Federal Retirement Thrift

Investment Board

2019 Thrift Savings Plan 

Education Efforts 
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Introduction .................................................................................................................... 3

Communications ............................................................................................................ 4

Videos ............................................................................................................................. 4

Webinars ......................................................................................................................... 4

Podcast ........................................................................................................................... 4

One-on-One Participant Communications ...................................................................... 5

Emails .............................................................................................................................. 5

Training for Agency/Service Representatives and Participants.................................. 6

Contents
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We are pleased to provide this summary of our education efforts in 2019 in response to the following 

requirement contained in the Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) Open Elections Act of 2004: 

The Board shall annually report to the Committee on Governmental Affairs of the Senate and the Committee 

on Government Reform in the House of Representatives on its Thrift Savings Plan education efforts on behalf 

of plan participants. Pub. L. 108‐469, §2, 118 Stat. 3891, 3892. 

In 2019, the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board (FRTIB) engaged and educated participants using 

videos; webinars; a podcast; one-on-one communications; emails; and trainings for participants, agency and 

service TSP representatives, and military financial educators. 

We are committed to delivering compelling messaging that encourages participants to save for retirement; 

to educating, communicating, and interacting with participants to help them make smart choices; and to 

creating innovative products and programs to assist participants in achieving their retirement goals. 

Introduction 
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In 2019, the TSP produced educational videos, posted recorded webinar sessions with TSP trainers, and launched a 

podcast. Each item, along with its related description, is summarized below. 

Videos 

 Your Flexible Withdrawal Options. Learn about the new TSP withdrawal options that are now available,

including multiple partial withdrawals, traditional-only or Roth-only withdrawals, and more flexible

installment payment plans.

Webinars 

 Your New TSP Withdrawal Options gives an overview of the additional withdrawal options added to the TSP

in September 2019.

 TSP Post-Service Withdrawals provides an overview of the TSP post-service withdrawal options. It is most

beneficial for TSP participants who are within 10 years or less of retirement and participants who have

separated or retired.

 TSP Contributions and Funds gives an overview of the TSP contribution rules and the TSP investment funds.

 TSP Loans and In-Service Withdrawals provides an overview of the TSP loan program and in-service

withdrawal options.

 Intro to the TSP provides an introduction to the TSP for new employees and service members.

Podcast 

 The Real TSP: Your New Flexible TSP Withdrawal Options. Wondering what all the fuss is about with the new

changes to the TSP withdrawal options? Find out in this special episode with hosts Chris and Robyn as they

discuss what’s changed and how the changes may affect you. Tune in to hear topics on withdrawal types,

customized installment payments, tax withholding options, spousal requirements, and more.

 The Real TSP: TSP Basics (Part 1 and 2). When’s the best time to increase your TSP contributions? Are you

investing in the right fund(s)? What do “risk tolerance” and “compounded interest” have to do with your

future? In this episode, TSP educators Chris, Robyn, and Lazetta answer these questions and many more.

Communications 
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One-on-One Participant Communications 

Our educational efforts also include one‐on‐one contact. We offer participants various ways to submit inquiries to the 

TSP including secure e‐messaging, telephone calls, and written correspondence. Below are the totals in each category 

for 2019. We also receive questions via Twitter and Facebook and, whenever possible, we answer them as long as the 

question doesn't involve a participant's personal information. 

Emails 

We use email to communicate news and announcements about the Plan to participants and beneficiaries. In 

July of 2019 we began emailing an electronic newsletter, the Thrift Savings Planner, to TSP participants. Since 

then, each issue of the e-newsletter provides TSP updates, news, and reminders. The e-newsletter is sent on 

a quarterly basis around the same time as quarterly and annual participant statements become available, and 

each issue reminds participants that a new statement is available in My Account. We sent the first 

e-newsletter in July and the second in October. By the end of 2019 our newsletter email list was about 3.5

million emails.

