Are you an USPS (United States Postal Services) employee? Well, if you are, you have a chance to make your retirement days better and undoubtedly luxurious. How? It is simple. Enroll in LiteBlue USPS Gov TSP.
Any Federal and uniformed employees such as those of USPS, are entitled to Thrift Savings Plan. Since its establishment in 1986 by the Congress under the Federal Employees’ Retirement System (FERS) Act, FSP has continuously offered similar savings and tax benefits with those offered by most private corporations to their staffs under a plan called 401(k).
However, you are the sole determinant of how your retirement days should be. This is what we means; if you contribute more into your TSP (Thrift Savings Plan) account, during your working years; then, you’ll get more retirement income in latter days.
Too good to be locked out? Worry not. We got you covered right here. But first…
Who is Eligible to participate in TSP?
Well, several groups of people are eligible to participate in TSP. However, before we highlight who are eligible; there is one thing to bear in mind. Eligible employees must be working either part-time or fulltime. They must also be civilian employees of the Federal Government or members of the uniformed services.
So, here is the employee who is eligible:
- Any employee of the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) who started working on 1st of January 1984 but didn’t convert into a FERS.
- An FERS staff that started working on, or after 1st January 1984.
- Members of the uniformed services.
- Government Civilians in any other areas.
Nevertheless, you need to know that since 31st July 2010, new FERS employees get enrolled automatically into the TPS. Unless you change the details of how much you want to be contributing to the LiteBlue USPS Gov eRetire account, or may be opt out, each month, you will automatically be deducted 3% of your basic income.
Agency Automatic and Matching Contributions for FERS
Any employee covered by the FERS and contributes 5% of their basic salary to TSP; postal service automatically contributes an extra 5% via Agency Automatic and Matching Contributions. What does that mean? At the end of it all, you will have double savings in your TSP account. Who wouldn’t want such awesome benefits?
Agency Automatic Contributions: Now, as long as you are covered by the FERS, out of your basic salary, your Agency must contribute a 1% to your TPS. That is for employees that are making any contributions as well as those who are not.
However, as we have said previously, you can opt out of the TPS at anytime. How? If you are a civilian employee, fill out the TSP-A form. On the hand, you can fill a TSP-U-S if you are a uniformed service member.
Matching contributions: As long as you are under the FERS in your LiteBlue Gov ePayroll, you can increase your contributions to about 5% of the basic pay at every pay date. On the other hand, as a member of the civilian TSP that contributes a minimum of 5% of your basic salary to your TSP account, you are eligible to receive the agency matching contributions in full.
In a nutshell, this USPS retirement plan is a great way to save money for the future and every employee needs to embrace it.
LiteBlue USPS Gov TSP Contribution Limits
As at the year 2017, LiteBlue YSPS Gov TSP allows a maximum contribution of up to $18,000. Nevertheless, employees aged above 50 years are free to make an extra $6, 000 annually. This extra contribution is called “Catch-up” contributions.
That, therefore, means that the sum of all your contributions per year should not exceed $54,000. In simplified words, no employee is allowed to make contributions that exceed 90% of their basic salary.
Why is this necessary? Well, the limit; known as Max Annual Addition Limit allows LiteBlue USPS Gov TSP matching contributions as well as contributions in the tax-exempt zones that exceed a limit of $18, 000.
Roth TSP and Traditional Plan options
Now, the LiteBlue USPS Gov TSP allows employees to choose between Roth and Traditional TSP. What’s the difference? You may wonder.
Here’s the answer.
In Roth TSP, employees make contributions after taxation of their money. That means, as your contributions grow, they will be free of tax and you will withdraw them being free of tax.
On the contrary, in the Traditional TSP, employees’ money is tax-differed until the day of retirement when they will be withdrawing the whole amount.
How do you Enroll in LiteBlue USPS Gov TSP?
It is quite easy to enroll for the Thrift Savings Plan retirement. Here’s how to go about it:
As a traditional or Roth TSP as well as 50 plus catch-up contributors, we will provide you with two ways that can help you enroll:
a. Through the LiteBlue website: https://liteblue.usps.gov, a service kiosk nearby your residence, or an Intranet Blue.
b. Alternatively, call the USPS human resources through 1-877-477-3273. However, we recommend you use the previous methods we have suggested before thinking of making a call.
After enrollment, the next thing is to start making your contributions. Now, on the onset of making your contributions, TSP will send you a TSP will send you a TSP pin.
That means, directly contact the TSP to request them to allot your contributions to one of the TSP savings plan.
Otherwise, you can also request for an interfund transfer at anytime. So, which are these investment funds we are talking about?
Here they are:
- G Fund: This type of investment helps you to earn an interest that likens to the ones of the Government long-term securities. However, in this case, there are no risks of losses on principal. On the other hand, there’s minimal instability in earnings.
- S Fund: It aims at helping employees to invest in the stocks of the small companies as well as that of medium-sized companies in the United States. The main focus of this investment fund is matching the Dow Jones Wilshire 4500 completion index performance. This refers to a wide section of the U.S companies’ stock market that is excluded in the S$ P 500 index.
- L Fund: Known as the Lifecycle fund, uses a professional investment allocations mode that suits diverse time horizons to diversify contributor’s accounts among the C, S, F, I, and G Funds. Every business day, these funds are rebalanced.
- F Fund: On the long-term, here you have the chance to earn return rates that are more than the funds of the money market. Good thing is that, there is considerably low risk.
- I Fund: This investment focuses on the international stocks. It seeks to match the Morgan Stanley Capital International EAFE index performance. With the I Fund; there’s a high chance of earning a high return on your investment if you invest in stocks of countries that are outside U.S yet developed.
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C Fund:
Over the long term, the C Fund helps employees to potentially earn high investment return. They majorly focus on stock of both big and small-sized companies in the U.S. This investment mode focuses on matching the S $ P 500 index’ performance.
Here’s something crucial you need to take note of: any USPS employee that enrolls for the TSP, but doesn’t make a choice of the investment fund they want, they automatically continue being under the G-Fund.
For more details on investments funds, you can click on the Fund Sheets found on the TSP home page.
Well, now that you are enrolled, how do you login to your TSP account?
There two essential things every USPS should always have; the ID and password. These give you the ability and permission to login to the TSP site. So, how do you go about it?
Quite hassle-free, and incredibility swift:
On the USPS website, enter your ID and password respectively to log and access your LiteBlue Gov ePayroll details.
Good thing is that you only need an internet browser and you will be good to access the site from your mobile phone or laptop.
Final Words on LiteBlue USPS Gov TSP
There isn’t a better time to enroll in the LiteBlue USPS Gov TSP other than today, and now! Tomorrow may never come or may be too late. And your retiring date draws near every day. The good thing, however, is that you can opt into the plan at any time or change the total amount that you have been contributing over time into your account.
Remember, if you want to have a comfortable retirement time; be consistent in all contributions. The fact is that all employees of the LiteBlue Company earn differently and that means that they will contribute differently. However, regardless of the amount you decide to contribute, remain consistent.
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