Open season for the Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) for federal employees began Oct. 15 and ends Dec. 31. TSP is a retirement savings plan for servicemembers and civilians who are employed by the U.S. Government.

This is an opportunity to elect to participate, increase or decrease the amount you currently contribute or stop participating.

During open season you can allot any whole percentage of future payroll contributions to any of the five investment funds by accessing the TSP web site at http://www.tsp.gov or call the TSP ThriftLine at (504) 255-8777. 

The five investment funds include:

- G Fund, offering the opportunity to earn rates of interest similar to those of long term government securities. 

- F Fund offers the opportunity to earn rates of return that exceed those of money market funds over a long term. 

- C Fund can earn a potentially high investment return over the long term from a broadly diversified portfolio of stocks of large and medium-size U.S. companies. 

- S Fund offers potentially high investment return over the long term by investing in the stocks of small and medium-size U.S. companies. 

- I Fund offers opportunities to earn a potentially high investment return over the long term by investing in the stocks of companies in developed countries outside the U.S. 

You can enroll or make a TSP change by visiting The Employee Benefits Information System (EBIS) at http://www.donhr.navy.mil/ or by contacting The Benefits Line at 1-888-320-2917 or contact your local TSP coordinator.