Note: The following show originially aired April 20, 2010. This week, we bring you an encore presentation

By Dorothy Ramienski
Internet Editor
Federal News Radio

Where should you be investing your money in order to have a comfortable retirement? What benefits legislation has a chance of passing?

Senior Correspondent Mike Causey tackled those questions, and others, on today’s Your Turn.

How to Become a TSP Millionaire

Can you become a millionaire by simply investing in your Thrift Savings Plan account?

Allan Roth, investment guru and author of the CBS blog Vanguard Funds — a 60 percent equity fund that was rebalanced once a year, as of yesterday’s close, was higher than when the market closed at the end of 2007 — before the crash. That took a lot of nerve to be able to put more money into the stock market after it crashed.”

Roth said a good choice for many might be the L funds, because they are comprised of both stocks and bonds and often re-balance without much needed help.

Investing, ultimately, is all about what you’re comfortable with.

“It’s a combination of willingness and the need to take risk. First of all, you have to have a willingness to take risk, otherwise you’re going to panic and sell at the wrong time and you would be much better off in the F or the G fund. . . . But some people have already met their goals and need to take risk. There is a chance we could have a market catastrophe. . . . Some people have already built up a plan to live the rest of their lives, and my plans don’t have clients taking the money with them, so there are times to be more conservative when you don’t have to take the risk.”

Legislation About Your Pay & Benefits

Randy Erwin is legislative director at the National Federation of Federal Employees.

He said his organization supports a number of bills regarding federal employee benefits, one being a paid parental leave law.

“People think that federal employees have really great benefits and, to a certain extent, that’s true, but 75 percent of Fortune 100 companies have this benefit, but federal employees don’t. So, it’s not as generous as a lot of people think. . . . The Family Medical Leave Act says you’ve got to give [an employee] the ability to take leave, but they’ve got to use their annual and their sick leave. There’s no paid parental leave benefit in the United States that’s guaranteed.”

Erwin said NFFE is working on it. A bill has passed twice in the House, but failed both times in the Senate.

NFFE also supports a bill recently introduced regarding the rollover of annual leave into one’s Thrift Savings Plan account upon retirement. Erwin said, despite the fact that it’s a fairly new bill, Congress is acting relatively quickly on it.

“We’ve got really good bipartisan support for the bill. It’s already gone through the Oversight and Government Reform Committee in the House. . . . Now we’ve got to get a companion bill in the Senate and get it moving over there. But this is one that I think is really realistic to get done. Obviously, we’re going to make it happen.”

Erwin said the bill would put federal employees on the same level as those in the private sector, “the TSP was designed to be like a 401(k) program. The change was made for private sector 401(k)s. We just want federal employees to have that kind of ability to do that.”

NFFE is also watching legislation regarding teleworking. Erwin said this bill has also passed the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. He explained why his organization is making this issue a priority.

“Just in general, we don’t think the government’s using the telework option as much as it could. Right now agencies aren’t embracing it, and when they are utilizing telework, they’re kind of singling out certain people and giving it to them as a benefit, when really we think it should be the way that government operates. . . . One thing [the bill] will do is — federal employees would be allowed and expected to telework 20 percent of the time. Agencies will have the option to say, ‘No, this person can’t telework because, for some jobs, it’s just not appropriate,’ but it will put the onus on the agency to say why they’re not having their employees telework.”

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