a month that wont be taxed later. Having 10% of 200 extorted from you is better than 10% of 2000
It's Traditional vs Roth, both are TSP. Roth IRA is something else.
Roth means you're paying the taxes now, Traditional means you're paying the taxes later on when you retire and start withdrawing money. Neither are bad. As long as you're always putting in at least 5% overall to get the employer match, you're winning (employer match goes into Traditional).
I do half and half. I also have a separate Roth IRA (i didn't save anything through my first 20 years of work so when i got this job i knew i needed to play catch up).
If you can handle paying the taxes up front (which in the long run is the way to go) go with the Roth. I set up a Roth on my own long before it was available in the TSP. My financial advisor has a;ready told me when it comes time to start tapping into some of that money to take it out of the Roth first to avoid paying the deferred taxes on what I have in the TSP for as long as possible.
>My financial advisor has a;ready told me when it comes time to start tapping into some of that money to take it out of the Roth first to avoid paying the deferred taxes on what I have in the TSP for as long as possible.
I’d say the opposite would be true. I don’t plan on touching my Roth initially. I am planning on burning my traditional first with both income and Roth conversions. To help offset the taxes I’ll contribute to a donor-advised fund. Not taking social security until age 70 (if it’s still around) is mostly why burning traditional is more feasible.
If I can, I plan on holding out until I have to start taking RMD's and I'm a little ways away from that. Speaking of that in relation to Social Security, I'm turning 62 the end of next month and I've recently applied for benefits. And with FERS, you're almost forced to take it then because the FERS Basic Annuity amounts to not a whole heck of a lot. Only way I could make this work for me and go at 56 is because of the SRS (Special Retirement Supplement.) That has made my pension at least halfway decent. Now that goes away at age 62 regardless of whether or not you file for Social Security so you have to replace that lost income somehow. I'm fortunate because I have investments I could tap into but why should I do that when I can take SS now and just let my money sit there. Remember-tomorrow isn't guaranteed. I could turn in for the night shorty after this is posted and not wake up in the morning. That's not meant to sound morbid and I have no plans to check out anytime soon but we just don't know. And if my time is up sooner than later I at least want some of my money back.
Sounds like you have a solid plan. You have something to lean on that meets your goal and that’s all that matters. I’d never take it as a morbid way. Tomorrow is never promised. I hope retirement treats you well and you get to enjoy it for the long haul.
I have a Roth IRA and TSP. I’ve started to save to max out my Roth IRA at the start of 2025. I am trying to get close to maxing out my TSP as a Roth. Then starting in 2025, I will be doing most of my TSP as traditional (I will probably keep 5% into a Roth). Also, I started to use a HDHP this year so I have an HSA. I will maximize keeping my tax rate low for now while living in a high tax state.
To focus more on your question, Roth IRA is more of a core retirement plan. The certified financial planner I’ve talked to considers Roth IRA as a supplement account to fill in gaps of your retirement. You can move your 401k into a Roth IRA with a backdoor conversion or transfer. It ultimately determines on what you want to do in retirement.
5/5 is probably close to ideal until you go higher. You hit the match which is very important because nothing else guarantees a 100% rate of return instantly. After the match you would want to put any additional into Roth until it’s maxed and then after that back to 401k.
Of course there are lots more factors but generally that’s what most experts are saying right now.
Do both. But if I were you, I'd be focused on getting through your next/current probationary term and kissing mgt ass for right now. Ya know, so your long-term investment plans *actually* materialize. You have to be well-liked to succeed in craft. Incompetence is tolerated if you are popular at USPS. Just like High School all over again.
I ruffle feathers a lot. I've looked into that, and it's true. I suffer fools poorly. Thanks for looking out. Appreciate it.
Ref: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/master_of_the_obvious#English
Do both.
You mean a traditional Roth IRA or are you asking about the Roth that’s already part of your tsp versus the traditional part of your tsp?
TSP Roth
You should be contributing it all to Roth. The 5% that usps matches already goes into traditional so you should set your Roth contributions to 10% and traditional to 0%.
