Sometimes when a new member joins the forum, the inevitable question arises. How should I invest my TSP contributions? Luckily for the new member most of the veterans respond with the sage advise of “figure it out for yourself.” After all, I myself would not want to be indirectly responsible for someone losing their life savings based on a guy who obsessively draws on his charts with a big fat Jeff Macke crayon.
Usually if I feel like chiming in, I’ll tell the new fellow to “Follow the winners on the tracker.” Although it might sound like a good idea, it’s really just a p!ss-poor way of ensuring that I’ll be inducted into the post-whoring Hall of Fame. The truth is that we shouldn’t be following the winners on the tracker, but we should know what makes them winners in the first place. Why do they do what they do? Why choose I over S or S over C? Why that specific allocation? Point being, if I’m on top of my game, then I know what the justification is for someone’s IFT.
<O
And this brings me to the point of this topic. The top 50 Year to Date tracker winners share some common traits and if you know what they are, it can help "up" your game and perhaps avoid some common mistakes.
<O
0% of the Top 50 YTD winners are in the L-Funds. I suppose I shouldn’t harp but I can’t help it, I don’t like the L-funds. This is because I don’t believe you should cram all of us into 1 of 5 funds, each with 10-years of separation between their retirement targets. But I digress…
<O
38% of the Top 50 YTD winners have not used one single IFT.
34% of the Top 50 YTD winners have used less than 10 IFTs.
28% of the Top 50 YTD winners have used more than 10 IFTs.
<O
It’s sad how the days of IFT scalping are behind us, but that doesn’t mean we still can’t be successful. I suppose this data can be interpreted in one of many ways, but when I look at it I see that overall, the less moves you make, the better off you are. Perhaps these numbers are a reflection of picking & sticking to a specific position? Regardless of what I think I have to acknowledge that a whopping 72% of the winners haven’t used up all the IFTs allocated to them.
<O
68 % of the Top 50 YTD winners are currently 100% invested into a single fund.
<O
I don’t have the stats to prove it, but I’ve noticed this trend in the past. The majority of winners seem to throw all their money in one pot at a time. Maybe this is because this set of winners like concise choices because they are confident with what they believe to be the best of the GFCSI-Funds? I sure wouldn’t mind if some of these folks share some of their incite. Here is the list of winners I drew the stats from. I omitted subscribed services, the funds, and anyone who signed up for the tracker after the beginning of the year.
<O
As for today’s market I don’t have much to say except that the I-fund is tearing up the charts and Optionman's Inactive account is King of the Mountain.
Usually if I feel like chiming in, I’ll tell the new fellow to “Follow the winners on the tracker.” Although it might sound like a good idea, it’s really just a p!ss-poor way of ensuring that I’ll be inducted into the post-whoring Hall of Fame. The truth is that we shouldn’t be following the winners on the tracker, but we should know what makes them winners in the first place. Why do they do what they do? Why choose I over S or S over C? Why that specific allocation? Point being, if I’m on top of my game, then I know what the justification is for someone’s IFT.
<O
And this brings me to the point of this topic. The top 50 Year to Date tracker winners share some common traits and if you know what they are, it can help "up" your game and perhaps avoid some common mistakes.
<O
0% of the Top 50 YTD winners are in the L-Funds. I suppose I shouldn’t harp but I can’t help it, I don’t like the L-funds. This is because I don’t believe you should cram all of us into 1 of 5 funds, each with 10-years of separation between their retirement targets. But I digress…
<O
38% of the Top 50 YTD winners have not used one single IFT.
34% of the Top 50 YTD winners have used less than 10 IFTs.
28% of the Top 50 YTD winners have used more than 10 IFTs.
<O
It’s sad how the days of IFT scalping are behind us, but that doesn’t mean we still can’t be successful. I suppose this data can be interpreted in one of many ways, but when I look at it I see that overall, the less moves you make, the better off you are. Perhaps these numbers are a reflection of picking & sticking to a specific position? Regardless of what I think I have to acknowledge that a whopping 72% of the winners haven’t used up all the IFTs allocated to them.
<O
68 % of the Top 50 YTD winners are currently 100% invested into a single fund.
<O
I don’t have the stats to prove it, but I’ve noticed this trend in the past. The majority of winners seem to throw all their money in one pot at a time. Maybe this is because this set of winners like concise choices because they are confident with what they believe to be the best of the GFCSI-Funds? I sure wouldn’t mind if some of these folks share some of their incite. Here is the list of winners I drew the stats from. I omitted subscribed services, the funds, and anyone who signed up for the tracker after the beginning of the year.
<O
As for today’s market I don’t have much to say except that the I-fund is tearing up the charts and Optionman's Inactive account is King of the Mountain.
