Roll my Fidelity 401k into TSP or Vanguard

[aboatguy]

I retired from the military a couple of years ago.  Although my wife and I aren't very mustachian, we are now officially living on my military retirement..  My wife is putting 90% of her income pretax into her company 401k (in order for her to max it out this year.  My job was just converted from contractor to Government Service, long story short I believe I should roll everything into the TSP since when I finally quit if its in the year I turn 55 we can draw on it without the 10% penalty.   On the other hand Vanguard Admiral shares are within reach if I fund with my 401k.  As soon as I get my first pay statement I'll have my TSP number and I'll crunch the numbers IOT max it out by the last pay period this year (IOT meet the TSP rules to max the 5% match ) 

I also plan to fund 2 IRAs (one for me and one in my wife's name)  From what I read since we file jointly and both have income I can fund her IRA with my income. 

Here are my questions

1.  (yes or no)  By maxing our pretax 401Ks we lower our M AGI  (I believe it is yes)
2.  (yes or no)  The TSP fees are lower than Vanguard and Fidelity so moving my 401K to the TSP is the smart move
3.  (yes or no)  Funding my wife's IRA with my earnings is a good plan



Mike
 

[MDM]

1.  (yes or no)  By maxing our pretax 401Ks we lower our M AGI  (I believe it is yes)
2.  (yes or no)  The TSP fees are lower than Vanguard and Fidelity so moving my 401K to the TSP is the smart move
3.  (yes or no)  Funding my wife's IRA with my earnings is a good plan

1. Yes
2. Maybe.  There are good options in all three.
3. Yes.  Whether to use traditional or Roth depends on your marginal rate now vs. the marginal rate you expect to pay in retirement.

[Nords]

1.  (yes or no)  By maxing our pretax 401Ks we lower our M AGI  (I believe it is yes)

Yep.  Contributions to a traditional 401(k) lower your remaining taxable income.  And, of course, there may be the employer's matching 401(k) contributions.

2.  (yes or no)  The TSP fees are lower than Vanguard and Fidelity so moving my 401K to the TSP is the smart move

Yep.  I don't know all of the Vanguard or Fidelity expense ratios, but I've never seen one that's as low as the TSP's 0.03%. 

You can roll your traditional 401(k) (and your traditional IRA) to the TSP.  However you can't roll Roth 401(k)s or* Roth IRAs to the Roth TSP-- the TSP doesn't have the procedures in place and doesn't seem interested in providing that option.

3.  (yes or no)  Funding my wife's IRA with my earnings is a good plan

Yes, and I think she'd appreciate it too!


[* Edited on 18 June to add:  I screwed up on the Roth 401(k).  As documented in reply #10 below, a Roth 401(k) can indeed be transferred to a Roth TSP account.  I wrote the blog post correctly but I didn't do that here until Mike pointed it out.]

[aboatguy]

MDM and NORDS thanks so much for responding.  I apologize for the late response  I've been on travel and haven't hit the internet for a while.

Mike

[Nords]

MDM and NORDS thanks so much for responding.  I apologize for the late response  I've been on travel and haven't hit the internet for a while.

Mike

You're welcome!  Let me know if you have more questions.

[Blonde Lawyer]

MDM and NORDS thanks so much for responding.  I apologize for the late response  I've been on travel and haven't hit the internet for a while.

Mike

"On travel."  That's such a government saying.  My husband is a fed and when he travels for work I'll say "oh, my husband's on travel this week."   Everyone else just says they have a business trip or are traveling for work.  I think it has to do with your status.  He's either on duty, off duty, on call, or on travel.  I don't know.  I just thought it was funny to see you say it too.

[aboatguy]

Just to add closure to this thread.  TSP posted my traditional (pretax) to my account.
They received my Roth 401k check too, however, they had additional questions before they will roll it into my TSP.  The good news is they told me they have everything they need to roll my Roth into my TSP.
The bad news is this process took a LOONG time.
Thanks again for everyone that responded.       

[Nords]

Just to add closure to this thread.  TSP posted my traditional (pretax) to my account.
They received my Roth 401k check too, however, they had additional questions before they will roll it into my TSP.  The good news is they told me they have everything they need to roll my Roth into my TSP.
The bad news is this process took a LOONG time.
Thanks again for everyone that responded.     

Thanks for the update! 

Let me know if you have any advice that you'd want me to pass to my readers... especially if you're able to share the TSP's questions about the Roth 401(k) transfer.

[aboatguy]

Nords, I don't have any advice.  They wanted additional "written" verification on the date of my initial Roth Contribution, which is odd since that information is on the form TSP 60-R

[aboatguy]

BLUF    401K ROTH rolloever POSTED to TSP TODAY


This will be my final post to this thread, I'm only posting due to NORDS' earlier posting TSP doesn't support ROTH and his other post asking about advice.  I'm a NORDS fan, and know that he will get the word out so:

My ROTH 401k finally posted into my TSP account.  So there is a procedure to roll Roth into TSP and it works.


It starts with the TSP-60-R and ends with money rolled into your  TSP.


  It was pretty straightforward, required a couple of snail mail mail steps (probably the reason for extended time frame), a couple of phonecalls asking why I received a letter stating I had 15 days from the date on the letter to give them additional information (information that is on the TSP-60-R confirmed by the tech on the phone).  I had to write a letter and attach some statements which I  faxed back to TSP, I waited 2 days and then called to see if its what they needed, they confirmed I was GTG, (good to go) and 5 business days later my money posted.