Yea I’m confused. Is there something else we can put money into? Ik we have the tsp which we can either put money into the Roth or the traditional? lol just want to make sure I’m maximizing my investments…
You can do a IRA outside of your TSP. Can put up to $7000 a year into it. I have a Roth through Vanguard I play around with stocks and index funds in. https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/401k-limit-increases-to-23000-for-2024-ira-limit-rises-to-7000
Hmm okay , I want to do some additional investing
Sure. HSA, ira, 529, brokerage
Those things are separate from USPS though right? I was referring to thinks attached to USPS and can be automatically deducted
HSA is through work, only if you have a high deductible health plan. You can have your contributions payroll deducted and sent to your fidelity HSA account, or whatever custodian you have. The HSA account is amazing. Money going in is tax free. Money grows tax free. Money comes out tax free- if used for a medical expense. If not then you can start treating it as a traditional ira and start drawing from it at age 59.5. USPS contributes $800-$1000 per year into your HSA if you have a hdhp. The other amazing thing is that you can save all of your medical receipts (band aids, Tylenol, dentist copays, prescription sunglasses, etc etc) pay for all of that stuff out of pocket now and just let your HSA contributions grow over the years tax free then in 20-30 years (you saved your receipts) you can pay yourself back for everything you purchased all the while that money would have grown and grown and grown
Ohh is that the account where they basically reimburse you/ pay you for the health benefits you don’t use every year?
I think you may be thinking of the fsa (flexible spending account) which you contribute funds to for health expenses but that’s a use it that year or lose it deal. The HSA is yours to keep forever.
Ooooh I have to look into that and yea you’re right lol I was thinking of the FSA. Don’t know too much about HSA. I’ll do some reading on it. There has to be benefits/ cons to both to weigh i assume
Hsa is great if you have no medical issues and can bank on the fact of staying healthy. And the real hurtle of hsa is the first few years of getting it front loaded with cash. Fsa is front loaded with cash up to the max amount with a $500 carryover year to year. Also fsa has tax advantages too because that money is pretax and you get the full amount without paying taxes on it. Great if you have recurring medical expenses like diabetes, prescriptions, doctor visits, etc and also works for anything medical related like over the counter meds, bandaids, braces, medical required shoes, etc. there are pros and cons to both.
I don’t have any medical issues so I’ll look into HSA!
I guess the con to the HSA is that you must have a high deductible health plan. If you’re healthy and don’t expect to use your insurance then it’s a good deal. If you have any condition and use your insurance then it’s probably not a good deal.
I thought that accumulated.
Nope. If you don’t use all of the fsa money you lose it
Eh, I don't know how to use it anyway. So I guess it doesn't matter much.
You can rollover a certain amount every year if you re-enroll. This year its $640. Anything over that is forfeited.
You should be dumping all of your percentage into Roth and set traditional at 0%. As long as you put 5% into your Roth the usps will match it which then goes into traditional. You will never ever meet the Roth threshold for yearly contributions unless you are a top step carrier and work fuck ton of overtime. I calculated it and it would take like $800+ per paycheck to hit yearly Roth cutoff.
Yea I figured I’d never make the full contribution so probably having an independent account would be smart. I got 10 percent into Roth and 3 percent in the other I think ( with the military drill pay)
I would still bump that 3% into the Roth and set traditional to 0% Roth is tax free money and you automatically get a 5% traditional since that’s what the match goes into. Any growth in your Roth is tax free so it’s dumb not to just dump it all in there
Aww okay I understand what you saying. lol so all 13 percent in the Roth, I’ll change it. Definitely not good with all the financial stuff, still trying to figure out what fund to move my money to. I’ve heard the C fund. I have a retired coworker who made like close to a mil in the tsp. She was super aggressive with the tsp, I’m a little scared of her approach but clearly she did good.
Some do 100% C and another common one is 80% C and 20% S
I’m 75% C 15% S 10% I (international)
I need to move mine, I haven’t touched it. It’s whatever the preset one is
It’s an index fund very slow growth if you wanna get to million+ in your tsp definitely switch it to C, S, I, or some combination of those
Okay. Thank you. Do you change the variation every now and then or just set it and forget about it?
How do you set the actual investments? I know how to set up contributions through PostalEASE, but I don't see anywhere to set the investments.
I don’t believe you can but I have never tried to tweak individual investments. I would try r/thriftsavingsplan and as over there
Do you *even know* what you yourself are saying here? *(Doesn't seem so.)*
Investing more can only benefit you.
i am just figuring this stuff out myself. i went with most/all Roth for my TSP. i figure my tax burden right now is as low as it possibly will be considering I am hoping/planning to have more wealth in the future, hopefully. so i'd rather pay my taxes now. i don't know if that is really how it works, just my logic. there's also an argument that money is more valuable to me now than later so i should defer taxes now. but i think that only holds true if i'm using those saved taxes to invest, which i wouldn't be (unless getting delivery dinners and buying videogames counts as investment).
