czapor1967's Account Talk

[czapor1967]

I have more questions for y'all... when a signal is buy, what does that mean? buy what? which fund would that be? and if it's sell, what do you do then? sorry for the weird questions, but I just don't understand that... thanks in advance!

Chris

 

[nasa1974]

I have more questions for y'all... when a signal is buy, what does that mean? buy what? which fund would that be? and if it's sell, what do you do then? sorry for the weird questions, but I just don't understand that... thanks in advance!

Chris

czapor, a sell signal means you would get out of the CSorI funds and go to G or F. A buy signal depends on who's system you are watching but usually it is the C fund since most everyone watches the S&P500.
That's my take on it. Others will add theirs.

 

[czapor1967]

czapor, a sell signal means you would get out of the CSorI funds and go to G or F. A buy signal depends on who's system you are watching but usually it is the C fund since most everyone watches the S&P500.
That's my take on it. Others will add theirs.

thank you so much nasa1974, that sheds a lot of light!

Chris

 

[Mapper]

But in all seriousness.....I am young and dont have as much into my TSP as most people do here, so I am being mega aggressive because I want to see my money work for me, in essence...I am pimping my money. But the closer you get to retirement and the more money you have to lose....then you might want to thing a little harder on how much risk you are willing to take. The people here are wonderful and help you out as much as they can.

Meaning he's willing to take the risk of walking through the ghetto to find some good "deals" on C, S, or I shares. If you only stroll in safe neighborhoods (G fund) you wont' get screwed but you also wont be "pimping out" your money. The F fund sits in between these two camps. Keep reading and asking questions, you'll get the lay of the land soon.

 

[MrJohnRoss]

I have more questions for y'all... when a signal is buy, what does that mean? buy what? which fund would that be? and if it's sell, what do you do then? sorry for the weird questions, but I just don't understand that... thanks in advance!

Chris

Hi Chris,

Like NASA says, a buy signal simply means buying into stocks. Depending on your preferance, that means moving your money into one of the C, S, or I Stock Funds, or a combination of the three.

I usually try to determine which one of the three are performing best (relative to one another) before I make a switch. I typically find that the S Fund has better performance when the market is climbing higher, but not always. I will occasionally update the performance of these funds on my thread, so keep reading and learning.

A sell signal just means moving to cash (G Fund). Again, some people also use the F Fund for possible additional gains, but there is a possibility of some losses there if interest rates rise. You are (nearly) guaranteed not to lose any money in the G Fund, but you'll likely only gain a very tiny amount during the time you have your money sitting there (kinda like sitting in a bank savings account - it earns very little interest).

Hope this helps!

JR

 

[czapor1967]

So I decided to live a little and go all into the I fund today... Thoughts on why this might be a good or bad decision please and why! still learing here, I hope I didn't just cut my arm off!

Chris

 

[nnuut]

Nobody REALLY knows, just be nimble.

 

[RealMoneyIssues]

nimble

This is the TSP...

 

[WhoDey]

Well, you could have been me and, wanting to be invested in equities headed into the new month, moved just in time to reap the rewards of yesterday's drop! Hopefully, today I'll be able to recapture some of what I lost yesterday.

I think what will work for me is to have goals in mind and then have the discipline to not get greedy. As I learn my way around the various funds, I will be a bit conservative. If I can make my goals, I won't be shy about moving to safety. That's the theory anyways!

 

[czapor1967]

as I mentioned yesterday I decided to go all into the I fund, and as I was checking the AutoTracker this morning I noticed that not everyone's daily return is the same eventhough they're in the same fund... I.E. there were daily returns of 0.76%, 0.75% and mine was -0.24% eventhough all these daily returns were from people that are 100% in the I fund. how does that work?

thanks everyone,
Chris

 

[RealMoneyIssues]

as I mentioned yesterday I decided to go all into the I fund, and as I was checking the AutoTracker this morning I noticed that not everyone's daily return is the same eventhough they're in the same fund... I.E. there were daily returns of 0.76%, 0.75% and mine was -0.24% eventhough all these daily returns were from people that are 100% in the I fund. how does that work?

thanks everyone,
Chris

The AT daily returns are based on the fund they were in today; the fund listed is the one they will be in tomorrow...

