GovExec Pay and Benefits TSPTalk plug

[MarkB]

Watch for an article to come out tonight at http://www.govexec.com/pay/on TSP sites.

I contacted the reporter a while back on an artcle written on
A Year in the Life-Cycle Funds

I posed a question on the article which mentioned that employees were warned on interfund transfers. My question was who was warned, but my intent was to inform the reporter that there were alot of good websites out there that provide Free and Pay advice on the TSP. I placed a plug in for TSP talk too...


"http://www.tsptalk.com/ informative site that also provides the service and member forum with daily fund commentary also a feed from professional hedge fund manager, James 'RevShark' De Porre."



I gave a list of sites that I had. I was contacted today informing me that the article was going to be posted tonight. I asked if the context was a negative spin on do it your self vs the L funds. I was told that it was not that it was just lists the sites and says that there has been a proliferation of them since the TSP went daily.



Crossing my fingers and hope not to get fame or flamed.

 

[SkiUtah]

Here is the article... http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/1106/110206pb.htm



November 2, 2006

• [URL]http://ad.doubleclick.net/ad/govexec.com/columns;pos=topblock;tile=3;sz=300x250;ord=444613561341?[/URL]

[URL]http://ad.doubleclick.net/ad/govexec.com/columns;pos=bottomblock;ptile=9;sz=300x250;ord=444613561341?[/URL]





Thrifty and Nifty

By Karen Rutzick
krutzick@govexec.com

It's the start of a new month, which means it's time to check up on your Thrift Savings Plan investments.

October was a solid month for the $194 billion federal employee 401(k)-style retirement plan. The S Fund earned 4.99 percent from investments in small- and mid-sized American companies.

The I Fund, composed of international stocks, brought in 3.87 percent. It has been the plan's star performer for months now and boasts 12-month earnings of 27.54 percent. The C Fund, invested in large domestic companies, gained a solid 3.27 percent in October.

None of the TSP funds lost ground last month. The F Fund, invested in fixed-income bonds, earned 0.73 percent, and the ever-reliable G Fund delivered 0.43 percent from its government securities.

Learn More, Earn More?

Thanks to a 2003 policy switch, TSP participants don't have to wait for the end of the month, quarter, or year to inspect their earnings or change investments. The TSP now does daily transactions and it's open season all year for switching fund allocations.

That flexibility has spawned a batch of privately run Web sites that offer advice and investment strategies.

TspTalk.com is run by Tom Crowley, a computer programmer at the Internal Revenue Service who makes a hobby of investing. Crowley displays his own TSP allocation for everyone to see. Right now, he has everything invested in the G Fund. But on Aug. 3, he had his savings evenly allocated among the I, S, C and F funds, and didn't have a penny in the G Fund.

Crowley offers daily ruminations on the market, an e-mail alert so his 11,000 subscribers will know when he moves his money, a message board where about 2,500 registered TSP participants share thoughts and a paid service from a hedge fund manager who dispenses aggressive investment advice.

"The thing I've found out is people were starving for something like this, because there was nothing," Crowley said. "I don't think the government was responsible for telling people how to invest their money. It was our responsibility to do that."

To be sure, the federal employees who run the TSP and the politically appointed board members who make policy decisions on a part-time basis purposefully steer clear of telling employees how to invest. But the board did begin offering life-cycle funds last summer, which automatically determine and adjust TSP fund allocations based on a projected retirement date. TSP officials launched the funds in part to discourage over-investment in the G Fund.

Many are stepping in to fill the space left over. Government Executive does not endorse any of these services, but Pay and Benefits Watch readers may find them useful. In addition to TspTalk, there are:
The Sky's Not the Limit

TSP officials also announced in recent weeks that the IRS contribution limit for all tax-exempt retirement plans in 2007 is $15,500. For employees 50 years old or older: In 2007, you can also contribute up to $5,000 in catch-up contributions once you hit the $15,500 ceiling.

TSP Web sites may be proliferating, but it's not only thanks to the new daily transactions. Though the Thrift Savings Plan is worth almost $200 billion, that doesn't buy it the sole rights to the TSP acronym. TSP is also an abbreviation for:

• The Traveling Salesman Problem, a famous mathematical problem
• Textured Soy Protein, a meat substitute
• The Tajikistan Support Project, a Dutch foundation that supports health care in Tajikistan
• And of course, teaspoon

Back to Top | Home | Top E-Mailed Stories


©2006 by National Journal Group Inc. All rights reserved.

 

[tsptalk]

Watch for an article to come out tonight at http://www.govexec.com/pay/on TSP sites.

I contacted the reporter a while back on an artcle written on
A Year in the Life-Cycle Funds

I posed a question on the article which mentioned that employees were warned on interfund transfers. My question was who was warned, but my intent was to inform the reporter that there were alot of good websites out there that provide Free and Pay advice on the TSP. I placed a plug in for TSP talk too...

