Reservist TSP Policy Options Outlined

A recent report on military compensation issues raised several options for changing the special Thrift Savings Plan benefit that began earlier this year for the roughly 130,000 federal and postal employees who also are members of military Guard and Reserve units. Those individuals may have both a uniformed service TSP account and a civil service TSP account, investing in the former from their active military pay. The eligibility of Guard and Reserve members to create TSP accounts has been somewhat controversial, due to projections that such accounts would hold relatively little money-in most cases, only funds associated with monthly weekend duty and the two weeks-a-year active commitment-and incur high administrative costs. According to the new report, called the Quadrennial Review of Military Compensation, the TSP governing board has estimated that with the caps on investments of active duty pay (currently 7 percent, the same as for CSRS-covered federal workers) Reservists would on average invest only about $200 a year.