PessOptimist's Account Talk

[imike023]

Woohoo! I am fairly up tonight, also somewhat worried.

I do not remember if it was in this thread or another, the subject of young co-workers asking about TSP came up. I mentioned that I had been asked and I had explained how to log in and how to move money around between funds and that some of the money probably should be moved out of G and in to one of the L funds while learning more and making other decisions.

Today about quitting time while we were all submitting our T&As, the subject of money came up. This young co-worker stated that they had finally moved some money around. This person has been a fed for about four years. Another co-worker who has under two years mentioned they had just left it in G and never logged in to tsp.gov. I explained again how the IFT worked, the noon/closing rule worked and the two per month IFT limit with unlimited IFTs to G. I hope well. A question was asked about payday allocations v IFTs and I said the IFT does not effect the contribution allocation.

The co-worker who did the first IFT mentioned he moved 30% to I fund and then a foreperson walked in and said he needed to ask me some questions. The two young co-workers wisely logged out of their computers and "beat feet" as we used to say.

The question, of course could easily have been handled by e-mail and waited until say Tuesday, Then the phone rang and two e-mails from another foreperson popped up. It was BTW after quitting time by now. Fortunately all the calls/e-mails were questions easily answered. The in person foreperson was still there waiting patiently. I did get out of there less than 30 minutes after the end of the day.

I was whining above. No OT authorized for that 30 minutes BTW. Oh well. The incentive to leave on a Thursday? We are AWS 4-10 people.

Monday we celebrate Leif Ericson day.

I am happy this person finally made an IFT. I am concerned about where the rest of this person's TSP was transferred to and what will happen to the funds. I think the co-worker said he left 10% in G before end of the day work intruded. The other young co-worker seemed interested in looking in to it. I hope the other young co-worker does at least find out how to log in.

I find that most new feds may make an allocation at some dollar amount or percentage to their TSP but tend to leave it in G fund. The two above mentioned are or were trainees and concentrate on learning the j.o.b. above many other things. They also seem to be somewhat dedicated to doing things right, something I do not always see in new employees. Whatever, I hope at least that they start being aware of their TSPs.

In case anyone is worried, I tell them I cannot and will not give them advice about what fund to move to. I do tell them about my dismal returns over the years and attribute it to my lack of knowledge and attention to the account.

I also mention this forum and a couple others that they should read, and point out the returns some get.

They do not have time for all that reading/research right now so suggestions are welcome about what they might do to beat G fund. Keep in mind they do not really have time to look at TSP during the week and do not have funds for a paid service.

Hope I am not wrong about mentioning L funds as an alternative to leaving it all in G.

Younger enthused workers are the future of the crafts in the fedworld. I only wish I saw such a bright future in the GS ranks around here.

Regards

PO

The L funds are a great recommendation for people like them who can't be active in their tsp account. They can gamble more on stocks or gamble less and keeping more money in the G fund. Either way leaving you're money in the G fund will not give them any returns and we all know that.

I started working for the government in 2007. I was invested in the G fund for about 4 years until I talked to one of my co-workers about my tsp fund. He started laughing saying you're going to eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for the rest of you're life if you don't invest you're money correctly. So I started looking at the different options and made this my hobby. Still very green on stocks, investment, ect but I am learning and I am making more money now than I would have ever made leaving it in the G fund. I sure don't want to live in the poor house when I retire

 

[PessOptimist]

Re: PessOptimist's Account Talk or what I did on my summer vacation

Where is delete when you choose edit/delete?

 

[PessOptimist]

WARNING: ancient war story. Cold war that is.
Not to clutter up the RIP thread, I'll post this ramble here. The bio on John Byrne was interesting to me as I wondered why GEICO was so widely advertised now.
I first heard of them when I got assigned to Germany in the mid 70s. As an E-3 I sold all my worldly posessions to buy a plane ticket for my wife and daughter and a cheap car. There were plenty of cheap cars since when a German's car would no longer pass Hauptuntersuchung (commonly called TÜV) they sold them to Americans. Our inspection criteria was much less stringent.
To register this fine 65 Ford Taunus I got I needed three things. A military ID, insurance and an on base inspection. Even though these heaps wouldn't pass TüV the US wanted to make sure they would stop eventually and that no one could fall out the holes in the floor. Most important, they wanted to make sure we didn't kill any locals. Due to vehicle safety issues that is.
Many of my NCOs and Officers recommended GEICO. My father-in-law recommended GEICO based on his time in Germany as a US company employee.
So I went to the GEICO office. They told me "we don't insure E-3s Airman-boy and you got one choice".
The choice was a very pricey insurance pool set up by the US Military. I think my insurance card said the company was versicherungfürdieauslanderschweinhund or some such long name.
So now GEICO insures everybody everywhere.