Make sense?

 

[Bquat]

as I mentioned yesterday I decided to go all into the I fund, and as I was checking the AutoTracker this morning I noticed that not everyone's daily return is the same eventhough they're in the same fund... I.E. there were daily returns of 0.76%, 0.75% and mine was -0.24% eventhough all these daily returns were from people that are 100% in the I fund. how does that work?

thanks everyone,
Chris

They might of IFT into I and your seeing them in I but the return is from what they were in. Just my guess.

 

[MrJohnRoss]

as I mentioned yesterday I decided to go all into the I fund, and as I was checking the AutoTracker this morning I noticed that not everyone's daily return is the same eventhough they're in the same fund... I.E. there were daily returns of 0.76%, 0.75% and mine was -0.24% eventhough all these daily returns were from people that are 100% in the I fund. how does that work?

thanks everyone,
Chris

Probably because your purchase into the I Fund is made at the end of the day. If you are 100% I Fund, your returns will match the I Fund returns from today forward. Other peoples returns may also depend on what they held just prior to their switch into the I Fund.

Hope that helps,

John

 

[MrJohnRoss]

Haha! Just like that, 3 people jump in to help! LIKE. :laugh:

 

[czapor1967]

Haha! Just like that, 3 people jump in to help! LIKE. :laugh:

I do like it, I appreciate everyone of you!!!

 

[czapor1967]

okay, I figured it out... it had me in the F fund and just hadn't caught up yet, Thanks y'all!!!

 

[czapor1967]

okay, so I think my plan to "live a little" isn't working out very well... I've gone from in the 680's down to around 903 on the AutoTracker since my move into the I fund at the beginning of the month, in your guys' opinion should I get out or wait it out? I'm not feeling very good about the move now, but then there are systems out there that say that it was time to get into the I fund... I'm really confused here

 

[nasa1974]

okay, so I think my plan to "live a little" isn't working out very well... I've gone from in the 680's down to around 903 on the AutoTracker since my move into the I fund at the beginning of the month, in your guys' opinion should I get out or wait it out? I'm not feeling very good about the move now, but then there are systems out there that say that it was time to get into the I fund... I'm really confused here

It's not the move it is the risk you are willing to accept. The Tracker is just a learning tool a comparision and no one will think different if you are 900 or 100 on the Tracker. YOU have to determine how much RISK you can stand in your account. If you started with $100,000.00 and you are currently at $80,000.00 can you afford to go lower or move to the G fund and wait for the market to go up again. Your choice.....Don't worry about Tracker position.

 

[WhoDey]

It's not the move it is the risk you are willing to accept. ... YOU have to determine how much RISK you can stand in your account.

I can see the wisdom in those words.

It's interesting to me when members of this community from whom I've learned much make moves in completely opposite directions. That tells me that (a) people will disagree on what the best move is on a given day and (b) people don't always have the same investment objectives ... their risk tolerance may be different.

For us newbies, the information shared in this community is a bit overwhelming. The learning curve is steep and when you're making monetary decisions, there is some stress ... making money is fun ... losing money not so much.

I believe it's important to have a basic understanding of the reasoning behind a given move. Even with the perfect move, there will be ups and downs. I think I'll tend to be a conservative until I gain some knowledge in how the various funds operate.

One thing I've learned (sometimes the hard way) is that avoiding big losses is as important as making large gains. At least that's where I'm at. Someone who can accept more risk may feel differently. For them, the potential for big gains is worth the occassional downside.

 

[RealMoneyIssues]

For us newbies, the information shared in this community is a bit overwhelming. The learning curve is steep and when you're making monetary decisions, there is some stress ... making money is fun ... losing money not so much.

Amen, I have been here for 9 months and still don't have a clue. It's tough. Good Luck.