Posted on Oct 23, 2018
Not many troops are opting into the new retirement system
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Posted in these groups: 
Retirement
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Retirement Military Pay
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 5
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Some are doing this because they are evaluating the two systems and making an informed rational choice. I think others are making the classic (and mistaken) choice of MY MONEY NOW. The new retirement system is of the most benefit for those that stay in the military less than 20 years AND ARE DEDICATED SAVERS by maxing out the 401K matches and saving ALL of their bonus pay under the program. Some of them are showing their own lack of fiscal discipline by choosing to keep all they earn instead of "giving it up" in order to earn the (future) matching contributions.
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SSG Carlos Madden
Someone should create a spreadsheet in google docs to help people calculate this, if i hasn't been done already.
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Maj Robert Thornton
It has been 22 years since I retired. I imagine things are relatively the same regarding our troops. There were many junior officer enlisted with families that were constantly living paycheck to paycheck, just to make ends meet. I suspect that these are many of those that do not take the BRS option.
Money management is not something taught in high school, many of these troops make poor monetary decisions.
Ironically, one of the Acounting and Finance officers, I knew, was responsible for providing financial advice to those troops in financial difficulty. Funny thing, he was in as much or more credit card debt as those he counseled.
Money management is not something taught in high school, many of these troops make poor monetary decisions.
Ironically, one of the Acounting and Finance officers, I knew, was responsible for providing financial advice to those troops in financial difficulty. Funny thing, he was in as much or more credit card debt as those he counseled.
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The pension pays more over time and 401k aren’t a sure thing. My tsp over the last 9 years hasn’t fallen below 10% return, don’t really need a 4% match. Honestly the pension is a better deal especially for active duty.
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"With less than three months to go before the year-end deadline, only one in six service members who are eligible to make the choice to opt in to the new military retirement system have done so, falling far short of prior expectations and raising questions about why the response has been so low."
Really? I didn't think that would be such a shocker. To me, it's a bad deal. Unless a SM knows without a doubt that they are getting out, what is the incentive? That the government will match you up to a whole whopping 5% of your contribution to TSP? A whole 2.5x Base pay at the 12 year mark? I am banking on living a relatively long life; the legacy retirement system will serve me way better in the long run.
If the SM did decide to stay in and had already signed up for the BRS, I would say they have made a poor decision. That 2.5% vs. 2% added for every year in regards to the pension is huge, IMO. An E-6 retiring after 20 years in the legacy system makes just a tad under what a MSG of 20 years would make under the BRS pension wise. I can contribute to my own TSP and manage that on my own dime. Keep the 5%. Thanks, but no thanks.
Really? I didn't think that would be such a shocker. To me, it's a bad deal. Unless a SM knows without a doubt that they are getting out, what is the incentive? That the government will match you up to a whole whopping 5% of your contribution to TSP? A whole 2.5x Base pay at the 12 year mark? I am banking on living a relatively long life; the legacy retirement system will serve me way better in the long run.
If the SM did decide to stay in and had already signed up for the BRS, I would say they have made a poor decision. That 2.5% vs. 2% added for every year in regards to the pension is huge, IMO. An E-6 retiring after 20 years in the legacy system makes just a tad under what a MSG of 20 years would make under the BRS pension wise. I can contribute to my own TSP and manage that on my own dime. Keep the 5%. Thanks, but no thanks.
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