PessOptimist's Account Talk

[Birchtree]

Just way too much liquidity - no dips this week I don't think. It will happen when you stop waiting on it.

 

[PessOptimist]

Thanks, Birch, I know way way too much G.

Monday morning, while us technicians were doing our paperwork in our 5x6 foot cubicles (literally, with the L shaped desk top there is room for the chair) a young coworker came to me and asked what I knew about TSP. He explained he had noticed that I sometimes spoke to others about TSP and that I sometimes checked the market when I was at my desk.

He has been contributing for about 2 years and set the amount each year so he got the 5% matching funds. He was putting it all in the "default" fund which is G fund.

I explained to him about the tsp.gov web site, how to log in (he said he has a password) and where to find explanations of the funds. I also (of course) told him about TSPTalk. I suggested he move some of the money out of G and in to L2040 now and start learning about the funds and what they represented. I also explained about the possibility of having bad months or years.

I also explained to him I am not a good investor. In 13 years 55% of my account balance is my accumulated contributions. In the simplest terms, that means my money has grown by about 6% per year. That includes all the matching funds.

I was happy he asked though not sure he asked the right person. Any thoughts?

 

[JimmyJoe]

He asked the right person. Tell him/her this for me. You make money in the TSP and markets when he/she is both lucky during an approx 6 month period when the market has a groundswell of growth, and when he/she must make their portfolio grow. They'll put about 70% to 80% in equities and let it ride for a while. It's the only way. Oh, and not listen to too much advice, or non at all. You just kind of feel it, see it in passing on the money channel on TV, maybe check out TSPtalk a couple times a week. That's how I beefed up my reserves just before I left the civil service to retire. Now I've hit a boring run, but I'm starting to feel it for the next few weeks.

 

[GUCHI]

PO
how ironic!!! i just had the same conversation with a newbie in my agency as well. I told him avout the same as you. But he did not even know that they automatically put you in the G fund right off the bat. I told him to put it in the L2040 and let it ride, you have time on your side to accumalate shares. wish someone would had educated me way back when. of course i told him about this faulous website. thanks to all on the MB

 

[PessOptimist]

50G 50 C COB today.

Timing all wrong as usual.

Pretty much guarantees C will be up today and down next week.

 

[PessOptimist]

The fact I am buying back most of the C fund I sold a month ago at $.21 per share more is of no consequence.

Shoulda waited for the dip? No thanks, I see him every day while shaving.

The bottom line is that my bottom line account balance minus my payroll contributions, is still higher than on the day of the earlier IFT.

 

[PessOptimist]

I threw together a spread sheet the other day, mainly because I like graphs. It simply compares my payroll contributions v my TSP balance on a monthly basis. No seperating matching contributions, no attempt to see my investment gain/loss, just simply what I put in v what I got now.

I did the end of month thing because prior to 6/03 that's what TSP gave us. For some earlier EOM amounts you have to go to the tsp.gov website cause you only got quarterly statements. At least I did.

The sheet has four columns, date, TSP balance, contribution and accumulated contribution. It links to nothing and requires a couple of hours of boring data entry, plus a trip down memory lane as you look at the statements. (OMG, what was I thinking, or I AM a clever devil)

It is very simple to create but I would be willing to share it with anyone interested.

There are BTW many very nice spread sheets available on TSP talk.

View attachment 10305

Sorry about the size, I am not good at posting images. I removed the actual dollar amount lest you find out I am richer than Birch or poorer than church (mouse).

The idea is that the blue line should be steeper than the purple line.

 

[burrocrat]

ok i'll take a copy,

get tom to post it on the utilities page of the tracker or pm me for email.

 

[Warrenlm]

The idea is that the blue line should be steeper than the purple line.

I can tell you how to reverse that.

 

[PessOptimist]

Warren, I am somewhat amazed at what I came up with as I know I have had some bad years.

Perhaps there is some merit to the "set and forget" method I used in the early years.

I moved funds around for the first time in 02, then forgot about them until late 08. You can see what my meddling since has done to the curve.

Burro, I'll get to work on that and see what Tom will do. I need to make sure all my inputs are gone and am not sure at this moment what to do with the dates. Not saying anyone is excel illiterate. Just sayin they may not want back to 98.

 

[PessOptimist]

Well, razzlefratzs! I had a personal goal about my TSP balance for today. I'm about 3k short.

