SBates' Account Talk

[sbates]

Question about Interfund Transfer and BUY/SELL/HOLD strategies

I first wanted to thank everyone who is part of this site. It’s a great resource and I appreciate the help. I’ve been investing into the TSP for just over 2 years now. Until a few months ago, I’ve played it safe by contributing to the L2040 and G funds. Over the past few months I’ve been monitoring the site to see what the latest investment trends are each week. I have a question (and I hope it’s not a dumb one). I want to preface this by stating I’m aware that the site and it’s members are not responsible when people take their recommendations on investing. Here is an example and maybe someone can help me understand this better:

The latest trend has been investing 100% into the S-Fund and my question is in regard to the Sentiment Survey results chart. As many of you have seen, it will show you what fund you should buy/sell/hold any given week. For arguments sake, lets say my TSP looked like this:


S-Fund Balance $1,000
- Allocation-> 100%

G-Fund Balance $2,000
- Allocation -> 0%

When the survey suggests “selling” a certain fund during a certain week, does it mean you should do an interfund transfer? If it says SELL the S-Fund are they saying I should move my entire S-Fund balance into my G-Fund (or ANY other fund for that matter to keep it safe while the market is down)?

I appreciate any input anyone has regarding this as I’m still generally new to the TSP. Just like everyone else, I want to get the most out of it and want to make sure I’m doing things correctly early in the game.

Thanks,

Steve

 

[Intrepid_Timer]

Question about Interfund Transfer and BUY/SELL/HOLD strategies

I first wanted to thank everyone who is part of this site. It’s a great resource and I appreciate the help. I’ve been investing into the TSP for just over 2 years now. Until a few months ago, I’ve played it safe by contributing to the L2040 and G funds. Over the past few months I’ve been monitoring the site to see what the latest investment trends are each week. I have a question (and I hope it’s not a dumb one). I want to preface this by stating I’m aware that the site and it’s members are not responsible when people take their recommendations on investing. Here is an example and maybe someone can help me understand this better:

The latest trend has been investing 100% into the S-Fund and my question is in regard to the Sentiment Survey results chart. As many of you have seen, it will show you what fund you should buy/sell/hold any given week. For arguments sake, lets say my TSP looked like this:


S-Fund Balance $1,000
- Allocation-> 100%

G-Fund Balance $2,000
- Allocation -> 0%

When the survey suggests “selling” a certain fund during a certain week, does it mean you should do an interfund transfer? If it says SELL the S-Fund are they saying I should move my entire S-Fund balance into my G-Fund (or ANY other fund for that matter to keep it safe while the market is down)?

I appreciate any input anyone has regarding this as I’m still generally new to the TSP. Just like everyone else, I want to get the most out of it and want to make sure I’m doing things correctly early in the game.

Thanks,

Steve

Hi Steve and welcome to the board. You pretty much got it right. The Sentiment Survey only uses the C, S and G funds and goes 100% when into the S fund on buy signals during bull markets and 100% into the C fund on buy signals during bear markets. Regardless of a bull or bear market, it goes 100% into the G fund on a sell signal.

You can find more here: http://www.tsptalk.com/sentiment_survey_rules.html

Oh, and yes, this is only talking about Interfund Transfers (IFTs) and not contributions.

 

[sbates]

I appreciate your response; it makes me feel a lot better to know that I sort of understand how this all works. When I first started reading about the Sentiment Survey I had no idea they were talking about investing 100% of your TSP balance into the S-Fund. I thought it just meant 100% S-Fund contribution for that week. I guess this is why it's so risky. Thanks again for your help.

-Steve

 

[WhoDey]

sbates ... Thanks for your question. There are several of us newbies posting ... and, I'm sure, many more who are lurking.