Welcome to Savings Guide
Medical Savings Accounts Article
. For a permanent link to this article, or to bookmark it for further reading, click here.
Thrift Savings Plan – The Concept
from:Introduction
The Thrift Saving Plan is a retirement savings program, designed especially for military members and civilian federal employees.
It is basically a defined contribution plan, designed to give federal employees the same retirement savings-related as enjoyed by the private sector workers with 401(k) plans.
It is primarily a tax-deferred fund, which means that the money contributed to the account is directly deducted from the person’s taxable income. The money deposited in the fund is not taxed until it is withdrawn at retirement, usually after the age of 59 ½, making it a significant amount of tax deduction.
Features and Benefits
The Thrift Savings Plan or TSP offers lucrative benefits and options to its investors. The main amongst these include tax deferral on contributions, a choice of 5 investment funds, a loan program, in-service withdrawals for financial hardship or after age 59, an option of post-separation withdrawal options and the ability to transfer money from other eligible retirement savings plans into your TSP account.
The Thrift Savings Plan offers six different funds in which employees can invest. These include:
• Government security fund
• Fixed-income fund
• Common stock fund
• Small cap stock fund
• International stock fund
• Life cycle fund
However, it is has to be noted that the Thrifts Saving Plan is meant for long-term retirement benefits. The system includes penalty charges for early withdrawals, which need to be avoided as far as possible.
For further understanding of the concept, here we’ve listed the main features and provisions of the concept of Thrifts Savings Plan. These include:
• Immediate member contribution
• Before tax savings and tax-deferred investment earnings
• Daily valuation of accounts
• Low administrative and investment expenses
• A vast choice of investment funds
• Ability to make contributions and interfund transfers with great ease
• Loans from your own contributions and attributable earnings while you are still in service
• Ability to designate beneficiaries for your account balance.
• Spouses’ rights protection for loans and withdrawals and recognition of qualifying court orders.
In addition, the service also offers a website that gives all the general information, capability for requesting contribution allocations and interfund transfers,, the option of initiating loan and withdrawal requests online, up-to-date TSP materials and information, on-line participation statements, calculators to estimate account growth, loan payments, along with an elective deferral calculator.
The Thrifts Savings Plan is one of the best facilities available in the sector of military services to facilitate savings at the best possible rate and terms, at the same time offering easy-to-use and practical systems for its users.
??
??
??
??
1
Medical Savings Accounts News
Health Savings Accounts Help Consumers Save on Their Taxes and Health Care
As 2011 W-2 forms and 1099s start arriving in mailboxes throughout the country, now is the time to remind taxpayers with health savings accounts that they have until April 1
Read more...Health Savings Accounts After Medicare
You can continue withdrawing from an HSA after joining Medicare, but you won't be able to make new contributions.
Read more...Wisconsin offers new health care, day care deductions
Wisconsin residents who use health savings accounts or who have children in day care will be able to take advantage of new tax breaks as they fill out their 2011 income tax returns this year. Companies that create jobs in Wisconsin also are in line for new benefits.
Read more...Rick Santorum's 1994 Alternative to the Individual Mandate
I've written previously that the Allentown Morning Call described Rick Santorum on several occasions in 1994 as seeking to "require individuals to buy health insurance rather than forcing employers to pay for benefits." Earlier this week, Santorum took to the airwaves to rebut the charge. Santorum points instead to a bill he sponsored alongside Sen. Phil Gramm (R., Tex.) that proposed an ...
Read more...Peter Crabb: How federal policy keeps the housing market sick
One of the first principles doctors learn in medical school is primum non nocere — first,
Read more...Not too late to cash in on savings for this tax season
Jessica James/Special to the Sun If you’re just beginning to think about your 2011 income tax return, you’ve got a late start – but it’s still not too late to cash in on some savings. “A lot of the deductions associated with the economic stimulus package will disappear in 2012, so if you want to take advantage of them, you’ve got only until Dec. 31,” says Jessica James, CPA and author of Justice ...
Read more...Coordinated Medical and Drug Benefits Linked to Employers Saving Health Care Expenses
Medical and pharmacy benefits managed by WellPoint’s affiliated health plans are linked to lower medical costs of $8 to $16 per employee monthly compared to those without an integr
Read more...Kansas Medicaid reform plan wins points with state's medical society
The proposal won't cut physician pay but will set quality goals and establish medical homes.
Read more...