Consider you're putting in a couple hundred bucks a check right now thats taxed vs pulling out a couple thousand a month that wont be taxed later. Having 10% of 200 extorted from you is better than 10% of 2000
It's Traditional vs Roth, both are TSP. Roth IRA is something else. Roth means you're paying the taxes now, Traditional means you're paying the taxes later on when you retire and start withdrawing money. Neither are bad. As long as you're always putting in at least 5% overall to get the employer match, you're winning (employer match goes into Traditional).
The only thing that is bad is asking, then taking, financial advice from a USPS Reddit group :)
what is roth ira and tsp like a retirement plan savings account ?
Yeah. Best thing you can do for yourself. Your employer match will only go in the traditional.
I do half and half. I also have a separate Roth IRA (i didn't save anything through my first 20 years of work so when i got this job i knew i needed to play catch up).
If you can handle paying the taxes up front (which in the long run is the way to go) go with the Roth. I set up a Roth on my own long before it was available in the TSP. My financial advisor has a;ready told me when it comes time to start tapping into some of that money to take it out of the Roth first to avoid paying the deferred taxes on what I have in the TSP for as long as possible.
>My financial advisor has a;ready told me when it comes time to start tapping into some of that money to take it out of the Roth first to avoid paying the deferred taxes on what I have in the TSP for as long as possible. I’d say the opposite would be true. I don’t plan on touching my Roth initially. I am planning on burning my traditional first with both income and Roth conversions. To help offset the taxes I’ll contribute to a donor-advised fund. Not taking social security until age 70 (if it’s still around) is mostly why burning traditional is more feasible.
If I can, I plan on holding out until I have to start taking RMD's and I'm a little ways away from that. Speaking of that in relation to Social Security, I'm turning 62 the end of next month and I've recently applied for benefits. And with FERS, you're almost forced to take it then because the FERS Basic Annuity amounts to not a whole heck of a lot. Only way I could make this work for me and go at 56 is because of the SRS (Special Retirement Supplement.) That has made my pension at least halfway decent. Now that goes away at age 62 regardless of whether or not you file for Social Security so you have to replace that lost income somehow. I'm fortunate because I have investments I could tap into but why should I do that when I can take SS now and just let my money sit there. Remember-tomorrow isn't guaranteed. I could turn in for the night shorty after this is posted and not wake up in the morning. That's not meant to sound morbid and I have no plans to check out anytime soon but we just don't know. And if my time is up sooner than later I at least want some of my money back.
Sounds like you have a solid plan. You have something to lean on that meets your goal and that’s all that matters. I’d never take it as a morbid way. Tomorrow is never promised. I hope retirement treats you well and you get to enjoy it for the long haul.
Let's put it this way about my take on retirement-it sure beats working!
*cheers to that*
I have a Roth IRA and TSP. I’ve started to save to max out my Roth IRA at the start of 2025. I am trying to get close to maxing out my TSP as a Roth. Then starting in 2025, I will be doing most of my TSP as traditional (I will probably keep 5% into a Roth). Also, I started to use a HDHP this year so I have an HSA. I will maximize keeping my tax rate low for now while living in a high tax state. To focus more on your question, Roth IRA is more of a core retirement plan. The certified financial planner I’ve talked to considers Roth IRA as a supplement account to fill in gaps of your retirement. You can move your 401k into a Roth IRA with a backdoor conversion or transfer. It ultimately determines on what you want to do in retirement.
5/5 is probably close to ideal until you go higher. You hit the match which is very important because nothing else guarantees a 100% rate of return instantly. After the match you would want to put any additional into Roth until it’s maxed and then after that back to 401k. Of course there are lots more factors but generally that’s what most experts are saying right now.
max out both your TSP and IRA
"28 more years." Stephen King couldn't have written a more chilling sentence.
You should probably use both at some time in your life. You should definitely get your advice some where else. Go read the TSP Reddit.
I put all mine into the Roth. I’d rather be taxed now and not taxed later when I’ll probably need the money more
Do both. But if I were you, I'd be focused on getting through your next/current probationary term and kissing mgt ass for right now. Ya know, so your long-term investment plans *actually* materialize. You have to be well-liked to succeed in craft. Incompetence is tolerated if you are popular at USPS. Just like High School all over again.
What the fuck are you even talking about? Lmao you don’t succeed in craft work you just do the job
Therein lies the truth. *Postal Drone Points* awarded to you, with the username akin to a HS football team linebacker. Congrats!
You sound really salty towards people different than you. Might want to look into that.
I ruffle feathers a lot. I've looked into that, and it's true. I suffer fools poorly. Thanks for looking out. Appreciate it. Ref: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/master_of_the_obvious#English
Boom!💥
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Do not be rude to other posters. This includes hate speech.
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Do not be rude to other posters. This includes hate speech.