WELCOME TO THE TSP Discussion Board!
Background. The Thrift Saving Plan (TSP) is a retirement savings plan created by the Federal Employee's Retirement System Act of 1986 for current or retired employees of the federal civil service. The thrift savings plan is a defined-contribution plan designed to give federal employees the same retirement savings related benefits that workers in the private sector enjoy with 401(k) plans.
Purpose. This board contains market-timing commentary and discussion about the Government's Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) and the investment choices thereof.
References. What to see what others are saying about TSP? See http://www.tsplinks.info/thrift_savings_plan_links.htm
The TSP Web address for asset transfers and asset allocations is http://www.tsp.gov/account/index.html
G Fund. The G Fund invests in short-term U.S. treasuries and functions as a money market account. Principal is guaranteed.
S Fund. The S Fund - Small cap is a bit of a misnomer for this fund. It is actually all of the U.S. stocks that are not included in the S&P 500. There are some fairly large companies in this fund. It is really a compilation of mid-cap stocks and small cap stocks. It tracks the Barclays Extended Market Index Fund, which tracks the Wilshire 4500 index. By investing in both the C and S funds, you are basically investing in every tradable U.S. company.
Weekly Chart #msg-61210514
Daily Chart #msg-54132373
Point & Figure Chart #msg-35676134
C Fund. The C Fund invests in the Barclays Equity Index Fund which tracks the S&P 500, the 500 largest U.S. companies being traded.
Weekly Chart #msg-61210219
Daily Chart #msg-57799776
Point & Figure Chart #msg-35676042
F Fund. The F Fund is invested in the Barclays U.S. Debt Index Fund, bond index fund which holds a representative sample of the bonds in the Lehman Brothers U.S. Aggregate (LBA) index. Economic indicators and money supply affect interest rates. Interest rates influence the movement of this fund. When yields move lower, bonds go up in price and the F fund goes up in value. When yields move higher, bonds go down in price and the F fund goes down in value. For expanded charting and discussion about the F Fund, see #board-12339.
Weekly Chart #msg-61210658
Daily Chart #msg-54132477
Point & Figure Chart #msg-35676092
I Fund. The I Fund - The International Fund follows the *EAFE index. This stands for Europe, Australia and Far East. The EAFE countries are Australia, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and United Kingdom. If you surf through any of the financial networks on TV at night, you will see quotes on these exchanges and those results affect the next day's I fund price. The I Fund also carries the risk of foreign currency fluctuations. The stock prices of the companies in the EAFE index are expressed in the currency of each respective country and then converted to U.S. dollars to determine the value of the EAFE index. Thus, the value of the EAFE index will rise as the value of the U.S. dollar falls - and fall as the value of the U.S. dollar rises - relative to the currencies of countries with companies that are represented in the EAFE index.
* On some days, the change in the I Fund share price reported by the TSP does not match the change reported for the Morgan Stanley EAFE (Europe, Australasia, Far East) index, which the I Fund tracks. This happens when the Board's investment manager, Barclays Global Investors (BGI) reprices its EAFE Equity Index Fund, in which the TSP invests, after the close of the foreign markets. This process, known as "fair valuation," occurs when there are large U.S. market or currency movements between the time the foreign markets close and 4:00 p.m., eastern time, when BGI's share prices are determined. Fair valuation ensures that traders cannot "market time" the I Fund by making investment decisions based on the "stale" prices, thus diluting the returns of other participants who invest in the I Fund. Because the EAFE uses the foreign market closing prices to calculate its values, its price change will differ from the TSP's on those days.
Why I Fund Investing is Important #msg-53047367
Weekly Chart #msg-61210565
Daily Chart #msg-54132089
U. S. Dollar Index Chart #msg-54134992
Weekly U. S. Dollar Index Chart #msg-55172473
Point & Figure Chart #msg-35676059
TSP 10-day Relative Strength Chart #msg-34222788
Amex Institutional Index #msg-36457786
Leveraged ETFs etf.stock-encyclopedia.com/category/leveraged-etfs.html
Complete ETFs http://www.leavittbrothers.com/etf/
ETF Screener etfdb.com/screener/
American Bull NYSE Market Timing americanbulls.com/StockPage.asp
Inflation vs Deflation: Who's in control #msg-61157267
For Cowboys/Cowgirls #msg-65828259
Sell in May and Go Away? #msg-75057963