coolhand's Account Talk

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I think you guys are reading way too much into my comments. Keep it in context please. Birch is into competition when it comes to the tracker. I am not. That's my only issue with the tracker. I am not on this board to compete with anyone. I am here to learn and to help others learn. The tracker can cloud ones judgement if you only look at performance and the feeling of competition can put undue pressure on anyone who chooses to participate. The only reason I'm on the tracker is because I took a poll a couple years ago to see how many folks wanted me to join. I did not intend to do so. But by a margin of about 3:1 folks wanted me on the tracker, so be it. I hope this explains more clearly what I meant.
 
I have to agree with Coolhand. The Tracker is a FUN tool to use.
However, if your using it to compete for Prizes and Recognition,
it can become something that takes your focus away from more
important things. With one First Place win during the month of
March (several years ago), I started to use my <1%IFT method
which lead to confusion (at first) and decided to give up Awards
and Prizes in order to use the Tracker and stay focused on my
goals while using the <1%IFT to beat the (G)Fund. :)

Now, I only use the Tracker for Chips & Giggles. After all, competing
against the market is hard enough. Add the competition between us
members and it could sway ones focus or attention from our goals.
Please make note that I said "could" as every person is unique in
there own right. As for Coolhand, I'm glad you use the tracker. Its
nice to see how everyone is fairing. I also realize that some don't
move their real accounts as they do with the Tracker. After all, Tom
developed the AutoTracker as a way to have fun, while competing
against other members for awards and prizes. To think that every
entry made in the AutoTracker actually reflects that members own
personal TSP Account is abit nieve. Don't get me wrong, I strive to
keep mine accurate and consistant with my real account. But not
everyone does and there's nothing wrong with that. ;)

Coolhand, please forgive my space consuming rant. I had time to burn. :embarrest:
 
Great. Well, It would be nice if the people who are just faking it or those who are doing it real time could place some sort of marker in their autotracker name to indicate to others which is which. I agree that you should not be using real money in a manner that tries to achieve this month winning prize of a travel mug. The down side is far greater. Still I'll try to keep it as accurate as much as I can.

And it would really bum me out if my fake autotracker percentage came in at 30% while my tsp account gained 6% for the year.
 
Appatite said:
Great. Well, It would be nice if the people who are just faking it or those who are doing it real time could place some sort of marker in their autotracker name to indicate to others which is which. I agree that you should not be using real money in a manner that tries to achieve this month winning prize of a travel mug. The down side is far greater. Still I'll try to keep it as accurate as much as I can.

And it would really bum me out if my fake autotracker percentage came in at 30% while my tsp account gained 6% for the year.
Click to expand...

Naw, that's each person's personal decision about what those numbers represent compared to real life. And unless your system is based off what someone else's allocation is (which is scary) it shouldn't matter.
 
The inception of the AutoTracker came years ago when every Tom, Dick, and Harry that stopped by the forum were telling us they were up XX% for the year and they average X% every month, blah, blah, blah.

I believe it was actually Intrepid_Trader who decided to ask these people to "prove it", and he started to keep track of accounts by making people post their IFT's and he calculated their return on a spreadsheet.

Then EW_Ret took the helm as it got bigger and we started to recognize the monthly and annual leaders.

Because we could never verify actual TSP IFT's and returns, we turned it into the contest it is today, rather than an actual returns tracker. Because of that, we wouldn't let folks post late IFT's or old allocations (since 95% of the time that we are asked to make changes it favors the member. Funny how that works :)).

But whether someone is posting an actual or a fictitious allocation, the member's return is the return based on what was entered, and if someone was consistantly putting up good numbers, it gave new investors an opportunity to watch and learn.

As a side note: It's amazing how much more humble people have become since we started tracking. Anyone who has been doing this for any length of time knows that it is not an easy game. The old braggards had to put up or shut up, and we really don't see any more big talkers like we used to. :D
 
The tracker is a great tool for tracking your returns not counting your contributions and a real method of tracking your progress I have never seen another tool that really does the job as well as it does. Don't be stupid!:)
 
tsptalk said:
I believe it was actually Intrepid_Trader who decided to ask these people to "prove it", and he started to keep track of accounts by making people post their IFT's and he calculated their return on a spreadsheet.
Click to expand...

"Intrepid_Timer" please. I don't wann be sued................;)

It was a lot of numbers to crunch, on top of my own stuff. Good thing I had a government job then.............:laugh:
 
I think the Tracker is a good tool. It is fun to watch how your friends are doing (actual or not). Hey Birch I'm at 73 and .02% behind you. Watch that rearview mirror, OK. :D:D

PS, Thanks CH.
 
I saw 2008 coming and largely sidestepped the losses but became paralyzed and missed the BIG run up and actually lost money the next two years. I'm just now recovering those losses... :o :embarrest:

EDIT: Not literally paralyzed physically. Paralyzed with fear. At least I didn't blow out my account. Last month I finally went positive on my 12 month rate of return and my balance hit new all time highs. :)
 
Last edited:
vegasmith said:
Naw, that's each person's personal decision about what those numbers represent compared to real life. And unless your system is based off what someone else's allocation is (which is scary) it shouldn't matter.
Click to expand...
Absolutely true. You should not be looking to the tracker to decide your retirement funds. But it would be nice to know actual real returns versus not so real. I do understand it is intended as a game.
 
pokerstar629 said:
I didn't manage my TSP account until I saw the loss I had in 2008. :mad:
Click to expand...
I WAS managing my account, for the most part, and still got crushed in 2007. Ok, I got complacent at times and turned my head for a few months lettting it ride.............. That didn't help me out at all. I am on this site now to make sure a -29% loss doesn't happen again.
 
KevinD said:
I saw 2008 coming and largely sidestepped the losses but became paralyzed and missed the BIG run up and actually lost money the next two years. I'm just now recovering those losses... :o :embarrest:

EDIT: Not literally paralyzed physically. Paralyzed with fear. At least I didn't blow out my account. Last month I finally went positive on my 12 month rate of return and my balance hit new all time highs. :)
Click to expand...

The same thing happened to me. I lost about 5% in 2008, missed most of the run up in 2009, but did manage a 4% gain. I was too conservative in 2010 and when I did step into the market, I lost money, ending the year with a 2.65% loss. I've decided to follow I_T, and hope the results are much better this year.
 
mar69 said:
The same thing happened to me. I lost about 5% in 2008, missed most of the run up in 2009, but did manage a 4% gain. I was too conservative in 2010 and when I did step into the market, I lost money, ending the year with a 2.65% loss. I've decided to follow I_T, and hope the results are much better this year.
Click to expand...

These are my personal investment performance numbers from my annual statements. :(

2007 +6.75
2008 -7.31
2009 -3.84
2010 -2.87

:sick:
 
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