Here are the five basic Thrift Savings Plan funds in order from the highest to the lowest rate of return for the month of October: C Fund (4.60%), I Fund (3.38%), S Fund (2.94%), F Fund (0.89%), G Fund (0.19%). And here are the year-to-date results: S Fund (31.13%), C Fund (25.34%), I Fund (19.43%), G Fund (1.52%), F Fund (-0.78%). Interesting? Maybe to some. Useful? I don’t know how. As an investment manager — or TSP participant, as you are more commonly known — you are responsible for making, or delegating the making of, a massive series of decisions.…
Browsing: C Fund
Q. I am 65 years old and retired from government service in March. I have about $ 400,000 in my Thrift Savings Plan account, with over $150,000 in G Fund. (For the record, I also hold about $70,000 in the F Fund, $90,000 in the C Fund, $50,000 in the S Fund and $40,000 in the I Fund.) I am considering transferring $40,000 from the G Fund to L2020 to make my TSP portfolio a bit less conservative and also as a reflection of long-term price expectations on the bond market. Do you consider this a wise move? If so,…
Q. I am fairly new to investing in the Thrift Savings Plan, having been active in it for about three years. I am 31, with about $3,800 and contribute about 13 percent of my pay into the L2040. When I started, I had 60 percent G Fund/40 percent C Fund. Am I going the right direction when I moved into the L Fund? A. Probably.
Q. I am a FERS retiree. I was told before retirement to put all my Thrift Savings Plan into the G Fund before and during retirement. Is this sound advice? I was thinking of putting a small percentage also into the C Fund. What are your thoughts on this matter? A. It’s a bad idea if the G Fund’s expected rate of return is not sufficient to support your financial goals. Otherwise, it would be lowest-risk way to get where you want to go.
Q. I’m 53 years old and plan to retire in 10 years. My current Thrift Savings Plan balance is $131,000, and I’m 100 percent allocated into the L2040 fund. I’m very aggressive in my investing. Should I allocate my TSP 60 percent C Fund, 20 percent S Fund and 20 percent I Fund instead of the L 2040 fund, which allocates in all of the funds to include the G and F funds? A. You’re the investment manager, so you’ll need to use your process for determining the correct allocation of your TSP funds. If I were responsible for the…
Q. I’m retired from the military after 28 years. I have been working for the Defense Department since March 2008 and have 17 percent going into the Thrift Savings Plan. As of right now, I have 71 percent in the C Fund and 29 percent going into the S Fund. Should I leave the contributions where they are during the government shutdown? I have friends advising me to move 70 percent to the F Fund and 30 percent to the G Fund. Not sure if that is the right move. A. Neither of these asset allocations is remotely risk efficient.…
Q. I am covered under FERS. After I retire, may I: a). Continue to deposit funds into my Thrift Savings Plan? b). Move money among the various funds, e.g., from F to G, from C to L2040, etc.? A. After you retire, the only way to deposit funds to your TSP account is to transfer them in from an IRA or other qualified retirement plan. You may continue to manage your TSP investment, as in the past, for as long as you retain the account — potentially for life.
Q. If I have Thrift Savings Plan funds in both G and C funds when I am required to begin taking required minimum distributions at age 70½, can I specify which funds the RMD are taken from? (My concern is that the C Fund may be at a low due to market conditions, and withdrawals may be better to defer till the market improves.) A. TSP distributions are always taken proportionately from your various holdings at the time. I don’t see the rationale for your concern, though. Your account will be allocated exactly as it was before the withdrawal. If…
Q. I’ve been in the government for four years (retired Army) and have invested in the Thrift Savings Plan since 2009. I plan to retire from the government in 2020 with 11 years of service (I’ll be 58). My TSP portfolio is diversified but certainly heavy in the C and S funds. To avoid the losses all experienced several years ago, what are the recommended allocation moves, within funds, that one should take during what appears to be a stock market selloff that has started in August? A. Unless you plan to withdraw and spend all of your money within the next few…
Q. I’ve been retired for a few years and I’ve put 100 percent of what I have in to the C Fund that was closest to my life expectancy. I know I can’t purchase any more shares and that the way I make money is for the value of the shares to rise. I’ve been told that if I roll my Thrift Savings Plan account over to a company such as Fidelity, Schwab or Vanguard my monthly dividends would buy more shares and not only would my funds increase but my shares would too. A. I don’t see a question…