Fort Jackson Leader
“We’re all here to talk about what we did this weekend right?” joked Kimberly Bottema, a financial counselor at Army Community Service, as she opened the class. “No, were here to talk about our TSP plans.”
Fort Jackson’s ACS hosted a Thrift Savings Plan class for Soldiers and civilians Jan. 27 to help attendees understand TSP accounts and help build a more robust retirement account.
The short one-hour class covered TSP basic, Lifecycle Funds and the differences between a tradition TSP account and Roth IRA.
Bottema has helped hundreds of Fort Jackson personnel understand their retirement accounts and how to grow retirement wealth by teaching account holders how to choose fund accounts. With more than 18 years of financial counseling experience under her belt and her own TSP account, she is able to give sage advice.
She started the class with the basics, understanding where retirement funds come from. Showing a triangle graphic, pension was listed at the bottom followed by social security and TSP located at the top. While many of the class attendees scoffed at the mention of social security, a comment was raised as to whether the benefit would be available in the future. Bottema quelled the fear and stated each person should prepare as early as possible for retirement and possible shortfalls in the economy.
“We are going to get it (social security),” she said. “We just don’t know what we are going to get.”
She explained to the class how to better prepare a retirement portfolio to better weather an economic storm through diversifying funds between high and low-risk products. By creating several revenue streams, should one stream be less than the others, the portfolio will likely remain stable and continue to grow in the future.
Each TSP account can be customized to the owner depending on several factors: the amount of contributions that will be deducted from their pay, the percentage of funds used in each of the fund categories and risk tolerance, or the amount of money an account holder is comfortable with possibly losing.
For some it can be daunting to try and customize a TSP account, tools and information are available at the tsp.gov website and from Bottema personally. “I can do one-on-one with all of you,” she said. Appointments can be made to meet with Bottema to get individualized assistance.
“Sometimes we don’t get all of the information,” she said. “Come ask the experts. It doesn’t matter how old you are, you should be investing in something and TSP is easy and your money will get diversified right away now.”
She also explained that any additional retirement products can be deposited to a TSP account to help save monthly maintenance fees. She said a TSP account costs about $.40 per $1,000 to maintain while other than TSP accounts can cost as much as $4.10 per the same amount.
“It’s your money,” she said. “Save it.”
While the TSP class was the first financial fitness class held in the New Year, it is a part of a series and addition classes will be offered throughout the year for those interested in attending. The next scheduled class is Love and Money Matters on Feb. 6. The class will reinforced effective communication between couples and discuss techniques to reach financial goals.
For additional information about up-coming financial fitness and resiliency class or to schedule an appointment with a financial counselor, contact the ACS office at 751-5256.