|
Contents
- Understanding the power of L Funds
- Reporting a participant’s death to the TSP
- Free TSP webinars
- Jargon for a bargain: Roth
- How to find your Roth balance (and other details) in My Account
- Second quarter account statements in My Account
|
|
Understanding the power of L Funds
Whether you're close to retirement or have already left federal service, now is a good time to take another look at how the TSP’s Lifecycle Funds (L Funds) can support your retirement savings goals.
If you’re already retired or making withdrawals, the L Income Fund might be a good fit. It’s the most conservative of the L Funds and is designed to preserve your savings while still aiming for some growth to reduce inflation’s effect on your purchasing power.
How L Funds work
Each of the eleven L Funds offers a mix of the five individual TSP funds (G, F, C, S, and I) and is designed to grow your savings while managing risk based on when you’ll need to withdraw retirement income.
L Funds rebalance automatically every day and adjust to become more conservative over time—shifting from stocks (C, S, and I Funds) to more stable investments (G and F Funds) as you get closer to retirement. With daily automatic rebalancing, L Funds buy shares as they go down in price and sell shares as the price increases—keeping your investments on track without you having to time the markets.
Staying the course vs. timing the market
Trying to move your money in and out of the markets during downturns can be risky. It’s hard to know when to pull out—and even harder to know when to get back in. Participants who try this during market swings can end up locking in losses and missing out on gains. In fact, since January 31 of this year, participants who stayed in their age-appropriate L Fund have earned returns more than 2.5 times higher than those who moved all of their savings to the G Fund.* Of course, past performance does not guarantee future results, but staying invested in your L Fund helps you ride out the ups and downs and often leads to better long-term results.
Introducing the L 2075 Fund, goodbye L 2025
As of June 30, 2025, we added a new option: the L 2075 Fund. It’s for investors who plan to start withdrawing in 2073 or later, or who were born after 2009.
Also, on June 27, 2025, the L 2025 Fund reached its target date and rolled into the L Income Fund.
Bottom line
L Funds are designed to help you invest with confidence—no matter where you are on your retirement journey.
|
|
|
* This is based on returns for each L Fund (except L Income) compared to returns for the G Fund during recent periods of market volatility from January 31, 2025, to July 15, 2025, and the assumption that these participants didn’t move their money out of the G Fund during this period.
|
|
Reporting a participant's death to the TSP
We’re often asked what a TSP participant’s beneficiaries need to do when a participant dies. Here’s some information to help your loved ones prepare.
When a TSP participant dies while still actively employed in federal service, the employing agency or service notifies the TSP.
The participant’s survivors—whether family members or friends—can also report a death by calling the ThriftLine. This is especially helpful for us in cases of participants no longer employed in federal service.
To start a death benefits claim, we need certain details about the deceased participant and a copy of the certified death certificate. You can find a full list of the details we need to collect and information about beneficiary distributions on our website.
|
|
Free TSP webinars
Thousands of TSP participants join our free webinars every month!
Our official TSP trainers host free webinars on a variety of TSP topics and always include time to answer your specific questions. We add new sessions throughout the year, so check frequently to find times that work for you.
Topics include investment options, loans, in-service withdrawals, and more.
|
 TSP webinar recordings on YouTube!
You can watch recordings of TSP webinars on our YouTube channel. If the live webinars don’t fit your schedule, or you’d like to review specific topics on your own, we have you covered.
|
|
Jargon for a bargain
Roth
When we talk about investing in the TSP, there’s some finance jargon we just can’t avoid. Let’s talk about one term participants ask about all the time: What is Roth? (And should I choose it?)
In the simplest terms, a Roth contribution to your TSP account is after-tax money. That means that you pay income tax on the amount in the year that you contribute it from your paycheck to your Roth TSP balance. (By contrast, your traditional TSP balance is pre-tax money—traditional contributions come out of your paycheck before income taxes apply, lowering your tax bill for the year.)
At withdrawal is when we have to get more technical about what Roth means. The advantage of Roth is that you don’t pay taxes on that money when you withdraw it later in life because you’ve already paid the taxes. The portion from your Roth contributions is always withdrawn tax-free—you already paid those taxes when the money went in. The earnings on those contributions are also tax-free if you meet both of these IRS requirements:
- 5 years have passed since January 1 of the calendar year when you made your first Roth TSP contribution.
- You are at least age 59½, permanently disabled, or deceased.
(By contrast, you’ll pay taxes on both traditional contributions and their earnings when you withdraw from your traditional TSP balance.)
So, should you choose to contribute to Roth? As with so many investment decisions, it depends on your individual situation. You can find more information to help you make this decision in our TSP publications and on our website.
|
|
How to find your Roth balance (and other details) in My Account
When you log in to My Account, you should see your entire account balance front and center. To drill down into the details of your account balance, follow the steps below.
From your desktop, follow these steps:
- Log in to My Account.
- In the top navigation menu, select Contributions.
- On this screen, you can select Details under each type of balance listed to open an accordion with information about the makeup of that balance. For example, under “Contribution Balances,” you’ll find details about contributions and earnings of different types in your account, including Roth. (If you have both a uniformed services and a civilian account, you can use the dropdown menu under “Plan” to select each account.)
From the TSP Mobile App, follow these steps:
- Log in to the TSP Mobile App.
- On the home screen, under the heading “For You,” select the card that displays your account balance. (If you have both a uniformed services and a civilian account, you can select the card for either account.)
- At the bottom of the “Current balance” screen, select the quick link Contribution details.
- On this screen, you can select Details under each type of balance listed to open an accordion with information about the makeup of that balance. For example, under “Contribution Balances,” you’ll find details about contributions and earnings of different types in your account, including Roth.
|
|
Second quarter statements in My Account
Your second quarter TSP statement covers account activity for April 1–June 30, 2025. You'll receive an email when your statement is available online in My Account.
Request a custom statement
You can generate an electronic statement in My Account at any time. After you log in, go to Account Statements from the Quick Links menu and select the date range you want for your statement. (In the TSP Mobile App, you’ll find this link in the Retirement tab.)
Getting your TSP statement by postal mail
If you have postal mail selected as your delivery preference in your current My Account profile, you’ll also receive a copy of your quarterly statement by mail. The way you receive TSP notices and statements depends on your delivery preference in your My Account profile.
|
|
Was this TSP newsletter helpful?
Please complete our very short survey to provide feedback.
|
|
Important TSP information
|
|
Download the official TSP Mobile App
Download the TSP Mobile App from the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store, the only authorized sources for our app.
|
|
|
Providing your TSP account credentials to unapproved third-party software, apps, or services may jeopardize your account security. We cannot endorse any information or advice you may receive from third-party software, apps, or services.
|
|
|
Schedule for the Thrift Savings Planner You'll receive your TSP newsletter by email in January, April, July, and October each year.
You can unsubscribe from the Thrift Savings Planner at any time.
View this email in your browser.
Contact us
Privacy
tsp.gov
ThriftLine Service Center C/O Broadridge Processing P.O. Box 1600 Newark, NJ 07101-1600
|
|
|
|
|