SB - I get post 1770. Thanks! and sorry at the same time. Please forgive me but can you explain some of post 1771?
O/D=?
tsp cents?
And the key - We owe them? and They owe us?
I gotta go to work...rain, sleet, snow and all that.
I'll be back some time after 10:00 eastern for 30 minutes for lunch.
Thanks in advance! KD
KD, For several years now, I've been tracking the EFA and the (I) Fund
returns. The EFA (managed by iShares) consists of the same stocks which
are tracked by the MSCI EAFE INDEX. The (I) Fund consists of the same
stocks as well, but is managed by Barclays (BGI) for TSP purposes.
The (I) Fund is unique in many ways; Fair Value, Currency Exchange Rates
Euro/Dollar, when comparing it to the other risk funds within the TSP. I've
been facinated by the differences in the way that BGI and iShares differ
in way they handle all of the complexities. Ultimately, I came to one
conclusion; the (I) Fund is built to reflect the YTD returns produced by
the MSCI EAFE INDEX. In turn, the EFA is produced to reflect the YTD
returns of the same index. While tracking them both, I noticed that they
sometimes gave extremely different results on a daily basis. This could be
explained away by something called Fair Value, but not entirely. Instead
of getting to deep into FV and the other complexities already mentioned,
I decided to keep my tracking "Broad Based". As a result, I was able to
utilize the information to determine if going into the (I) Fund would give
me a better shot at greater gains then the (C) and (S). This worked out
pretty good when we had the freedom to make unlimited IFT's. It was also
more beneficial while we were in the last Bull Market. Prior to the current
-32.19% YTD loss, it gave me some strong gut feelings about staying out
of the (I) Fund all together. Warnings were posted about the signals I was
getting and helped some of our members avoid greater losses.
I simply compare both the EFA and the (I) Fund Daily gains/loss %'s. On a
YTD basis, the differences accumulate. But when all is said and done, the
two MUST reflect the MSCI EAFE INDEX at the end of the year. So I made
a post which shows the "Daily % Difference" of the two. I add the results
to my accumulating YTD % Difference and transform that percentage into
TSP Cents. Example; 1/1/08 each fund starts at 0% and 0.00 TSP cents.
On 1/2/08 the EFA had a +1% gain and the (I) had a +.50% gain, then the
(I) had a "Deficit" of .50% which might equaled to 0.02 TSP Cents based
on the current closing share price. If the opposite was true and the (I)
Fund had the 1%, then the (I) Fund was "Overpaid" a half percent. Thus I
called my posts the O/D Tracker. "Overpayment/Deficit Tracker".
In conclusion, I invite you to go further back within my thread. You'll see
several things that you might find interesting. 1) Commentary was usually
included each time I would post, not that often now. 2) You'll find all of
the Tracking on one posts from May until just recent. 3) You'll see within
the results that on June 24th, 2008 we went from the "Deficit Side" to the
"Overpayment Side" of my tracker. The "They owe us" or We owe them"
is simply a way to document which side of the tracker we're currently on.
Either "Deficit" = They Owe Us. or "Overpayment" = We owe them.
I've included the (S) and the (C) to show how this type of tracking is
seen when looking at the US Funds, But its focus is clearly on the (I)Fund.
Even the (C) Fund has margins of Overpayment but Fees and Dividends
play a role (as they all have) and they are too small to be useful on a
daily basis. I hope this post helps explain what you and some new
comers are seeing when looking at my figures.
Damn, I need a drink ! Come on James, share that bottle ! :nuts:
