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Or you can now use TapaTalk again!EricDeLee's account talk
- Thread starter EricDeLee
- Start date
EricDeLee
Member
I bailed.
running to safety for the most part
Possibly a dumb move.
I saw what was happening, and hit that panic button which went against what the tiny voice in my head told me to.
So after reading more... and kicking myself... I decided I must stick with the plan and avoid jumping around. I popped back in. I did it AFTER 12:00 yesterday, so I don't know if that will count for today's market, or if I have to wait for Monday. Well... the good thing is this: I am forced to stay where I am at... unless I bail to safety. So I am staying put and hoping to get a 1% increase this month.....
Dream small... baby steps.
imike023
Member
EricDeLee
Member
I've been pretty quiet in this area, but I've been pretty busy as well. Lol.
June I watched my account take some good hits. I made a few silly "panic" moves. But I've recovered since then.
14 trading days ago, I was showing as a -6.25 on the auto tracker's daily returns. I wasn't exactly deflated but was trying to figure out what the heck was wrong. I stuck to my guns, took a hit every once in a while and now sit at 1.47. A great swing that erased the deficit and placed me back in the game.
For "rankings" I was four numbers from the bottom of the barrel (1010 or something like that). Now I'm up to 860. Not great, but an improvement.
Looking at the trends of the Top 50, most of their funds are all sitting at 100% S Fund. So they sit at roughly 5.80% increase for the quarter, and with me having 10% in C Funds and the rest in S Funds, I'm at around 5.60%. I almost made a move to increase on that number today, as I had a feeling I fund was going to pop after reading a bit of BirchTree's thread and a few other things. But I stayed put at 10-C and 90-I.
I had intentions of moving to safety for the 10th trading day of July. I think I read that was historically the time the markets slip in July. So now I am debating. Rush off to G funds... Stay put... Or possibly jump over to mainly I Funds for a week and then charge back to my normal 10/90 split. I am leaning towards the latter, but need to research a bit more. Feel free to chime in if you have an opinion
EricDeLee
Member
Hmmmm....
doesn't 2% a month for 12 months actually mean 24%. Lol. Of course I should be very happy with that
rcknfrewld
Active member
everybody talks to themselves....but when you respond to your self...look out
MrBowl
Well-known member
It's actually more because it compounds. And, yes, its a goal I'd like to achieve one day because the profits are very nice at just 2% per month.
As far as the expectations for the rest of the month...you are right that sometimes early July is good, followed by flat or down movements, but not always. It could be true this year, but only time will tell. Good luck.
rcknfrewld
Active member
you sound like you are younger like me... we are facing the same dilemma as many tsper's are....how can we buy into this market when we just hit the top...when we "think" we are in a market top i think it's best to make short term plays lasting days or a week tops...like I have been doing quite luckily recently...when we "think" we are at a bottom i think it's best to buy and hold(birchstyle)...the key is to be able to recognize the tops/bottoms...to make money you have to be in the C,S,or I funds...but you have to avoid the downturns somehow then jump back in...look at the yearly returns for those funds from their inception...find the high spots and low spots and the spots in between... gauge where our current market falls... now going by past yearly returns...i would say we are at a market top, for now...
you are going to drive yourself crazy checking the market every hour or every day sweating every 1% move it makes...if you are young set it and forget it and check your account in 30 years...if not, try not to pull all your grey hairs out...it's not worth it
EricDeLee
Member
Ive only got about 7 years left prior to retirement.. But my TSP contributing years were interrupted a bit due to being a fed tech a little. Either way, I've been throwing money at it since 2009. An now plan to toss around the limit until I call it quits.
rcknfrewld
Active member
i just had to erase my profound and life changing advice for you after reading your latest post...if you have been buying since '09...you have done well...that was a true market bottom
rcknfrewld
Active member
keep on working another 23 years...big time compoundingLast edited:
EricDeLee
Member
at times I hated the fact that I pulled money from tsp. when I was a fed tech for roughly 4 years, I went through a divorce, and ended up leaving that job. I only had about $6K in that fund, and simply pulled it rather than investing. I had thought that I was going to change career mindsets... And go into a different field I stead of military full-time. Then in 2009 I was offered an AGR position, and was back in full swing again. So I did get in at the bottom of the market. The only issue was that I invested very little until about a year ago. In fact, I had lost my log-in info (and to be honest... Didn't have a desire to check tsp). That all changed when I bought my home a year ago and decided that I really need to start preparing.
So... With that I've been jumping Into a few "financial independence" classes and have been doing a Ton of research. I have a list of goals, and have already started executing them. After looking at my income, along with my wife's I realized I was squandering money away and instead, why not throw that at the principle of the house? I crunched the numbers, tossed more in TSP, and now make an additional house payment each month. I'll turn my 30 year mortgage into an 8 year one (that's when I plan to pay it off). I'm expecting a call soon for a promotion, so I plan to try to max my contributions to TSP with that extra cash.
In theory it's all a good plan. I still have money left over to fool around with, and all of that's done with my income. My wife makes a bit more than me, so once I get her involved a bit more, I think I can really get this ball rolling.
So in some ways I regret that I pulled my money out of TSP back when I thought I was going to leave the full-time gig behind. But in other ways it was a blessing as I did not suffer through 2008. I wish I had invested a lot more in 2009 and 2010... But at least I invested something. Plus in a way, I am glad I did what I did as it helped to build my credit to what it finally is, and it helped me gain hard assets (like the house).
As for compounding for 23 years... That's the plan. I don't plan to yank that cash out of tsp... Especially if I start tossing the max contribution in there for 5 or 6 of my last years. I've served over 17 years now (mixture of active duty, national guard, and now AGR). I may even stay in after the 7 years... Really depends on what I got lined up after retirement at 45. Lol. I gotta do something
rcknfrewld
Active member
RMI...can you keep your tsp account as long as you want...do you have to make withdrawals at a certain age even if you are still working
RealMoneyIssues
Well-known member
Interesting place to put a question for me, but hey...
https://www.tsp.gov/planparticipation/rmd/rmd.shtml
rcknfrewld
Active member
saw you here...thought the new guy could benefit from some traffic
RealMoneyIssues
Well-known member
Ah, gotcha
EricDeLee
Member
Yeah.. I have to figure out the compounding thing. I'm not too knowledgeable on that but get the basics
MrBowl
Well-known member
You hit the nail on the head as far as my approach goes. There are stretches where you can buy in and walk away for several months (November 15, 2012), and stretches where you buy at a low point and sell at a higher point days later (Aug-Sept, 2011). I think we (those of us in the TSP with the restrictive rules) can actually do very well with only 4-8 moves per year. However, I'm still trying to live up to that approach.Similar threads
