Thrift Savings Plan
The Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) is a retirement savings and investment plan for Federal employees and members of the uniformed services, including the Ready Reserve. It was established by Congress in the Federal Employees' Retirement System Act of 1986, and provides the same types of savings and tax benefits that many private corporations offer their employees under 401(k) plans. The TSP is a defined contribution plan, meaning that the retirement income you receive from your TSP account will depend on how much you (and your agency, if you are eligible to receive agency contributions) put into your account during your working years and the earnings accumulated over that time.
If you are covered by the Federal Employees' Retirement System (FERS), the TSP is one part of a three-part retirement package that also includes your FERS basic annuity and Social Security.
If you are covered by the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) or are a member of the uniformed services, the TSP is a supplement to your CSRS annuity or military retired pay.
The chart below provides a comparison of the available TSP funds. You can learn more information about each fund by clicking on the fund name.
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Description of Investments |
Government securities (specially issued to the TSP) |
Government, corporate, and mortgage-backed bonds |
Stocks of large and medium-sized U.S. companies |
Stocks of small to medium-sized U.S. companies (not included in the C Fund) |
International stocks of 21 developed countries |
Invested in the G, F, C, S, and I Funds |
Objective of Fund |
Interest income without risk of loss of principal |
To match the performance of the Barclays Capital U.S. Aggregate Bond Index |
To match the performance of the Standard & Poor's 500 (S&P 500) Index | To match the performance of the Dow Jones U.S. Completion TSM Index |
To match the performance of the Morgan Stanley Capital International EAFE (Europe, Australasia, Far East) Index |
To provide professionally diversified portfolios based on various time horizons, using the G, F, C, S, and I Funds |
Risk |
Inflation risk |
Market risk, Credit risk, Prepayment risk, Inflation risk |
Market risk, Inflation risk |
Market risk, Inflation risk |
Market risk, Currency risk, Inflation risk |
Exposed to all of the types of risk to which the individual TSP funds are exposed - but total risk is reduced through diversification among the five individual funds |
Volatility |
Low |
Low to moderate |
Moderate |
Moderate to high — historically more volatile than C Fund Dividends |
Change in market prices Change in relative value of currency |
Asset allocation shifts as time horizon approaches to reduce volatility |
Types of Earnings*** |
Interest |
Change in market prices Interest |
Change in market prices Dividends |
Change in market prices Dividends |
Change in market prices Change in relative value of currency Dividends |
Composite of earnings in the underlying funds |
2010 Administrative Expenses**** |
0.025% |
0.025% |
0.025% |
0.024% |
0.025% |
0.025% |
Inception Date |
04/01/87 |
01/29/88 |
01/29/88 |
05/01/01 |
05/01/01 |
08/01/05 |
*source: www.tsp.gov