No 401k can ever match the beauty that is the TSP.

I can guarantee you I can save/invest more in the private sector with the gap between public sector pay and make up for the TSP.

Left federal and my private 401k is 150% match up to 6%. Better than TSP in everything except fees, which are slightly higher. But that mattered a lot less than my pay, I was a GS-15 in a leadership role and took a role in the private sector for a 30% pay increase back into an individual contributor role. So much less work and a huge pay increase.

3 dollars for every 2 up to 6% of pay? So you could get up to 15% of pay into the 401k (or the annual limit, whichever comes first)?

That’s by far the best I’ve ever heard of. Usually employers screw us by keeping the majority of the max annual contribution, which only they can make, out of our reach with crappy “50% match up to 3%” policies or whatever (even a 100% match means you can’t hit the actual annual max, it has to be higher than that).

> my private 401k is 150% match up to 6%

Oh that's actually really good. Beats a TSP for sure even with the fees. But from what I remember you're at a defense contractor - they probably have the best benefits plans overall in the US.

A gov-backed retirement plan actually is nice. You don’t have to worry about losing your Chrysler pension because they went out of business.

Amusingly, there's actually a government agency that takes over pension plans from failed companies. PBGC.

Yet another corporate welfare mechanism.

As I wrote in another comment, US Tech Force participants doing 2-year stints won't qualify for the gov't backed retirement (unless they were prior military, prior civil service, or find a non-term appointment to follow this stint with). You need three years to keep the 5% TSP (401k equivalent) match, which is similar to many private companies. You also need 5 years to qualify for FERS (if you quit before then you can get your contributions back, but that's optional as you may want to come back to gov't later and have the years count).

What I meant was that in developed countries these things are the utter minimum, required by law.

I don’t think it’s worth advertising you offer the bare minimum. Nothing to be proud of