selling

[lalva72799]

Hi! I am new in the government and curious of how the TSP works. I am glad I found this place.

One of my simple questions is "how do you sell share in the "C" fund. I know that when you transfer money from one fund to the "C" one, you are basically "buying", however, I am not sure if the same applies when you move from C to G for example (selling)? The gain is only about the change in price, not from selling them?

Thank you,
Luis

 

[alevin]

Hello Luis, and welcome. When you buy shares in the C fund, you are taking $ from your pay that you are saving in the tsp, and putting it in the C fund. You take the money from selling those C fund shares, and basically buy shares in one or more of the other funds (G, F, S, I), whatever you decide you would rather put those $ into next that you also think will be ok and that prices in that fund will also go up during the time that you own those shares in the new fund or funds. hope that helps.

 

[uscfanhawaii]

Welcome to the boards, Luis!!
Not sure if I understand your question exactly, but maybe this will shed some light.
ALL of the TSP funds are kept as SHARES, even G. We call it buying and selling, but actually it is just transferring between funds. For me, it's easier to just keep track of the $$'s and forget about the shares. (Others here may disagree, but personally I don't see any benefit of tracking shares.) For every transaction, you are 'selling' one fund, and 'buying' another. Doesn't matter if one is G and the other C. Or S, or I or L, etc. You are never just 'selling' or 'buying' unless you are putting in your contribution (buying) or withdrawing funds (selling) which is severely restricted, and subject to penalties if not done according to the rules.
Check out the TSPtalk front page for some basic info on maneuvering around in TSP.

 

[evilanne]

When you make an inter fund transfer, TSP calculated the amount in each fund at closing (they take total account balance and multiply by % allocated to each to determine amount for each fund); then amount(s) is divided by the daily price to determine the number of shares you have in each fund.
Suppose C fund is $30 and G fund is $15 and you have 100 shares in
C 100 shares X $30 = $3.000
G $3,000/$15= 200 Shares so new account balance would be 200 Shares x $15 = $3,000

If you allocated 50% to G & 50% to F (Assuming $20 Price)
$1500/$15=100 G = 100 Share @ $15 = $1,500
$1500/$20=75 F = 75 Shares @ $20 = $1,500
Total Account $3,000 for selling C Fund 100 shares X $30 = $3.000
Everything is calculated to 4 decimal places for shares & share prices.

 

[uscfanhawaii]

When you make an inter fund transfer, TSP calculated the amount in each fund at closing (they take total account balance and multiply by % allocated to each to determine amount for each fund); then amount(s) is divided by the daily price to determine the number of shares you have in each fund.
Suppose C fund is $30 and G fund is $15 and you have 100 shares in
C 100 shares X $30 = $3.000
G $3,000/$15= 200 Shares so new account balance would be 200 Shares x $15 = $3,000

If you allocated 50% to G & 50% to F (Assuming $20 Price)
$1500/$15=100 G = 100 Share @ $15 = $1,500
$1500/$20=75 F = 75 Shares @ $20 = $1,500
Total Account $3,000 for selling C Fund 100 shares X $30 = $3.000
Everything is calculated to 4 decimal places for shares & share prices.

EA, what you say is true.....I just don't know why you would care. If you have 100K in C and went to a 50/50 split between C and G, you would have 50K in C and 50K in G. I just don't see what add'l info you get from all those share and share price info.
For me, I like to just keep it simple!

 

[evilanne]

uscfan, I agree. It's a numbers thing and understanding how everything is calculated. Some folks like more detail to make sure everything correct. TSP presents information in different ways like you how your IFTs are calculated (recent transactions), your gains/losses per fund over different periods of time (activity summary), the PIP is calculated monthly, etc. Data is presented in various ways as people look at different things. TSPTalk's autotracker also presents data in different ways.

 

[lalva72799]

Welcome to the boards, Luis!!
Not sure if I understand your question exactly, but maybe this will shed some light.
ALL of the TSP funds are kept as SHARES, even G. We call it buying and selling, but actually it is just transferring between funds. For me, it's easier to just keep track of the $$'s and forget about the shares. (Others here may disagree, but personally I don't see any benefit of tracking shares.) For every transaction, you are 'selling' one fund, and 'buying' another. Doesn't matter if one is G and the other C. Or S, or I or L, etc. You are never just 'selling' or 'buying' unless you are putting in your contribution (buying) or withdrawing funds (selling) which is severely restricted, and subject to penalties if not done according to the rules.
Check out the TSPtalk front page for some basic info on maneuvering around in TSP.

Thank you all! This is what I was looking for. I was confused with the terms transferring/selling/buying. I thought this TSP transactions were like in the open market when you buy and sells whenever you want to (like what they teach you in the finance class) I will search this site for informations for new employees and if I have any other questions, I will post it here .

Thanks!