Tracking TSP Returns

[grandma]

the numbers are now up on the Official site, if there are any like me that have been waiting for them.......

 

[burrocrat]

Scout has the new 2010 version of the spreadsheet available on the utilities section of this site. It has a few columns re-ordered but is basically the same, if it ain't broke don't fix it. Jan. 04 closing prices are already entered, just put in your 2009 ending account values and allocation, update share prices when you feel like it, it's all there, trust the numbers.

I confess, i played around with the 2009 version, simple stuff like centering text in columns etc., then decided to display some cells in % instead of extended decimal places. Only later i realized it affected other calculations (and helped me figure out what i 'thought' was wrong with he other trackers - but wasn't), and ultimately just redownloaded the 2010 version and started over.

It works just fine the way it is.

 

[burrocrat]

I thought nasa's was not displaying day change in G fund on the Fund % tab but finally figured out it is just rounding/display. It was showing 0.00 but i wanted to see a '3' in there somewhere. Turns out there is a 3 in there at the 4th decimal place 0.0003. Back to the old extended decimal vs. % display thing. The data is correct and when the cumulative change is enough it will roll over and display one penny, no need to get too particular here.

This spreadsheet has a couple of cool features, it tracks the net changes in the funds themselves independent of your allocation for comparison purposes, if you're good at graphs/charts then this is a playground, i'm not. Also, over time the running day/monthly/yearly things hold some promise for the introspective types.

 

[burrocrat]

I had to beat my head against the same wall again just to be sure it still hurt, so in TspTalk's tracker i entered in allocation percents accurate to two decimal places - 59.92% vs 60%, to account for daily changes. back to the old extended decimal to % display issue. hey, sometimes it takes me a while. It makes no material difference. The data is correct no matter how you display it. I should have known that (or just trusted the expertise of those on this site), but i learn best the hard way.

Also if you enter the % allocations on each line even if they don't change then you get the period and yearly returns, should have figured out that yesterday, but in addition to the hard way i also learn best slowly.

 

[burrocrat]

so i'm up .76% on monday and .12% on tuesday for a +0.88% return this year. surprising since i'm 60% in the G fund, there's a lesson in there i'm sure. i'm going to keep feeling good about that until the autotracker is fixed and i see how far i am behind those with the stones to be allin in this market.

 

[nasa1974]

roger that, done. entered prices from tsptalk and copy/pasted shares existing shares since they didn't change, profit of 0.76% yesterday, all tabs appear to update correctly and the math looks good, except for the little 'g' on the 'daily profit-loss'. even though G share price increased i get a ready of 0.00. little f,c,s,i show the right numbers and all cells have the same formula so i'm not sure why, maybe just need more coffee.

thanks nasa.

The lower case g column shows 0.00 in my spreadsheet also. If I took the numbers out more than 2 places past the decimal point it would show a change. The important thing is that it shows the monthly total at the bottom of the current month. Glad everything is working correctly.

 

[burrocrat]

bottom line: i can't single out just one of these spreadsheets, but i can recommend all of them. they all work just fine, it's a matter of personal preference.

Tsptalk's: quick and dirty, easy on the eyes. (sounds like a girl i used to date)

Scout's: deadly accurate and to the point with extras. (sounds like why she dumped me)

Nasa's: complex and deep, there's a lot to understand here (sounds like why she won't go out with me anymore)

pick your poison, you can't go wrong with any of these. well, you can, but that's on you.

 

[alevin]

That's our burro :laugh:. I must say I got some belly laughs outside the jailcell tonight. Kudos on how you spend your time in the joint-I'd have said it there, but I'm not ready to wait for my 3 rolls of the dice to get out. Even just visiting is likely to get me mistaken for one of the inmates, which could be hazardous to my unstable state of mind. Now that just can't happen-tho I think my work attire may look similar at times-jeans and workshirt and all-on the days I get to go outside and play-the whole reason I signed up for this job in the first place.

 

[burrocrat]

does anyone know why the tsp fund charts shown at the bottom of the page only show data from about 10 am today?

was there a late open or something happening in the markets that i missed today?

 

[grandma]

Will someone explain for me why 13% in C is not the same number of shares as 13% in S? The confirmation of my IFT has come, and even though I put 13% in both C and S, the number of shares are very different...very nearly a quarter off. How can that be?

 

[burrocrat]

Will someone explain for me why 13% in C is not the same number of shares as 13% in S? The confirmation of my IFT has come, and even though I put 13% in both C and S, the number of shares are very different...very nearly a quarter off. How can that be?

because the share prices are different i think? 13% is the portion of your dollars invested in C and/or S but the same amount of money buys different number of shares?

say you have $100 dollars and go to the grocery store with your list. you have budgeted 13% of your cash for bread and 13% for seafood (don't want to know what you plan on shopping for with the remaining $74 - a girl needs to keep a few secrets).

you will have different numbers of loaves and fishes in you cart when you arrive at the checkout counter due to different prices on the tags.

i assume the difference in price between the funds happens over time. perhaps at inception they began at equal cost, but since then the market has valued them differently / they do not move in tandem up or down on any given day?

 

[tsptalk]

Yahoos quotes weren't working early Monday morning for some reason. I guess they never updated them after they came back up.

does anyone know why the tsp fund charts shown at the bottom of the page only show data from about 10 am today?

was there a late open or something happening in the markets that i missed today?

 

[burrocrat]

Yahoos quotes weren't working early Monday morning for some reason. I guess they never updated them after they came back up.

thanks tsptalk, so they traded normally, just technical difficulties in data service.

i was worried we had a market shutdown or suspended trading or maybe some kook was streaking through the exchange and the traders all got distracted or some such.

 

[nasa1974]

Grandma, Burrocrat is correct. Your shares will reflect the price per share and the percentage in the account. The example burrocrat used was 13% of $100. It might make more sense if you used $1000. 13% of $1000 is $130, take the $130 and divide it by $13 (cost per share of the C fund, I am using whole numbers) and you end up with 10 shares. Now take $130 and divide it by $17 (cost per share of the S fund) and you have 7.65 shares. Make sense?

 

[grandma]

thank you, burrocrat & nasa -
The more I ruminate about it, the more I think that I have been aware of it,

View attachment 8543

just hadn't digested it enough to keep from being indignant when I Really Noticed it yesterday eve.

... it would sure have been nice for the `S' fund 13% to have been the shares yesterday instead of the balance!

thank you -

 

[Guest2]

Tom & Friends,

I use MSN Portfolio to track the Market. One HUGE change I made was
utilizing the symbol $EFDY to track the (I) Fund as the EFA is a ETF and
$EFDY represents the actual MSCI EAFE Index. (price and all). The only
problem I noticed is that $EFDY appears to be unique to MSN.