A Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) annuity provides income in the form of monthly payments for as long as you - and your joint annuitant, if you elect an annuity with survivor benefits - are alive. If you name a joint annuitant, monthly payments are made to you while you and your joint annuitant are both alive; when either of you dies, monthly payments are made to the survivor for the rest of his or her life. The factors that affect the amount of the monthly payments include:
For purposes of the Federal Ballpark E$timate, we will provide an estimated annuity based on Single Life, increasing (inflation protection). The TSP annuity rates are used for annuitization of both TSP balances and non-TSP savings. For additional information on how TSP savings are annuitized, go to https://www.tsp.gov/planparticipation/annuities/basics.shtml.
Although the TSP annuity interest rate index changes monthly, for purposes of the Federal Ballpark E$timate, we are using the default factor of 3.5% for both the TSP and non-TSP savings calculations. This is an average over the past 48 months of data. If you are close to retirement, you may want to use the rate represented in the current month or any rate that you choose. Refer to TSP’s website for the Historical Annuity Rate Index factors at https://www.tsp.gov/whatsnew/rates/annuityRateIndex.shtml.
The non-TSP savings amount that you entered may include savings from different sources such as your savings account(s), non-TSP mutual funds, and non-TSP retirement funds (private sector 401-Ks, Individual Retirement Accounts, etc.).