There has been lots of stuff here about the rate of return on your TSP. I think it is for the last twelve months. It used to be called PIP. You can find it on your account balance page when you log in to tsp.gov.

For 10 I will have 6+%. For 09 I had +6.98%. For 08 I had -.23%. Why so little loss in that very bad year? TSPTalk. Luck was involved as well. I became aware that my TSP account would not take care of itself. I became aware of my own ignorance.

It is true that if I had left the account alone I might have done better in 09 and 10, but I still would be working off a 20 something % loss from 08.

Happy new year and good luck in 11.

 

[PessOptimist]

Been an interesting 1.46 months so far. Yeah, I know, way to much G fund. If I had been 100% equities I would be richer. Working on new strategery.

I have asked this before. Since my pay allocation does not match my AT allocation, my percentages are a little off. Should I adjust them as necessary?

I suppose that is a personal choice. I remember some stating that their AT allocation has nothing to do with their real TSP account. Others say it is the real deal.

Since I believe autotracker started off as a contest (still is) I bring this question up again for all the new members and myself.

PO

 

[burrocrat]

Been an interesting 1.46 months so far. Yeah, I know, way to much G fund. If I had been 100% equities I would be richer. Working on new strategery.

I have asked this before. Since my pay allocation does not match my AT allocation, my percentages are a little off. Should I adjust them as necessary?

I suppose that is a personal choice. I remember some stating that their AT allocation has nothing to do with their real TSP account. Others say it is the real deal.

Since I believe autotracker started off as a contest (still is) I bring this question up again for all the new members and myself.

PO

i always adust my contributions to match when i do an IFT. keeps it simple in my head. still missing out on money though, i don't know if i'd reccomend that strategery.

 

[Intrepid_Timer]

Yes, I'd say it's a personal choice PO. But I don't think it started off as a contest, it started off as just a way for us to see what our returns were in a given period. The TSP didn't use to give us a PIP, just an end of year statement.

If it were a contest, I wouldn't of asked for a prize for entering everyone's allocations manually every day............:nuts:

 

[PessOptimist]

Burro, I do change when making an IFT. I am talking about changes due to pay day allocation, ya know, what I buy every two weeks.

IT, I recall no PIP but think there was a quarterly statement. Then I only go back to 98 in TSP. Only go back to 08 here.

Thanks for all that data entry.

Keeping it simple with no comments, should I adjust the percentage changes in my AT due to payday allocations even if I make no IFT?

 

[KevinD]

I would say no...because if you do...it looks like you did an IFT when you didn't. Your IFT count would be off. Besides, the next tine you actually DO do an IFT it all evens out.

Burro was saying that every time he logs in to TSP.gov and does an IFT he also changes the way his contributions are allocated...

 

[Intrepid_Timer]

I agree with KevinD

 

[PessOptimist]

Thanks for the inputs.

 

[PessOptimist]

I seem to have gotten myself on some list's by posting things. Here is an actual post about TSP.

I have been hearing and reading about Dollar Cost Averaging for years both here and in other places. The idea is to accumlate more shares when the price is low. So all you people who state this is the best way to go, how do I change my biweekly share purchases to do this? DCA doesn't seem to apply to a system that buys more shares on a certain day of a certain week. DCA also doesn't seem to apply to any IFT as you might be selling "cheap shares" of whatever fund if you go to the G fund.

Perhaps I am just too stupid to know how this DCA strategy works for TSP. Perhaps someone will enlighten me.

Another subject - I have been negotiating with the co-owner of my TSP account about where to have it invested. In the past it has always been to keep the other person's half in G and that person of course gets half of any gains I get on the other 50 per cent. Now I am thinking about a specific dollar amount in G, based on the current interest paid, that will meet a specific dollar amount when I plan to retire.

Comments requested.

 

[KevinD]

Heres what I'm doing.

Had I never found TSPtalk I would have been in the L2020 which is where I am now and where my contributions go. My contributions buy shares every 2 weeks no matter what the price.

BUT...I have 2 IFT's every month. I'll use the first IFT to go 100% long and only stay there for a few days to hopefully grow my account so that when I use the other IFT I'll have more shares of L2020 when I return there. Sort of a hit and run with L2020 as my home base.

Basically L2020 is my lily pad. Obviously this works best in a bull market. YMMV...

My co-owner is cool with what ever I think.