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TSP to Roth conversion

snake020

snake020

Contributor
Has anyone here converted their TSP to a Roth IRA? I'm in my last year of grad school and considering making the conversion while my income (and tax) is relatively low. Looking to see if anyone here has done this and what their experience was.
 
I passed on doing it when I retired and regret it, for whatever that's worth. If you are under 40 and can afford to write the check I think it's not a bad idea at all. A lot of my regret is that because of my current situation I make now, I need to do a pre-tax 401k instead of a Roth 402k, and I'm not eligible to contribute to a Roth IRA so that whole option is lost to me.
 
Interesting...Since I'm getting out soon, I'm actually considering transferring my IRA to the TSP in future years so I can get some more of that sweet G fund.

bert, what about a Backdoor Roth?
 
Unfortunately, we both have quite a lot in traditional IRAs from my wife's 401k and my TSP rollovers, and we are in the max bracket so I'd have to eat some pain to do that (see the caution portion in your link). If my wife ever goes back to work part time we'd have some options with married filing separately, maybe.

As a side note we are about at the point of getting a real tax professional - I got audited for my first two years post retirement, and while we ended net even it wasn't an enjoyable experience. Once we do that I will see if there is a way to lessen the pain on the backdoor route.

EDIT - I also regret not making a "your mom" joke in conjunction with that last sentence.
 
Yes, I did about 5 years ago. If you are relatively young and believe your investments will give you a reasonable rate of return I believe a ROTH IRA makes a lot of sense as you will have many years to make up for the hit you take by paying your taxes upfront versus when you retire.

So just graduating from grad school is a great time to go the Roth route.

Cheers!


snake020 said:
Has anyone here converted their TSP to a Roth IRA? I'm in my last year of grad school and considering making the conversion while my income (and tax) is relatively low. Looking to see if anyone here has done this and what their experience was.
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snake020 said:
Has anyone here converted their TSP to a Roth IRA? I'm in my last year of grad school and considering making the conversion while my income (and tax) is relatively low. Looking to see if anyone here has done this and what their experience was.[/QUOTE
Click to expand...
 
Can you do this while still in the military? Regular TSP to Roth TSP conversion and pay the tax bill?
 
TSP was supposed to consult the IRS on the Traditional to Roth TSP conversion option, because the defence authorisation bill signed in 2013 cleared the way for it. Your government hard at work.
 
If there is at least a 15% chance you will take a government civilian job later in life, you might as well keep the TSP. My opinion. (I've got a TSP with about 3 peanuts in it.)
 
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