The National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association (NARFE) reports

that:

• approximately style="FONT-SIZE: 12px; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" face=Verdana color=#000000>88

  percent of federal retirees elect to take their TSP savings in monthly

  withdrawal paymentscolor=#000000>,

• 12 percent

  elect a single payment withdrawal,

• and less

  than 1 percent elect the annuity-purchase option.

Knowing the pros and cons of the TSP's monthly withdrawal options is critical

to preparing for retirement -- whether you are retiring this year or 10-20

years from now.

After years of faithfully contributing your hard-earned

money into your Thrift Savings and carefully managing the allocations for

optimal growth, the last thing you would want is a costly surprise because your

contributions weren't enough to supplement your other sources of government

income: retirement annuity, FERS Supplement, and Social Security.

body>The following free online video gives an informative case scenario of

the three different TSP monthly withdrawal options.   It analyzes the

pros and cons of each using the Benefits Calculator and Retirement Planner

software, and includes 20 pages of training notes (PDF download)

To download the training notes, href="http://csrs-fers.com/TSPvideos/Withdraw/TSP%20Monthly%20Withdrawal%20Options.pdf"

target=_blank>click here. 

To view the online video (approx 10 minutes), href="http://csrs-fers.com/TSPvideos/Withdraw/TSPmonthlySavingsWithdrawal.html"

target=_blank>
click here.