A really basic question- or 2

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Single_Tasker

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Hi Folks,

First- here's my situation:

I make about $36,000 per year (oh well) and contribute 10% weekly to TSP.

I've done 1/2 dozen IFTs in 2006.

For the last few months I've been 1/3 C, 1/3 S, and 1/3 I funds.

In January 2006 my TSP account had $31,000
In December 2006 my account has $38,000

Secondly: In financial matters I have the IQ of yeast- so please answer my questions reallllly simply:

I've had an increase in my account of $7,000 for 2006, with about half that contributed by me, and (?) % matched by my employer.

Viewed simply I see a 20% increase in my TSP account. But, factoring out the contributions, using the math that you folks know, how much did I actually earn?

And... did I do well or not (remember: IQ of yeast)?

What do you suggest I, and other newbies, do with my account in the future?

Thanks!
Bill
 
My back of the envelope calculation is that you earned about 6.5% on your money this year. This is better than G-fund and F-fund but less than C-fund (~14%).

Given that you've indicated a desire for a simple answer, I'd recommend going with the L-fund that matches up with your retirement date. If you want to increase your risk/reward then go with a L-fund date that is later than your retirement date -- higher the date the more the risk. The other option would be to go to a fee based service which recommends fund movement (or one of the free sites but evaluate them the same as you would a fee based site.) They do the work of calculating where is the best place to put your money. Many of these sites do not have a long track record yet, but some do have a few years under their belt.

I would not recommend following the TSP Tracker leaders. They typically post with very little time before the deadline and can be moving a lot. The people who post do not have a long track record either. Show-me does have the longest success record (2 years) but you still have the reaction time problem.
 
If you have forever to accumulate fund shares then your current allocations are fine. If you want to be a little quicker on the accumulations then you need to pick a single stock fund and allocate 100% of your contributions to it and do the disciplined approach that DCA provides. (dollar cost averaging) I've been doing that for years and I'm making good money - follow the Birchtree 'cause he don't jump much and seldom cuts and runs. You simply have to have a vision for the intermediate future and that's the hard part. Good luck.
 
Birchtree said:
If you have forever to accumulate fund shares then your current allocations are fine. If you want to be a little quicker on the accumulations then you need to pick a single stock fund and allocate 100% of your contributions to it and do the disciplined approach that DCA provides. (dollar cost averaging) I've been doing that for years and I'm making good money - follow the Birchtree 'cause he don't jump much and seldom cuts and runs. You simply have to have a vision for the intermediate future and that's the hard part. Good luck.
Click to expand...

Tasker,

Please take the ol' salt's recommendations WITH a grain of salt. :)
 
Tasker-

I'd agree with the thought about going to L2040, if that is age appropriate. You don't specify your age, so I don't know how much capital preservation is important to you. The L2040 has been very good since inception, and over time will probably do better than the average "trader" here. Yes, it may go down in the future- but if you've got a lot of time left, you might as well hang on there while you learn more about what are the ups and downs of the market.
 
Tasker,

First of all, well done on contibuting more than just the 5%. Getting the agency match plus contributing more is excellent. I seriously doubt you have an IQ of yeast. I've spent a lot of time with yeast and they can't type. lol Anyway, I too suck at the math and would suggest you stick with a L fund or a blend of your choice. You need diversity if you do not understand the in's and out's or can not monitor the market every single day. If you have several years to retirement, like me, increase you contribution every time you get a raise.
 
Re: Follow up questions

Thanks Folks,

This post follows my initial post.

I've been in the TSP for 8 years and will retire in about 15.

When I first started I was told (not here), "Just park your money in the stock funds and forget it... In the long run you'll make money". Then after the dust of the 911 market problems settled I realized I got disemboweled and lost a huge percentage of my money.

I see you've offered me a couple of different strategies including, near as I can understand, 1) L-Fund, 2) Pick a fund and stay put, 3) Follow the trackers here, 4) Pay a pro.

I used a calculator at tsp.gov and saw that, at retirement. 6% and 10% make a big difference in the balance 15 years from now- sooo, I want 10%!!!

If I stay in C, S, and I funds forever (moving to G during long bad spells), will I do real well over time or do these 3 tend to cancel each other out?

If I pick one fund- which one?... when I look at graphs at tsp.gov and tspmoney.com it seems like the I fund is always best.

Finally, If I am going to follow a daily tracker I need to know 2 things:

1) What is this site's time stamp based on- I live in Mass, and at 11:45 this morning the time stamp on a tracker's post said "Today 2:45 pm". No area in the country is later than my time so what's up?

2) The post I looked at had the above time stamp, then the poster simply listed 5 funds with a % for each one- no indication of when it will take effect.
If I visit a tracker's post at, say 10 am daily, then make my IFTs before noon, will I be following the tracker or be a day late each time?

Thanks,
Bill
 
Yikes. Again with the time stamp. I just posted my earlier post 1 minute ag at 12:45 pm Mass. time and the time stamp says, "today 5:55 PM"- what's up? should I look for pods?
 
It appears you are not logged in. I think the default time is Zula. Try logging in and then look at the time stamps on your previous post. They should match up to the correct time.

Good luck....

Jeff
 
BTW, look in the top right of your IE window. You should see a box like...

Welcome, ATCJeff.
You last visited: Today at 01:06 PM
Private Messages: Unread 0, Total 0.

Make sure the correct time is displayed in this box. If not goto User CP (top left in the menu bar), then to edit options, scroll down to the date & time options.
 
I know it's probably posted somewhere but can't find it. Does anyone have the Yahoo name for the dollar index chart? Am I asking the right question?

Much apreciated

John
 
Much appreciated!!

I really like being able to have a few charts up on Yahoo at the same time in order to compare and then track from time to time during the day. Still trying to learn what impacts what and in which direction.

Happy Hunting

John
 
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