My advice if your going to roll over into TSP fill out the TSP-60-R,  call your fund old manager explain what you want to do and what they need to do,  send them an email with the same and send the snail mail package to them.

After talking to a couple of different folks on the TSP help line it seems like TSP is not comfortable with ROTH roll-overs yet .  The good news is they were the nicest and most helpful phone representatives I have ever talked with, (seriously they were awesome and I'm a grumpy old boatguy and hard to impress).


Mike

[Nords]

BLUF    401K ROTH rolloever POSTED to TSP TODAY


This will be my final post to this thread, I'm only posting due to NORDS' earlier posting TSP doesn't support ROTH and his other post asking about advice.  I'm a NORDS fan, and know that he will get the word out so:

My ROTH 401k finally posted into my TSP account.  So there is a procedure to roll Roth into TSP and it works.


It starts with the TSP-60-R and ends with money rolled into your  TSP.


  It was pretty straightforward, required a couple of snail mail mail steps (probably the reason for extended time frame), a couple of phonecalls asking why I received a letter stating I had 15 days from the date on the letter to give them additional information (information that is on the TSP-60-R confirmed by the tech on the phone).  I had to write a letter and attach some statements which I  faxed back to TSP, I waited 2 days and then called to see if its what they needed, they confirmed I was GTG, (good to go) and 5 business days later my money posted.

My advice if your going to roll over into TSP fill out the TSP-60-R,  call your fund old manager explain what you want to do and what they need to do,  send them an email with the same and send the snail mail package to them.

After talking to a couple of different folks on the TSP help line it seems like TSP is not comfortable with ROTH roll-overs yet .  The good news is they were the nicest and most helpful phone representatives I have ever talked with, (seriously they were awesome and I'm a grumpy old boatguy and hard to impress).


Mike

Mike, thanks for recalibrating me.  I had a gross conceptual error on Roth 401(k)s being transferred into the Roth TSP.  It turns out that the only "can't do" is Roth IRAs into the Roth TSP.

As aboatguy points out, it's right on the TSP-60-R:
"Use this form to request a transfer of Roth money from a Roth 401(k), 403(b), or 457(b) into the Roth balance of your Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) account. The TSP does not accept transfers from Roth IRAs."

I checked my blog post on the subject (http://the-military-guide.com/can-i-transfer-my-roth-ira-to-my-roth-tsp/ from February 2016) and I wrote it correctly there.  For some reason in this thread on your post my brain locked up on Roth 401(k)s. 

I've also edited my post above (reply #2) to reflect your correction.

I appreciate hearing how the TSP staff still hiccuped a little on the rollover.

Just to be clear when we're using the word "TSP", I hope in your quoted post here that you mean your Roth 401(k) balance ended up in your Roth TSP and not in your traditional TSP.  But from all the personal attention that the TSP staff gave your transfer, it's probably in the right place.

[aboatguy]

BLUF    401K ROTH rolloever POSTED to TSP TODAY


This will be my final post to this thread, I'm only posting due to NORDS' earlier posting TSP doesn't support ROTH and his other post asking about advice.  I'm a NORDS fan, and know that he will get the word out so:

My ROTH 401k finally posted into my TSP account.  So there is a procedure to roll Roth into TSP and it works.


It starts with the TSP-60-R and ends with money rolled into your  TSP.


  It was pretty straightforward, required a couple of snail mail mail steps (probably the reason for extended time frame), a couple of phonecalls asking why I received a letter stating I had 15 days from the date on the letter to give them additional information (information that is on the TSP-60-R confirmed by the tech on the phone).  I had to write a letter and attach some statements which I  faxed back to TSP, I waited 2 days and then called to see if its what they needed, they confirmed I was GTG, (good to go) and 5 business days later my money posted.

My advice if your going to roll over into TSP fill out the TSP-60-R,  call your fund old manager explain what you want to do and what they need to do,  send them an email with the same and send the snail mail package to them.

After talking to a couple of different folks on the TSP help line it seems like TSP is not comfortable with ROTH roll-overs yet .  The good news is they were the nicest and most helpful phone representatives I have ever talked with, (seriously they were awesome and I'm a grumpy old boatguy and hard to impress).


Mike

Mike, thanks for recalibrating me.  I had a gross conceptual error on Roth 401(k)s being transferred into the Roth TSP.  It turns out that the only "can't do" is Roth IRAs into the Roth TSP.

As aboatguy points out, it's right on the TSP-60-R:
"Use this form to request a transfer of Roth money from a Roth 401(k), 403(b), or 457(b) into the Roth balance of your Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) account. The TSP does not accept transfers from Roth IRAs."

I checked my blog post on the subject (http://the-military-guide.com/can-i-transfer-my-roth-ira-to-my-roth-tsp/ from February 2016) and I wrote it correctly there.  For some reason in this thread on your post my brain locked up on Roth 401(k)s. 

I've also edited my post above (reply #2) to reflect your correction.

I appreciate hearing how the TSP staff still hiccuped a little on the rollover.

Just to be clear when we're using the word "TSP", I hope in your quoted post here that you mean your Roth 401(k) balance ended up in your Roth TSP and not in your traditional TSP.  But from all the personal attention that the TSP staff gave your transfer, it's probably in the right place.

NORDS you are correct, there were two separate roll overs, sent at the same time. 
 My traditional 401k smoothly went into my TSP.  My ROTH 401k rollover had a hiccup, however, it is now in my ROTH TSP