Big Changes in Your Savings Plan Have Taken Effect

ecent changes in the Thrift Savings Plan give savers more investment options, more electronic tools and easier access to their accounts.
Here’s what you need to know:

In addition to the traditional TSP funds, there’s a new mutual fund window that offers thousands of mutual fund choices.
But there are costs:

• $55 annual fee
• $95 annual maintenance fee
• $28.75 fee per trade
• Any additional fees and expenses that the individual mutual fund may have.

That adds up to at least $179 a year, if you make just one trade a year. These fees apply just to the new mutual fund window and are being imposed to avoid indirectly increasing costs for TSP participants who don’t use the mutual fund window, according to the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board, which administers the plan. The costs for TSP funds have traditionally been lower than most other investment programs.

This Coast Guardsman became a millionaire with his Thrift Savings Plan

If you choose to invest through the mutual fund window, your initial investment must be at least $10,000, and you can’t invest more than 25% of your total account in the mutual fund window.

That means you must have at least $40,000 in your TSP account. That may be at the nine or 10 year mark of service for enlisted members who are contributing 5%; and for officers, maybe at year six, according to JJ Montanaro, a certified financial planner who is relationship director on the Military Affairs team at USAA. Click HERE to read more.