European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - June 23, 2007, Darmstadt, Hesse                                June 2007 stars and stripes Page 15 your Money tsp passes on Roth by Chris Fowler stars and stripes the Agency overseeing the Thrift savings plan voted tuesday to postpone seeking a Roth 401 k option for at least two despite a recent Survey that showed 60 percent of tsp participants were in favor of adding a Roth the Federal retirement Thrift investment Board decided to hold concerns Over required massive implementation efforts and participant communication Chal Lenges were strongly and frequently wrote the boards executive Greg in a memorandum released after tuesdays meet in the Days leading up to the the employee Thrift advisory which does not support the Roth cited the difficulty of pay Roll and personnel offices having to significantly modify both procedures and systems if a Roth option were specific areas of concern cited in Longs memo were anticipated programming challenges with the online enrolment programs and w2 tax re porting and correction Long suggested it would take tsp one to two years to implement a Roth option and it would Cost million to million in programming expenses tsp would then have to support the option with a massive informational Campaign that could drive the total Cost to participants somewhere around he Longs memo said the councils uniformed ser vices representative emphasized that a Roth option was of great interest to service members be cause they Are Likely to Complete their military Ca Reers at a relatively Young age and move into a Sec Ond tsp getting some changes while the Roth option was put on the shelf the Federal retirement Thrift in vestment Board did recommend submitting legislation for other changes to the Thrift Sav Ings the first change would automatically enrol new employees and service members into tsp unless they elect to opt the second change would adjust the default fund for tsp members who dont specify in which fund option to place their the current default is the g a relatively the proposed de fault is the life Cycle which offers a mix of tsp funds but comes with a higher risk to the Chris Fowler 1 v j v indexes v High Low Dow Jones Dow Jones Dow Jones nose amex Nash a Russell do Wilshire 1 most Active or or or name last and 565815 Sqq Pfizer 472539 Kraft 459896 Geneles 404021 n forum 321768 Exxon by 308834 Micron 308534 pm cup 300756 Motorola 280972 timeworn 272568 n key defense stocks key Mutual name div be last chg  19 invest Armor holdings 25 invest Boeing 31 spartan computer sciences 30 funds a Erlna general dynamics 17 Century general electric 19 invest Halliburton 16 invest Harris 16 invest Allied signal 22 investments a const l3 communications 23 Frnk a Lockheed Martin 16 investments a Charta Northrop 17 Raythelon 20 advisor Rockwell 8 advisor t 21 funds a go beat Texas instruments 13 24 advisor t United technologies 19 funds a with a participants Are not allowed to continue contributing after retiring from the with a Roth 401 investors May invest into per adding a Roth option to tsp became possible on May when president Bush signed the tax increase prevention and reconciliation act of which included a provision dealing with con versions of traditional iras to Roth into in addition to the Cost of implementing a Roth Long said the committee wants More time to see How the newly launched Large fund Roth options perform in the private tsp has about million participants and manages assets valued at email Chris Fowler at  Exchange rates military rates euro costs june Dollar buys june 25 British Pound june japanese yen june South korean won june 25 commercial rates Bahrain British Canada China Denmark Krone Egypt Hong Kong Hungary Israel Japan Kuwait Norway Philippines Poland saudi Arabia Singapore South Korea Switzerland Thailand baht Turkey new military Exchange rates Are those available to customers at military Bank ing facilities in the country of issuance for South the Netherlands and the United for no local currency Exchange rates purchasing British pounds in Germa Check with your local military Bank ing commercial rates Are inter Bank rates provided for reference when buying All figures Are foreign currencies to one except for the British which is represented in and the which is precious metals new York merc close interest rates prime rate discount rate Federal funds Market 3month Bill 30year Bond sources the associated Bank of America bitter split Over making a care open to All vets since january nearly veterans have been denied enrolment in the department of Veter ans affairs a health system be cause they have no service con nested disabilities and have in comes that exceed a a Means the same one used to screen for Federal housing the Bush administrations decision to suspend enrolment in a health care for these priority group 8 veterans was explained four years ago As necessary to ensure continued a Cess to a care for higher priority veterans those with service Low incomes or Spe Cial whether Congress should Force the administration to reopen the a system to new group 8 enrollees was the topic of a contentious hearing wednesday of the House veterans affairs the timing might seem questionable Given How veterans physically and wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan Are a rising Challenge for a medical staffs and resource but the treat ment of priority 8 veterans is tied to democratic elec Tion promises of full funding for a health its an Issue guaranteed to Light off partisan fireworks on which so Many lawmakers today seem to for Many veterans who were not disabled or indigent could gain Access to a facilities Caseb Case and space available said Michael Vas under Secretary for it was the veterans health care eligibility act of 1996 that directed a to build Many More clinics and establish an enrolment sys tem based on seven and later eight priority starting in a health care was opened to any vet Over the next three the proportion of no disabled veterans enrolled the a system climbed to 30 per by then a Secretary Anthony Principi decided the flood of group 8 veterans was endangering the systems ability to care for higher priority he used his authority under the 1996 Law to suspend new group 8 those already enrolled were group 8 veterans remain 27 percent of Allva care Bob Filner com Mittee said the current situation represents unacceptable rationing of noting that veterans without disabilities military update Tom Philpott the treatment of priority 8 veterans is tied to democratic election promises of full funding for a health its an Issue to Light off partisan Only on a cannot have Are denied enrolment if incomes Rise above he tied the need to reopen a care to any vet eran to sacrifices being made in current any planned military surge must be accompanied by a surge for health care for vet we must be prepared to serve those that have served us and we Are not pre pared at this Filner but republicans argue that wars in Iraq and in make open ing a health care to All veterans More difficult Given the rising Strain on staff and group 8 veterans who have served in these wars in gain Access to a health care for two years under current and if they enrol during that period they can remain Steve the committee former chairman and ranking said a needs to do More for disabled vet Erans and those in financial need the Vas Core constituency rather than open the Gates for a surge of group 8 the a Esti mates that Mil lion new group 8 veterans would in if Given the and would seek a the added Cost to a Over the next 10 years would be Filner shot Back that buyer and re publican col leagues Are All too willing to sup port a surge when it comes to Mili tary action but a in your when it comes to treating our the first witness Filner called to testify was Steffie Wool an a professor of Medicine at Harvard and Confounder of physicians for a National health pro she cited 2004 surveys showing million veterans had no health insurance and were not receiving a an additional million people living with these veterans also Lack health republicans buyer said it was hard to get past the title of Wool handlers uninsured veterans a stain on americas buyer said he found it particularly galling Given that Wop handler is on the faculty of a University that has such an ant military Bias that it wont support an Roth program or allow recruiters on youre changing the Woolhandler this is not about to email write to military Box a 201201111 or visit