If there is a millionaire in your division, branch or section, it would be interesting to know who it is, right? And if there is somebody in the carpool with a $4 million plus TSP account, the suspense would be terrible. Also, he or she should have the decency to get a bigger, more comfortable car or van!

Yesterdays’ column about the fed with the $4.8 million TSP balance got lots of people thinking. Me too. Naturally we look at what we’ve got in our 401k plan and wonder why we came up short. Turns out we didn’t.

The $4.8 million person very likely brought some or most of it with him/her when he/she joined the government. Or got elected to the House or Senate. Or joined the Cabinet. Most of the speculation is that many in the million-dollar club were successful lawyers or Wall Street (or Silicon Valley) types who made their financial bones before they came into government. After all, many if not most of the people running or expected to run for President are either millionaires (who don’t have 9-to-5 jobs), or on their state’s payroll.

Or, the millionaires are elected officials (governors or senators) who have plenty of time to campaign and still hold down a six-figure job. With benefits.

The irony of elected, paid public-servants running AGAINST career public servants, and the government, is not lost on a lot of people.

When the million dollar TSP mark was first passed, most of the participants had transferred large amounts of money (from outside accounts) when they came into government. More than half the members of the House and Senate are millionaires, and they too can invest in the C, S, I, F and G funds as well as the Lifecycle fund. When your start out with a $1 million account (especially when the market hit bottom during the recession) and keep investing (buying low), it’s not long until you have a $2 million account.

The bottom line, for many of us, is how do we stack up against the 4,167 feds who have $1 million-plus accounts? Or the 21,000 who are almost there and the 21,458 whose account balances are between $750,000 and $999,999?

“I am not that $4 million TSP person but … should the market stay the course then sometime this year I will transition from group 2 to group 3. I am a short-timer at 14 years of service due to prior careers in industry and have not been totally aggressive, content to live with the 5 percent contribution (because I have outside contributions in addition to TSP) – but all in all, not bad for 14 years and starting from $0. Thanks for the update. Jim S.

Finally, if you are still struggling to boost your retirement nest egg, there is some comfort in being one of the smaller fry, especially one day before our tax deadline! Here’s what another reader pointed out:

“Someone else has likely already pointed this out, but if not, please remember that $1,000,000 in TSP is not $1,000,000 in the owner’s pocket when he/she accesses it. They still have to pay the deferred income tax, federal and local! So, depending on the details one would need in the ballpark of $1,300,000 — $1,400,000 to truly be a ‘millionaire.'” Len H

He’s right, of course! Thus giving us added proof that, when it comes to taxes, every silver lining has a cloud!!!

Nearly Useless Factoid by Michael O’Connell

Regis Philbin passed Hugh Downs as the most filmed television personality of all time in summer 2004, when he recorded his 15,188 hour of national TV.

(Source: IMDB)

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