The changing terrain: Blended retirement system
The Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board (FRTIB) Minutes of the Meeting of the Board Members for the month of September was released on Monday. A portion of the meeting focused on the new military blended retirement system (BRS). The FRTIB anticipates one million new Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) participants come 2018, when the BRS is formally implemented. Nearly 45 percent of current uniformed service members now participate in the TSP.
FRTIB projects up to 130,000 new uniformed services members will enroll in 2017. They project up to 744,000 in 2018, the first year that current eligible service members will be able to opt in to the BRS, and the first year that new recruits will be auto-enrolled. Beginning in 2019, all new recruits will be auto-enrolled, so 276,000 are expected that year, with 264,000 annually in 2020 and beyond.
The Department of Defense has devised a four-part educational program to instruct BRS-eligible service members and new recruits (come 2018). First Command Financial Services’ October survey of military families via the Financial Behaviors Index® indicated that 43 percent had viewed the online training, 26 percent had not viewed it and 29 percent weren’t even aware of it. Sixty-one percent were aware of the educational classes for all troops eligible to opt in to the new retirement system set to begin Jan. 1, 2017.
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