Cool!! Thanks for the plug! Karen contacted me the other day and I was pleasantly surprised at the article's tone. Finally something written that doesn't portray us as persona non grata.

Tom

 

[Gilligan]

Thats a good article! Maybe you will get some more members Tom!

 

[tsptalk]

Indeed. 510 people joined the email alert list yesterday. By far the largest one day jump. :nuts:

 

[nnuut]

510! Dang, where are we going to put them all? Hope we don't get anymore of those Sumo Wrestlers!:worried:

 

[FUTURESTRADER]

Indeed. 510 people joined the email alert list yesterday. By far the largest one day jump. :nuts:

wow...that is amazing

 

[tsptalk]

A typical day sees about 15 to 25 new people. Of course with those 510 new folks came several emails asking how they are going to retire if they are 100% G fund.

 

[MarkB]

510 I am going to play that number on Virginia's Pick 3 lotto.
TSP has been not been nice the past 3 days ...
Hope the numbers are a benefit.

 

[Spaf]

A typical day sees about 15 to 25 new people. Of course with those 510 new folks came several emails asking how they are going to retire if they are 100% G fund.

I feel the government short-changed everybody in FERS (with a TSP) There has been little if any strategic investment advice.

If the government had done it right, you might have been transfered to OPM to run your site under contract. and Rev Shark would be under contract to provide professional investment advice to all participants.

 

[Show-me]

A typical day sees about 15 to 25 new people. Of course with those 510 new folks came several emails asking how they are going to retire if they are 100% G fund.

Before I came here I thought Capital Preservation was what they did to restore the buildings at the Capital. :nuts:

 

[EW_ret]

Indeed. 510 people joined the email alert list yesterday. By far the largest one day jump. :nuts:

I was surprized that four new members and two old members were added to the Weekly Tracker yesterday. The two old members were Frizz B and Dakota. There are now about 25-30 IFT tranactions each trade day.

 

[grandma]

Wow! How terrific for your site, Tom! And thank you to MarkB for the question that prompted Karen R's call to Tom! She apprears to be a reporter of `the old kind' that reported without personal opinion adjectives discoloring the article - thank you, Karen!

Question, Tom: - does this new onset of notoriety mean that
`me 'n them'

are going to have to start minding our manners????
I can see ALOT of pm's going around

!!

 

[tsptalk]

:laugh:

 

[tsptalk]

I feel the government short-changed everybody in FERS (with a TSP) There has been little if any strategic investment advice.

If the government had done it right, you might have been transfered to OPM to run your site under contract. and Rev Shark would be under contract to provide professional investment advice to all participants.

Actually I was thinking the opposite and it is what I meant in the quote they used...

"I don't think the government was responsible for telling people how to invest their money. It was our responsibility to do that."

I guess that's the way I said it but it is kind of confusing. Basically my point was that the gov't is giving us the money to add to our accounts, we should learn how to manage it ourselves. I wouldn't want tax payers' money going toward educating us on how to invest.

What do the rest of you think? Should our agencies be responsible for educating us on investing our TSP?

 

[Spaf]

Boy, am I glad the government sent me to flight school before they issued me a helicopter!............

 

[tsptalk]

They give you annual leave too. Do you want them telling how to use that too? Your turn. :cheesy:

It would be nice to get the investment education, but it would be a hefty cost to the taxpayer. I never worked in private industry. Do they normally offer services like that to their employees?

 

[Spaf]

My Turn!

My annual leave isn't subject to to a bearish market, and wasen't effected by the market bubble burst in 2000. When the market trends bullish my leave stayed the same.

They offer investing education. When your ready to retire! How much has it cost TSP participants not to have this education. Why were you recieving e-mail from folks asking how can they retire if they stay in the G-Fund?.

I worked with AEtna Insurance Company for 10 years. Vested employees had a savings plan managed by the company and somewhat akin to the TSP Life-Cycle funds. That was in place in 1974. I don't know when it started.

Before the Life-Cycle funds and your web site it was russian roulette, and in 2000, they issued automatic pistols..............:notrust:

 

[tsptalk]

I guess the L-funds are their answer. And you are right, I forgot they do offer retirement seminars. Maybe there is money set aside for this type of education.

 

[Spaf]

IMHO the seminars are not handled correctly!
Before FERS the government had retirement seminars. These were geared for CSRS because thats where everyone was at.
Then in 1987 the FERS came into the picture. TSP was the third leg. But, the retirement seminar stayed CSRS. Thats where the Government retiremant seminar system went astray.
It wasn't apparent because TSP only had the G-Fund.
However when the equity funds were added to TSP 1n 1987, the government failed the FERS employees.
Anyone using TSP should be scheduled for a FERS retirement seminar within the first 6 months of their employment. They should be instructed about the market, how to diversify funds. How funds can be risk-safe, risk-average, or risk-aggressive. And how to construct a portfolio by age.

I never did attend a retirement seminar. Our union stewart finially arranged one for our office. That was a month or two before I retired.

The L-funds are great for cruise control, just 18 years too late for many!