Kave's Account Talk

[Cactus]

If you are depending on your TSP in retirement you may want to set aside a bucket of money in the G Fund and still play with the rest.

For example, if you want to set aside 5 years worth of income just determine what percentage of the total that amounts to. That then becomes your permanent bucket of money in the G Fund. The rest you move around like you do now. You probably want to recomputed your bucket percentage regularly as your balance goes up and down.

 

[gegor1957]

I chose to take a lifetime withdrawal on the TSP in retirement. The withdrawal can then go into a brokerage account for more aggressive trading while only needing to make about 3.5% per year in the TSP to maintain the balance if you choose to be conservative. This withdrawal will also automatically adjust the amount of my minimum withdrawal at 70 1/2. This option also allows a onetime switch to monthly amounts if circumstances change.

 

[pmaloney]

Congratulations short timer! :smile: I have been retired three years on the 30th of April and it has been good. I decided that I wanted to keep watching the market and even though I am conservative I try to be in at least 25% C and up to 60% C & S when things are positive. This has allowed me to stay positive over the G fund and I have been able to make what I withdraw monthly most of the time. So I wouldn't be in 100% right now but then again April is one of the best months of the year and it is followed by May which some say is a good time to go away till the later part of September. May is followed by June which might give us a Fed rate increase and the BREXIT. The rest of the summer could give us a Chinese devaluation and other currency, debt, oil, and commodity manipulation wars and lots of other stuff.

So I would plan on having a good safe reserve but being flexible and watching the market so you continue to earn and jump to safety as slides and corrections occur.

I have considered moving everything to Vanguard but I am comfortable with the TSP and I have more research to do before trying to fix something that isn't broken.

If you can afford to not make money from your investments for the rest of your life and you don't want to deal with it, that is OK but you should think about that now because you will probably be even more cautious after December and your retired. I know I had a few moments of realization and learned a few big lessons but things work out once you have a plan.

Best of luck and congratulations again! :smile:

 

[kave]

Folks, I really appreciate your counsel. I just checked the Tracker and I'm sitting my returns are YTD 4.58% & MTD 1.28%. I'm extremely pleased with those returns especially with the market fluctuations and NO STRESS ;swear. I'm going to make a move to the L-Income Fund for the foreseeable future which places about 75% in the G Fund.


Thanks again to all!

 

[burrocrat]

hey kave, it's been awhile my friend. congratulations on your upcoming retirement, the agency will miss your leadership and contribution to the mission i'm sure, but don't let that stop ya. i found a place to take a mugshot picture for you with some tsptalk stuff or something, but i am waiting for full spring and the flowers to come out.

on a side note, i have taken up the frustrating game of golf and am starting a logo'd golf ball collection of places we play, or other cool balls we get. i wonder if you would be interested in making a golf ball display rack out of some of that reclaimed tobacco barn wood that you do? i still use the vape stand that you made daily to store and organize my ecig supplies, way cool and excellent craftsmanship, it makes me smile. here is the basics, 14"x3.5"x15", holds 25 balls, a golf ball is 1.68" in diameter, i don't want a fancy felt backing just all wood. let me know if this is something you would be interested in taking on and shoot me a price, no hurry.

View attachment 38141

 

[kave]

Burrocrat, Thanks for the kind words my friend! I have enjoyed my work over my career but it's bout time to be put out to pasture, like a highly decorated race horse!

On another note, I'd love to put something like this together for you. I've got plenty of the reclaimed barn wood for a project such as this. I'll start working on it in a week or so. I'm doing a battery replacement build on our RV right now that will tie me up for another week or so. I'll get back to you!

 

[burrocrat]

Burrocrat, Thanks for the kind words my friend! I have enjoyed my work over my career but it's bout time to be put out to pasture, like a highly decorated race horse!

On another note, I'd love to put something like this together for you. I've got plenty of the reclaimed barn wood for a project such as this. I'll start working on it in a week or so. I'm doing a battery replacement build on our RV right now that will tie me up for another week or so. I'll get back to you!

totally cool, now i will have a matching set. thanks. let me know whenever, i am pretty flexible on time, it drives my bosses nuts, good thing i am good at what i do. maybe eventually my whole house will be furnished with kave stuff.

 

[kave]

Well, I signed my retirement package yesterday! That was my birthday present to myself!

