KEESLER AIR FORCE BASE, Miss. -- While the last few people grabbed their seat as the workshop began Aug. 6, the speaker asked, “Where are you headed?”
The Airmen stared at the speaker with dazed expressions on their faces, as if looking down their road to retirement and glancing back through the rearview mirror on what they could do to prepare for life after the military.
The Airmen were attending the “Road to Retirement” and “Understanding Your Thrift Savings Plan” workshops, hosted by members of the 403rd Airman and Family Readiness Center. The classes focused on helping wing members plan for retirement and giving basic information about the TSP, said Dennis Liverett, a financial advisor with the Keesler Financial Group in Gulfport, Mississippi.
Liverett said that more than 50 percent of Americans don’t know how much money they will need to live after retiring. In addition, one in four people will have to delay their retirement because they will not have enough income to retire.
“The answer is to just have a plan,” said Liverett.
When working day-to-day, many people only have to be concerned about getting one source of income from their job. Once they retire, they have to pool all their sources together in order to get a paycheck. These sources include savings accounts, investments, social security, 401(k)s and other retirement plans.
Another source of income many Airmen don’t know about is the Thrift Savings Plan, which is available to most employees of the U.S. government, including reservists and civil servants, said Liverett.
“People just don’t know enough about their options,” said Liverett.
Tech. Sgt. James Selig, a 403rd Wing Financial Management military pay specialist who has a TSP account, said he wanted to attend the workshop to get more information about saving for retirement. The class taught him about the different funding options he had and how to manage them.
The Airman and Family Readiness office plans to host similar classes on finances and other focus areas each unit training assembly for members to ensure they know about the available tools for success, said Tech. Sgt. Coleen Powell with the Airman and Family Readiness Center here.
For more information about what the Airman and Family Readiness Center has to offer, contact them at (228) 377-0557. To learn more about the TSP, go to www.tsp.gov.