martyb
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
I could use a little help & advice here. I'm a fed employee who will have a DBP starting in 5 yrs at age 55. I don't get any matching money, but I still max my TSP. Haven't always been allowed to do the max, but I am now & will till I retire. If I'm lucky, I'll only see about $250K in my TSP when I'm done. Maybe a similar amount in the wife's 401 by the time she retires...we got started late on these items. Where I need input is with regard to my desire to begin funding to the max a ROTH IRA for both myself & DW. She will keep working for at least 8 more yrs, so we can fund it for at least that long, even when I'm RE. I realize that since I'm only starting the ROTH at age 50, that it won't have time to really explode compounding-wise, but I think it should still make some pretty good money if we don't touch it till much later down the road. I've looked at the Vanguard and Fidelity sites, but would really like some input from folks who use either company, or somebody altogether different. Also, for a guy in my shoes, with a solid couple of pensions (reserves pension will kick in at 60) how do you think I should allocate the IRA $$?) Should I stick to a Lifecycle type deal, or what? I'm just looking to pad things financially however I can, and I figure it would be nice to have money in several pots to draw from when needed or desired. BTW, my Social Security will be negligible, probably no more than $3600 per year. I've got my 40 quarters, but I fall under the WEP for govt. employees and haven't contributed substantially to SS since 1981. At least that's what THEY say lol! Any thoughts are appreciated. Oh yeah, the DW will get SS when she's eligible, but that's 16 yrs down the road.