Replies to post #8146 on Thrift Savings Plan

[Warhead]

On Thursday, I pulled out from C/S-35% each to
95% G fund & 5% C fund.
Always making my moves a day early.
Normally, I look at my account in % into whatever, basis and balance back and forth from G-C fund.

[Jahvik]

I moved too early, missed a good 6%
Good job

[Snippy]

Hi "The Free Nebula", I was concerned about this a few years ago and decided that the system works so well that we should be in the market even after retiring. I target a minimum of 1% per month and normally do much better annually. It appears most members on the site have a great process for monitoring the market and show a positive outcome. I would hate to side step that because of the retirement trap. I retire in three years, for the second time (air force), and decided three years ago that I would define/build a pad needed to front load my first year of retirement and live off of that for the first year to allow me to continue with investing at a normal pace. This will allow my monthly retirement funds to pool in a money market account and draw some interest to front load the following year, and on, and on. So I do not plan to take an annuity for a few years. It's like having a triple back up plan. Just my two cents worth.

[baja6string]

Free – I retired 15 years ago. Over the years I’ve followed the old Wall Street allocation bromide: Subtract your age from 100 and that is the allocation in stocks.

Once you get to age 50, I think it’s too conservative. Currently, 50% in the stock market is about fully invested for me – it is a cautious and conservative number. If I feel very confident, I might go to 60%; had we seen a successful retest of the recent bottom, 80% (or more) would not have been out of the question. As a general rule, I rarely drop below 30% invested in stocks. This allows for gains if I am bearish and the market goes up; on the other hand, with 30% in stocks, I would only be down 15% if the stock market dropped 50% and I’d still have a lot of cash to put to work at the bottom.

Congratulations on your retirement!