I've never been one that really enjoyed "Retirement Receptions". My thoughts are if you polled 100 people, and if honest, 90 would tell they really don't enjoy those things. Secondly, it puts a ton of work of someone and finally it costs someone $ and we didn't want to burden anyone right here at Christmas. So my wife, my soul mate, and I talked about it and we decided to feed my staff today as our way of saying THANK YOU. Tomorrow is my last day in the office. With the holiday and NWD, I will be on leave 3 days next week. My official retirement date is December 31.

So I leave my work family with these final words:
I am truly a Blessed Man! Serving my fellow man and working with all of the past and present FSA family has been a life experience I will always treasure. After 31 years, the time has come for me to pursue other life opportunities. Or as I told my committee, “it’s time for me to hoe a different row”.

My philosophyhas been simple:

1) Honesty Always
2) Family First Always
3) How an incident is handled is usually more important than the incident itself
4) Take care of the people who take care of you
5) Help others along the way
6)And every day, be fair to the farmer and fair to the program

So, I part with this simple thought:

Whether we realize it or not, we affect people every day, always try to make it a positive effect.

Probably the next time I post on TSPTalk I will be "RETIRED"


Merry Christmas to all you fine folks here!

Best Wishes,
Kave

 

[burrocrat]

yeah buddy, feed the world. it's a good work.

i'm still working on your retirement picture, i better get it in gear.

congratulations, well done.

 

[FogSailing]

Congratulations Kave. Wonderful accomplishment. Best wishes to you and your family as you move to retirement.

FS

 

[nnuut]

Congratulations Kave, you're going to love it. Your work shop will become your Man Kave, and you'll need a Refrigerator in there.

 

[burrocrat]

View attachment 40329

dance it out brother. the work will go on, that's what yokes are for, taking up, we got this. shine your star.

 

[pmaloney]

Congratulations! :smile:

 

[Whipsaw]

Congrats Kave!

 

[kave]

Moved to G Fund. Locking in some profits today. Primarily sat in the L- Income for the most of 2019. TSP Personal Investment Performance (PIP) for the past 12 months ending 11/30/2019 is ​

7.23% and YTD on autotracker is 14.57 %. Now I'm 3 years in retirement and have not spent any of the original principal amount I retired with. Roll on Trump Economy!!!

It's been so long since I posted here I had about forgotten how!

Merry Christmas everybody!​

​

 

[kave]

Long story I'll make short. My wife was scheduled to join me in retirement in May 2020. We've saved $25k for a 70-75 day RV trip to Alaska. Due to Covid-19, we are postponing the trip till 2021 and trying to decide a safe harbor for the $25k. We have Vanguard and Merrill Edge Accts. As you know, CD's and Money Market rates are practically non existent. We would love to earn ~2-3% with minimal risk. We would appreciate any recommendations. Thanks in advance!

Kave & Lucky

 

[Bullitt]

Not possible in this environment unless you want to take on unnecessary risk and/or a tax hit that negates any earnings.

I'd settle for a 1.5% CD at a credit union and call it a day. Inflation is completely non-existent right now so you may not be losing as you would have 3 months ago.

 

[Stoplight]

Long story I'll make short. My wife was scheduled to join me in retirement in May 2020. We've saved $25k for a 70-75 day RV trip to Alaska. Due to Covid-19, we are postponing the trip till 2021 and trying to decide a safe harbor for the $25k. We have Vanguard and Merrill Edge Accts. As you know, CD's and Money Market rates are practically non existent. We would love to earn ~2-3% with minimal risk. We would appreciate any recommendations. Thanks in advance!

Kave & Lucky

Sucks for the timing of C-19...hope you get the trip done next year !

FWIW, I have "cash" dumped in the Fidelity Conservative Income Bond Fund (FCONX). So far, it has given me an ROI of 1.99%. It throws off a monthly dividend, that I don't have reinvested (probably should ) ...last month it was 1.75%. Nothing glamorous, for sure, but perhaps a little more flexibility than a CD.

OTOH, it CAN lose market value, but it doesn't have the wild swings, like the stock market !

HTH, and good luck !!!


Stoplight...

 

[Stoplight]

...just so happens that I got the FCONX semi-annual report today :smile:

Here's the Summary Prospectus, if you're interested !!!


Stoplight...

View attachment FCONX Summary Prospectus.pdf

 

[kave]

UPDATE: The LOML and I searched for a safe haven to stash our Alaska trip $ since we've postponed due to COVID-19. The highest 12 month CD rate we found was 0.8% at our Credit Union, Money Market rates were less than that. We found an online savings account through Citi Bank at 1.55%.

Stay safe!