Financial planners in major federal centers — Huntsville, Macon, Austin, Ogden, Raleigh-Durham to name a few — are learning what their Washington-based counterparts have known for a long time:

There’s Gold In Them Thar Feds!

What they have learned is that there’s a huge pile of investment capital — $420 billion-plus and growing daily — begging to be rescued by a private sector suitor. The money is 4.6 million Thrift Savings Plan accounts held by current, retired or former federal and postal workers and military personnel.

While most say they are “satisfied” with the TSP, how it’s run and its options, others have the investing equivalent of the 7-year itch. They think there is more out there and they’d like to try it, different investments, out.

The TSP is a potential gold mine for people, funds and investments looking in. Uncle Sam does all the heavy-lifting collecting and managing the money for fractions of a cent on the hundred dollars. For most investors, the government also kicks in an additional 5 percent. And the money is collected every two to four weeks on automatic pilot.

Outside investment firms do a good job of getting former/retired feds to let them handle their former TSP investments. Of every 100 feds who retired or left government in 2012, about 45 had withdrawn their TSP accounts within a year. Some did it to buy a house, pay off a car or college tuition. Many also invested it in a wider array of options than offered by the TSPs C,S,I,F and G funds.

But increasingly, as outsiders learn more about the TSP and its value grows, outsiders want in.

In 2009, Congress gave the board that runs the TSP the authority to offer a window time period to allow feds to invest in outside mutual funds. While the decision is up to the board, there is likely to be heavy pressure on Congress from the financial community to allow feds to expand their investment options.

So is leaving the TSP fold a good idea? Can you make a lot more money elsewhere. Before you take the chance, check out how much that financial planner or mutual fund will charge you and compare it to what the TSP charges.

After yesterday’s column, How’s Your TSP: Compared To What? about the TSP, reader Barbara Casey pointed out an excellent outside experts view of the TSP It was written by CNN’s Melanie Hicken and the subject was fed investors who leave the TSP.

She said that many who leave the TSP are giving up a low-fee plan “and they are paying thousands of dollars more in fees.”

Hicken said other IRAs and employer sponsored 401k plans “typically charge more than 10 times” the 0.03 average expense ration of the TSP. The examples she gives of the savings of the TSP over many other plans are eye-popping. Check them out.

Definitely worth considering.

NEARLY USELESS FACTOID:

By Michael O’Connell

The plastic or metal tip of a shoelace is called an “aglet” (sometimes spelled “aiglet”).

Source: Ian’s Shoelace Site.

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