This month Ross was kind enough to put together information on government TSP (Thrift Savings Plan) accounts.
He recommends diversifying your investments by putting your money into 3 Funds.
C Fund - Stocks of large and medium-sized U.S. companies.
S Fund - Stocks of small to medium-sized U.S. companies. (not included in the C Fund)
I Fund - International stocks of 21 developed countries.
Here is the comparison of the different plans:
http://www.tsp.gov/forms/comparison.pdf
Their costs (total expense ratio) is extremely cheap at below .05%
Historic Returns:
http://www.tsp.gov/rates/monthly-history.html
Feb 22-March 2 is National Save Week. (No I did not make that up.)
http://www.americasaves.org/national/saves_week.asp
Calculator to give you a ball park of how much you have to save now to have a comfortable retirement.
http://www.choosetosave.org/ballpark/
Article giving some reasons why you should not take a loan with your 401k:
The 5 biggest 401k mistakes
Three reasons not to take a loan from your 401k: (Ric Edelman version)
1) The money you borrow isn't not borrowed.
It is removed from the plan so it can no longer grow inside the tax shelter.
2) You have to repay the loan, that means you have to pay taxes twice on the same money.
3) You think you have 5 years to repay the load, but if you lose your job you have to replay the loan within 90 days.
Otherwise you get hit with taxes and a 10% penalty.
If you can absolutely avoid it, do NOT borrow from your 401k.