The subject of TSP came up at work recently as the previously mentioned young coworkers noticed me checking out S&P 500 close. The one stated that they had been experimenting with moving money around and was happy so far. The other stated they had forgotten about it and all was still in G. Peer pressure reared it's head at that point. As an old fart I enjoy watching all this.

As an old fart I enjoy having these bright young people around. As I stated before, they are the future of my craft, as much as it may have changed in my life time.

About that TSP. 40G/40C/20S right now. About as agressive as I ever will get. There is a correction acomin. When? For now this sums it up.

PO

 

[Cactus]

Mid 70s and you still remember these German words? You done good!!!

 

[PessOptimist]

Re: Pessoptimist's Account Talk

Just listened to the vid I posted tupelo. Oops I meant two below. Tupelo is in Mississippi two up from forpelow. Thank you very much.
I am taking the advice of the title and remaining G40/C40/S20. Part of me want's to adjust this to G100. Part wants C60/I40. No good reason for either move yet. Except fear.
I attached a spread sheet in the TSP Millionaires thread with a graph. This can be an inspirational graph. Some will consider it crap and some will like it. Some may even download and use it. Here is the latest product for my account.



This is mostly the result of buy and hold. The down turns in balance were either market down turns or me trying to out guess the market. The magic of compound interest is evident.

PO

 

[JTH]

Re: Pessoptimist's Account Talk

That's a great idea, I think I may have to do something like this, where I chart my account against the S&P 500 on a percentage basis.

 

[nasa1974]

Re: Pessoptimist's Account Talk

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

 

[nnuut]

Re: Pessoptimist's Account Talk

Have GREAT Birthday PO!!!

 

[PessOptimist]

Re: Suppose

Arrrrghhh. I shoulda got out 5/22 and got back 6/12 and maybe got out today...

Deep breathes...the sky is green the grass is brown...it's not a sprint, it's a marathon...the yearly gain don't mean sh*t...it;s a life long thing.

Retiring in 4 1/2 years. Need the balance to grow. Life long is getting short.

Probably can live off the largess of annuities for a while but all my eggs are in the US govt basket so I may be screwed. Please say all the ponzi schemes will last til about 2022.

Need encouragement and invite advice.

regards

PO

 

[PessOptimist]

I've been meaning to comment here and there but thought I'd put something in my unused home place.

First, I feel for all you furloughies and the way your agencies handled the dreaded sequestration. In our strange .gov world some agencies are busier than ever.

I have earned more during this .52 year so far in my TSP than I think ever. The question is do I get out of equities and save my best year ever or stick it out. It's only about 60% in so it's not like it will totally wipe the account out if the market tanks.

I read everything posted here (except NewsFeeder) whenever I have time. Lot's of advice, lot's of euphoria amongst the relatively new members. I suspect many of them were not paying attention in past years of did not have a TSP account.

When I first got my TSP account in 98, there was a lot of euphoria about putting it all in C and making money and retireing at MRA. Then a couple years later it was "get thee in G" and panic. This has happened a few more times since then.

The point is that for many of you it has all been up in equities. There can be down years too. See the S&P (C fund) graph.



Just sayin'. Don't freak out if the market goes down. It has and can happen.

PO

 

[JTH]

Just sayin'. Don't freak out if the market goes down. It has and can happen.

PO

Well said, it's easy to attempt to impart wisdome, but without the expierence behind it, it's hard for others to comprehend the severity of a bear market's effect on our accounts.

 

[Birchtree]

For the working stiff with a long term horizon bear markets are usually a blessing - when else can you buy a C fund share for $10 or an S fund share for $10. That most likely will never happen again. Just keep plugging away with dollar cost averaging especially during times of weakness - that's the best time to accumulate shares.

 

[PessOptimist]

Re: PessOptimist's Account Talk or what I did on my summer vacation

I thought I would stop by here and post something. About that TSP...I don't know either. We are going to have a "pullback" or "correction" or something sometime. Part of me says "get out, you are doing so good". Part of me says let it ride. Part of me says get it all in equities. Let's see if I can remember everything: pigs get slaughtered, it's a marathon, not a sprint, the yearly contest means nothing, you have years left...you get the idea.

The real reason for posting is the FY 14 budget. I know POTUS submitted a budget proposal in April (yeah I know it was late and not in accordance with 31 U.S.C. 1105(a) and possibly the 1974 Congressional Budget and Impoundment Act whatever part of the law that may or may not have become) but so what. The question is what is being done? I know the house and senate introduced a few resolutions but what has really been done? Has any agencies budget been passed? Or, are we awaiting another irresolution? I haven't seen a thing in the MSM. Porbably won't until it gets down to the wire.

