United States Government Publishing Office publisher pbl distributor dst United States Government Accountability Office Health, Education, and Human Services Division author aut Government Organization text government publication eng GAOREPORTS Legislative Agency Publications gao legislative 2010-08-12 U.S. Government Printing Office 1995-10-19 monographic deposited born digital 27 p. GA 1.13:HEHS-96-1 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-HEHS-96-1 P0b002ee1803a49b2 f:he96001 DGPO 2010-08-12 2011-03-23 GAOREPORTS-HEHS-96-1 machine generated eng fdlp REPORT GAOREPORTS-HEHS-96-1 HEHS-96-1 Federal employee retirement programs Retirement pensions Retirement benefits Investments Comparative analysis Federal employees Social security benefits Financial analysis Information dissemination operations Civil Service Retirement System Federal Employees Retirement System Federal Thrift Savings Plan Letter Report HEHS Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the Federal Employee Retirement System (FERS), focusing on: (1) the extent to which employees under FERS voluntarily contribute to the Thrift Savings Plan (TSP); (2) how well TSP educational materials address the importance of employee participation; and (3) whether there should be additional TSP investment options.<p/>GAO found that: (1) as of September 1994, about 76 percent of FERS employees voluntarily contributed an average of 5.7 percent of their salaries to TSP; (2) most of the non-contributing employees were in lower pay grades; (3) lower paid workers contribute less of their salaries to TSP because Social Security benefits are proportionally higher for lower income workers; (4) these workers may not need to contribute as much to TSP in order to achieve appropriate retirement income levels; (5) mid- and high-pay level workers need to contribute at least 5 percent of their salaries over their careers to achieve 60 to 80 percent of preretirement income; (6) although TSP educational materials extensively discuss the plan's financial aspects, they do not explicitly discuss the importance of employee participation in TSP; (7) the TSP Board is seeking legislation that would add two stock fund options to the three investment options it already offers in order to make these options more similar to those available in private sector plans; and (8) although they carry a higher investment risk, these new investment options could potentially produce higher earnings for plan participants. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-HEHS-96-1/html/GAOREPORTS-HEHS-96-1.htm https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-HEHS-96-1/pdf/GAOREPORTS-HEHS-96-1.pdf GAO/HEHS-96-1 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-HEHS-96-1 Letter Report GAO/HEHS-96-1; Federal Pensions: Thrift Savings Plan Has Key Role in Retirement Benefits; Federal employee retirement programs Retirement pensions Retirement benefits Investments Comparative analysis Federal employees Social security benefits Financial analysis Information dissemination operations Civil Service Retirement System Federal Employees Retirement System Federal Thrift Savings Plan Public Law 99-335