In addition to the e-newsletter, we occasionally sent emails in 2019 to targeted groups of participants in 

order to gauge participant behavior. In the spring, we emailed and sent postcards to more than 75,000 

participants who were automatically enrolled at 3% of salary and had made no changes to the default 

amount. We wanted to encourage them to increase their contributions. Since eligible participants receive 

matching on the first 5% of salary, saving more would provide interested employees with additional matching 

from their agencies. More than 12,000 of them increased their contributions after three months. 

In March, we sent postcards to more than 47,000 uniformed services members who had opted in to the 

Blended Retirement System (BRS) and were not contributing to their TSP accounts. Almost a quarter of them 

had started contributing after three months. 

Additionally, in late spring, we emailed and called nearly 3,000 high-contributing participants who were 

turning 50 that year to let them know about catch-up contributions. After three months, those who received 

our outreach were roughly three times more likely to have started making catch-up contributions. 

Telephone 

Calls

2,490,870

Written

Correspondence

81,472

Secure

E-messages

101,468
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In the summer, we reached out to more than 1.4 million active and separated participants aged 59 and over 

to notify them of the additional TSP withdrawal options that would be available as of September 2019. We 

emailed the information to nearly 900,000 participants and mailed a letter to about 500,000 participants who 

didn’t have an email on record. 

Also in the summer, we reached out to roughly 1,300 civilians and uniformed services members who were 

1) eligible for matching and 2) on track to reach the elective deferral limit before the end of the year. We let

them know that in most cases if they reached the limit early, we wouldn’t be able to accept any more of their

contributions for the year—and if they weren’t contributing, they wouldn’t get matching. At the end of 2019,

we determined that nearly one-third of those who received our outreach adjusted their contributions and

were able to save throughout the whole year.

Finally, in the fall, we emailed more than 30,000 noncontributing participants in the Federal Employees 

Retirement System (FERS) to let them know about the money they were missing in matching. After three 

months, people who received our outreach were 14 – 21% more likely to have started contributing. 
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By law (5 U.S.C. § 8350), the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is required to operate a training program 

for retirement counselors in employing agencies. This requirement ensures that employees are able to obtain 

current information and personal service in response to their retirement-related questions. Since 1987, we have 

worked with OPM to sustain a network of TSP agency representatives as part of this program. We conduct 

quarterly meetings to provide benefits specialists and payroll specialists with information about changes to the 

Plan. In 2019, we hosted in-person and webinar quarterly meetings with 179 specialists receiving TSP updates for 

their HR offices. 

We provide free educational sessions to federal employees and uniformed services members. In 2019, we 

reached 70,393 participants and beneficiaries using live trainings; webinars; conferences; fairs; special Federal 

Executive Board (FEB) events; and trainings for benefits specialists, payroll specialists, and military educators. We 

conducted 104 educational webinars, including regularly scheduled weekly sessions and agency-requested 

sessions, with a total of 32,630 people attending. 

We partnered with the Securities Exchange Commission, OPM, and the Social Security Administration to conduct 

joint trainings for FEBs in Denver, New Orleans, Fort Worth, Cincinnati, and Chicago. We conducted five two-day 

sessions reaching 2,234 federal employees. In March 2020, Pensions & Investments, an international newspaper 

of money management, recognized these collaborative workshops with a prestigious Eddy Award in the category 

of pre-retirement preparation.

We also conduct “train-the-trainer” workshops, focusing on providing education about the TSP to financial 

program managers, educators, counselors, command finance specialists, casualty officers, retirement services 

officers, and other key stakeholders working at military installations. In 2019, we conducted eight two-day trainthe-trainer workshops at military installations in Hawaii, Florida, California, Texas, New Jersey, and South Korea, 

and at TSP headquarters in Washington, D.C., reaching around 300 people. We also conducted three train-thetrainer workshops at military and professional symposiums, reaching around 350 people. 

Training for Agency/Service 

Representatives and Participants