[quote=plm]For the backdoor ROTH, I think the reference is to putting in 6 or 7K into a ROTH IRA by first putting it into a normal IRA and then converting (conversion has no income limits versus adding to a ROTH IRA does). And the problem is that having an existing rollover IRA makes it part of the conversion. Been doing it every year but then I never rolled over my 401k into an IRA. If I do roll over my 401k, it probably would not be possible for me to do the backdoor Roth IRA each year.

But I think this is off topic because conversion to a rollover IRA already happened so the question is really how to invest it given that with an IRA you have full control over it.[/quote]

My point was the easiest thing to do is to take what was rolled out into a Rollover IRA from an old employer, and roll that amount back into an existing 401k or in the case of the OP, the Federal employee’s version of the 401k (TSP?)…especially if she already has a sizable account balance on her existing TSP retirment account and doesn’t want to or know what to do with the extra $12k from a previous employer…. It’s the “easiest” thing to do. The expense ratio on the TSP plans I think are less than 0.055% It’s not a bad plan…And there’s like $700+billion invested by roughly 6 million people .