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Survey: TSP participants satisfied with plan
The first survey of Thrift Savings Plan participants in more than 15 years is complete, and TSP officials gave a glimpse of the results at their monthly board meeting Monday.
The TSP, a federal employee 401(k)-style retirement savings plan worth more than $200 billion, is run by a board of presidentially appointed financiers and a staff of career employees. The board, which has been encouraged by the Government Accountability Office to solicit more feedback, hired consulting firm Watson Wyatt to survey 20,000 TSP participants on their satisfaction with issues ranging from customer service to automatic enrollment in the program.
Greg Long, director of product development for TSP, said nearly 20 percent of participants responded to the survey, which was sent by mail so as not to exclude investors without Internet access. That rate is enough to glean broad data, but not enough to compare answers among subgroups, such as age ranges. Long said he will issue the first round of results in January and provide another round in the spring, after soliciting more responses.
In summarizing the first set of findings, Long said only 3 percent of participants surveyed were dissatisfied overall with the TSP.
Just 17 percent of participants surveyed preferred or strongly preferred the G Fund, which invests in ultra-safe government securities, as the default for participants who neglect to make their own fund selections. The G Fund is the current default.
Twenty-two percent of participants strongly preferred and 27 percent preferred the life-cycle funds, which are mixes of the basic TSP funds that automatically shift toward more conservative blends as participants age, as the default option.
TSP Executive Director Gary Amelio and many of the board members have supported switching the default to the L funds, and they may ask for legislation to do so in 2007.
Almost 418,000 participants, out of 3.6 million, have put about $16 billion into the L funds since their inception in August 2005.
The survey comes after GAO issued a report in early 2005 encouraging a more systematic evaluation of the quality of TSP's customer service operation.
Also at the meeting Monday, Amelio and the board discussed rumors, published in the Wall Street Journal and by the BBC, that the Bank of America wants to buy Barclays, which manages the TSP funds. Amelio said he contacted Barclays officials, but they had no comment.
"It's something to watch," Amelio said.
COMMENTS
- Interesting how this survey is out about the same time roughly that IFT's have been snubbed out. With these new rules, it seems like time for another survey. And I also wonder if it was even legal for the TSP board to change the CFR's in the first place. Phil Posted December 9, 2007 6:17 PM
- How does one get a prospectus or audited report on TSP? All I see is a daily price and a 9-month old vague pie chart on major industry allocations of each fund, and not even that much for the international fund. Bear Posted September 22, 2007 2:48 PM
- To all concerned that one of the L funds may be become the default location for your TSP funds, I truly doubt you have much to worry about. 1. You can always change it. 2. It would probably be for your betterment, as long as the minimum retirement timeline is used as the basis choosing which to put you into. 3. The government will never allow it. For those of you asking “Why not?” to item number 3, please remember that this administration has used that particular fund to bail itself out of insolvency at least a hand full of times over the past six years. The government knows that all those folks who look at a sales price tag of $499.99 and say, “Well, it’s only $400 something,” also make up that inertial silent majority who are relatively unaware of their retirement mechanism. A recent conversation with an ex-military postal worker revealed he wasn’t even sure if he was FERS or not. As with any population, some folks care enough to investigate and ask questions while others seem to rely on divine providence. Just look at the last three years’ TSP Fund returns and at the percentile of funds still in the G Fund, and ask yourself “Why?” Then remember, Dubya’s depending on those guys. Tip off. GovExec.com reader Posted January 16, 2007 4:19 PM
