Susie, don't listen to "Retired". A lot of us don't know as much as we should about about all the details regarding the retirement process. But this IS a good place to learn. God knows the PO ain't gonna give you any meaninful assistance. So long as you reseach the answers you get here, and see the actual printed references, you'll be fine. A lot of times people will even point you to the specific written references you need.

Retired i retired because of the way this company treated their employees & customers.

Suzie: as before, always a fab idea to ask H.S. dropout co-workers about stuff that affects your whole life and future. Please: don't retire, ever; you ain't got a clue.

SUSIE, it takes between 4 - 6 weeks to get the cash.

3 years and change

How long does it take to receive the tsp complete withdrawal once all the paper work is sent in? I plan on buying a house

I was pleasantly surprised when I found out they take the survivor annuity out by reducing your pension, instead of putting it in and then taxing it before taking it out again. At least something goes in our favor once.

/m42214 yep that sure don't seem right though...but then again since we were mere postal employees it figures. Maybe one of these days the fat cats in Congress will cut us some slack too. won't hold my breath .

Common-Sense... Just be sure when you roll it over, you do it according to the rules. I'm sure there are forms you'll have to fill out, etc. Make sure you do it correctly. I don't know what's involved.

G.O.D. /m42210 That was great! ROFLMAO.. (or should I have said it was ba ba bad... bad to the bone ;-) Thanks for the link.

/m42213...simple answer....NO

I know that after retirement we no longer pay for our health premiums with pre-tax dollars... my question is : are payments for survivor benefits made using pre tax dollars? (are these payments deducted from our gross before having to pay any tax on them thereby reducing our over all tax burden)

retired /m42211: "The G Fund is invested in short-term U.S. Treasury securities specially issued to the TSP. Payment of principal and interest is guaranteed by the U.S. Government. Thus, there is no “credit risk.”

&

"By law, the G Fund must be invested in nonmarketable U.S. Treasury securities specially issued to the TSP."

From: http://www.tsp.gov/rates/fundsheet-gfund.pdf

G fund is just a basket of govt. securities, period. Easy as pie for you to find out the allocation. It's just as available to IRA holders as to TSP people. Not a secret.