Thrift Savings Plan launches new website

The Thrift Savings Plan's long-awaited website redesign is live, after resolving performance issues that cropped up during its testing phase.

The Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board, which oversees the TSP, announced the redesign in July 2009 and initially planned to have the new site up and running in the first quarter of 2010 following user testing. Concerns, however, about the site's ability to handle the "substantially higher volume" of Web traffic it is expected to generate pushed back the launch date.

According to officials, the website receives tens of thousands of hits a day, more than a million page views a month, and it sends e-mail notifications to more than 200,000 users when new content is posted, making it the most effective way to communicate with TSP participants.

The revamped website includes information about plan eligibility, investment fund options and loans; savings and monthly payment calculators; and guidance for major life events, such as entering and leaving government or military service, or steps to follow after an enrollee's death. It also allows users to log in and view their accounts.

In a letter to participants, Executive Director Gregory Long said the website isn't a finished product and will continue to undergo upgrades in the future.