Effective May 16, the Thrift Savings Plan transition dates for adding new features and tools will start. In order to prepare for the transition, the TSP said it needs to temporarily suspend certain transactions and services for a brief period beginning May 16 and ending the first week of June.
Suspension dates will vary by transaction and service.
How to Prepare for the Transition
The TSP has provided some tips on how to prepare for the transition
Complete transactions: If you’re planning to request or complete a transaction, change your current investment choices, or update your contact information in My Account soon, you should be aware of key transition dates and deadlines when we need to make transactions and services temporarily unavailable. Keep in mind that after the transition, you’ll be able to complete most transactions entirely online.
Download historical documents: Documents and messages currently available in My Account will not transfer to the new system. You may want to download your historical statements and save any messages so you have easy access to them in your records. If you need any historical statements after the transition, you’ll be able to call the ThriftLine and request to have them mailed to you. Statements that post after the transition will be available to you in My Account going forward.
Check your investment choices: While your current TSP investments will remain active during this transition period, we’ll need to temporarily suspend investment changes toward the end of the transition period, beginning May 26, 2022. That means you won’t be able to change your investment choices during this brief time. You should review your current investment choices and make sure they still align with your retirement goals. Keep in mind that once you’ve established your retirement goals and a savings strategy that fits your needs, you’ll have the best results if you stick to your plan. Make adjustments to your long-term strategy only after careful consideration.
Key Transition Dates
“During the transition period, your savings will remain invested in the TSP funds you’ve elected,” the TSP wrote. “However, to ensure a smooth transition, we’ll suspend account transactions, access to online tools, access to forms, and correspondence for a brief period.”
The key transactions and services include the following:
- Beneficiary designations
- Court order requests
- Form submission
- Investment transactions
- Loan requests
- My Account access
- ThriftLine service
- Withdrawal and distributions
To review a description of each of the transactions and services that will experience temporary suspensions, go to the TSP website here: https://www.tsp.gov/new-tsp-features/key-transition-dates/
“Rest assured that during this transition period, your money will remain invested in the TSP funds you’ve chosen,” the TSP wrote. “There will be a short period—beginning at noon eastern time on Thursday, May 26, and ending the first week of June—when we’ll need to suspend changes to TSP investments. This means that your TSP investments will still be subject to market gains and losses during this brief period, and you won’t be able to make changes until after the transition to the new service provider.”
The TSP said that contributions and payments will continue:
- Payroll contributions and loan payments will continue.
- Installment payments scheduled to be paid May 24 – May 31 will be disbursed early on May 23.
Participants can find more information from the TSP here.
Originally published April 28, 2022