less than 1% rule

[Appatite]

I am out of IFTs for the month.

So as of today I have Gfund 64.?%, I fund .12%, S fund 25.2% and C fund 10.1%.

I assume I can change all these to 62%, 1%, 26% and 11%

Then by tomorrow maybe those will be I fund 1.1%, S fund 26.1% and C fund 11.1%

Can I then IFT to 2%, 27% and 12%

So on and so forth until the end of the month?

 

[RealMoneyIssues]

That is my understanding, but I have only done it once...

I am out of IFTs for the month.

So as of today I have Gfund 64.?%, I fund .12%, S fund 25.2% and C fund 10.1%.

I assume I can change all these to 62%, 1%, 26% and 11%

Then by tomorrow maybe those will be I fund 1.1%, S fund 26.1% and C fund 11.1%

Can I then IFT to 2%, 27% and 12%

So on and so forth until the end of the month?

 

[Appatite]

I know it sounds rediculous to do but if the market is grinding upwards and you can move 3% per day, after 5 days you are back into stocks by 15%

 

[nasa1974]

I am out of IFTs for the month.

So as of today I have Gfund 64.?%, I fund .12%, S fund 25.2% and C fund 10.1%.

I assume I can change all these to 62%, 1%, 26% and 11%

Then by tomorrow maybe those will be I fund 1.1%, S fund 26.1% and C fund 11.1%

Can I then IFT to 2%, 27% and 12%

So on and so forth until the end of the month?

As long as you are balancing your funds to a whole number up or down theoretically you could do it on a daily basis. Remember you want to be out of IFT's to do this because it will count as an IFT if you still had one or both in your back pocket. Also you cannot add anything to a fund that is zero. Go have some fun.

 

[Miner]

Except that TSP won't allow a change on the second day because you are back to whole numbers after the IFT. At least that has been my experience.

 

[Adventurer]

Your theory is correct. However, in application you can only submit the transfer every other day. For example, Monday morning you have those tenths of a percentage. Before noon you submit the transfer to even it out. The transfer occurs before the next trading day. Tueday morning percentage is whole again. You have to wait until Wednesday morning before it will be a fraction again or you will have to submit a transfer request of 1%. You have to be careful though, your percentages go up or down based on the total value of your TSP and the value of each fund. Meaning if you have 10% in the I fund and the I fund experiences an increase of 1% on the market, that does not necessarily translate to an increase in your percentage in the I-fund. Only if it increases in relation to the rest of your TSP. If your other allocations do well, then you could find yourself, buying when you think you are selling or vice versa. And since we can't make transfers instantly, I generally avoid this process unless there is at least a .3 or greater change involved or if I am only in one fund. In my case that usually results in nickels and dimes, but hey, I'll take pennies when I can get 'em. Hope this helps. :blink:

 

[nasa1974]

Nice to see that some folks are reading the <1% Thread and understand it.

 

[Scout333]

As long as you are balancing your funds to a whole number up or down theoretically you could do it on a daily basis. Remember you want to be out of IFT's to do this because it will count as an IFT if you still had one or both in your back pocket. Also you cannot add anything to a fund that is zero. Go have some fun.

One other option is to change your contribution allocations to increase one fund vs another. i.e. the amount you contribute bi-weekly, etc. I usually divvy up between C,S, and I. For example, A $ 600 contribution from your paycheck could be divided 33% each to C, S, and I Funds. This keeps a small percentage in each of these funds even if the majority is in the G or F so that you can use the less than 1% IFT method almost any time. Kind of a dollar cost averaging method.

 

[Appatite]

One other option is to change your contribution allocations to increase one fund vs another. i.e. the amount you contribute bi-weekly, etc. I usually divvy up between C,S, and I. For example, A $ 600 contribution from your paycheck could be divided 33% each to C, S, and I Funds. This keeps a small percentage in each of these funds even if the majority is in the G or F so that you can use the less than 1% IFT method almost any time. Kind of a dollar cost averaging method.

I did just actually change my allocation last week so that C and I get 25% and S gets 50%. Now I can always get back into the funds using the 1% rule.