Unless you are a D.C. lawyer, a reporter covering the judiciary or an inmate doing time in prison, odds are you don’t routinely check out each and every ruling of the U.S. Supreme Court. Boring …

But if you work for the federal government, or are in the uniformed military services or you are retired, the high court issued a ruling May 18 that deserves your attention. The case: Tibble v. Edison International. If you read and heed its warning, it could prevent you from losing tens of thousands of dollars in your post-retirement investments.

The case was about 401(k) plans (like your TSP) and how well employers monitor them to get the best deal for their workers. Turns out in too many cases, the companies offered high-fee investments to their plan participates. The higher administrative fees (often hidden from or ignored by investors) eat into the earnings the workers/retirees received on their investments.

The Washington Post said the Labor Department estimated that a modest 1 percentage point increase in fees would, over time, reduce the investor’s nest egg by 28 percent. That’s 28 PERCENT you won’t be getting!! That’s a lot.

Labor’s example was based on a worker who had $25,000 in an account earning an average of 7 percent each year over a 35-year period. The typical federal investor (under both the CSRS and FERS programs) has a much bigger TSP account.

So, should TSP investors be worried about high administrative fees? Short answer: No! Not even close.

When it created the TSP program (which includes senators and representatives) Congress directed its board to keep administrative costs down. The Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board, which runs the TSP, is regularly monitored by the Labor Department, Treasury and Congress itself.

In fact, the C,S, I, G and F funds offered by the TSP have the lowest administrative fees in the business.

When they retire or leave government, about 55 percent of the people with TSP accounts withdraw them. Some to spend down the amount, others roll them over into an IRA or other tax-deferred account where they have more “choices.” Sometimes those choices come with a big price tag. And that higher cost is passed on to the investor.

John Bogel a founder of Vanguard and the godfather of indexed funds has, for years, warned investors about high-fee funds. Especially, when those managed (and more costly) funds don’t match the returns of index funds, like those in the TSP, Vanguard, Fidelity and others offering index funds.

TSP managers are under constant pressure to increase the number of funds available to employees and retirees. Some of the requests come from members of Congress who, under pressure from the financial industry, want to give the outsiders a piece of the lucrative TSP payroll deduction investment dollars.

So, should you leave the TSP when you leave government? Do you think you can make more by investing in things like gold, REITs, dot-coms, green or socially-conscience funds? Even by taking more risk and paying higher fees?

NEARLY USELESS FACTOID

By Michael O’Connell

The Peter, Paul and Mary hit “Leaving on a Jet Plane” was written by John Denver, who previously recorded the song under the title “Babe, I Hate to Go”.

Source: Wikipedia

MORE FROM FEDERAL NEWS RADIO

IRS shuts down Web app after criminal network steals taxpayers’ data
The Internal Revenue Service was dealt a serious setback to its aspirations to make its interactions with taxpayers as simple and straightforward as online banking. The tax agency is notifying more than 100,000 taxpayers that a criminal network stole their personal information from the IRS’ systems and has shut down the public-facing technology application involved in the attack until further notice.

13 new cities to see locality pay increase in January
Locality pay will increase at 13 new cities next January, Beth Cobert, deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget, told members of a federal employee union Friday. Cobert told members of the American Federation of Government Employees the increase would be based on labor market conditions at the 13 cities, according to an AFGE blogpost.

Copyright © 2024 Federal News Network. All rights reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.