Some of you follow this stuff. I do not. Like most of my fellow fed employees and citizens, I only care that I continue to have employment, get paid and can buy shiny things. Are the leaders taking care of the country while we prols try to do our jobs and not commit thought crimes? No doubt opinions will differ.

Come to think of it (a crime in itself) asking questions is a thought crime.

 

[PessOptimist]

Made a move today 80G/10C/10S. Based on the upcoming arguing about the debt ceiling and continuing resolutions and talking to people who have paid advisors and the fact I have made more this year so far than ever before.

If the market goes up another 10-20% soon, I missed it. If it drops another 10-20% I lose 2-4% still giving me a good (for me) year. If it drops 40% as I read somewhere, I am back to my normal dismal return.

Possibly I should have gone G100.

Burro, I don't want to clog up the malware thread so here is the reply to

suhweeet dude! did you finally make the switch to an all glass no buttons pinch zoom portable network computing device? now if we could just get you to ditch the apple techno-hippie icult addiction, that outfit is like digital crack for some.

I got the thing as a Christmas present from wife/kids. There was much speculation as to whether I could figure it out or not. Given some alone time, I connected it to the home wireless and was surfing using safari. I refuse to pay $5 for tapatalk. The presenters were somewhat amazed.

The former appleaddict visiting had a brand new windows based laptop. I asked why and was told that it was cheaper in the long run as apple wants money for anything you do and since she was entering the corporate world she needed a computer the could easily interface with that world.

The other person I correspond with who is a true appleaddict sends a virus/malware with about every third e-mail. She still maintains she needs no virus protection because Macs are immune. That is the true digital crack addict or maybe the typical "I dont care what I do to anyone else as long as I can do what I want" person.

Thanks for your concern, guess I need to get rid of the Volt and start eating steaks again? Mmmmm, cow!

PO

 

[burrocrat]

I got the thing as a Christmas present from wife/kids. There was much speculation as to whether I could figure it out or not. Given some alone time, I connected it to the home wireless and was surfing using safari. I refuse to pay $5 for tapatalk. The presenters were somewhat amazed.

The former appleaddict visiting had a brand new windows based laptop. I asked why and was told that it was cheaper in the long run as apple wants money for anything you do and since she was entering the corporate world she needed a computer the could easily interface with that world.

The other person I correspond with who is a true appleaddict sends a virus/malware with about every third e-mail. She still maintains she needs no virus protection because Macs are immune. That is the true digital crack addict or maybe the typical "I dont care what I do to anyone else as long as I can do what I want" person.

Thanks for your concern, guess I need to get rid of the Volt and start eating steaks again? Mmmmm, cow!

PO

i'm so happy for you, i always knew you could do it!

i wouldn't get rid of the volt just yet. that particular model is impractical for my situation or road conditions 4 months out of the year, but it's those same conditions that prompt employers to have 110v outlets liberally spaced along the exterior of the building or stanchions in the parking lot. nobody is happy when engines freeze into a solid block at 10 below +/- windchill. battery performance and ground clearance issues make an electric vehicle useless in the winter.

but, the other 8 months it would be perfect for free topping off the juice tank while productively scurrying about the gov's business inside all day. i just need a model with a minimum 200 mile range between charges and 110v household input capability so as to avoid the need for expensive charging station limitations. so i've been eating mainly chicken and mre's and saving my pennies so one day i can get me a tesla for the warm season. those things are freakin cool. i'm convinced that guy made a breakthrough we either just don't understand or has been suppressed.

 

[PessOptimist]

Re: Pessoptimist's Account Talk

Someone somewhere posted a clip of the ever popular hump day commercial annotated with balloons sayin Mike was furloughed. I can't seem to find it. I could use it for a snappy reply elsewhere. If y'all don't mind.

About that TSP thing...yeah, I got out a week too early, yeah I coulda moved in and out Thursday and Friday or just moved in Thursday and let 'er go. Sticking to the original plan. Back in after the drama is over and the debt ceiling can is kicked down the road. May cost me a few bucks. I'll feel better.

 

[burrocrat]

Re: Pessoptimist's Account Talk

http://www.tsptalk.com/mb/lounge/18197-furloughed-2.html#post425557

 

[burrocrat]

Re: Pessoptimist's Account Talk

for the uninitiated:

 

[PessOptimist]

Re: Pessoptimist's Account Talk

I got out (80G 10C 10S) to avoid the whole budget/debt ceiling thing. See how smart I am? Now looking for that dip to go back to 40G 40C 20S or maybe 40G 60 C.

Coments and advice solicited.

PO

 

[Birchtree]

Re: Pessoptimist's Account Talk

http://blogs.marketwatch.com/thetel...-the-cusp-of-triggering-a-sell-signal-b-of-a/

On the other hand the probabilities suggest that with so much liquidity available the next four months could be a parabolic moon shot. Now wouldn't that be glorious.