TSP investments and strategies

[300stw]

anyone with the federal government invested in the TSP funds, any insite as to what to do were to go with investments right now, if you had 100,000.00 in the account right now how would you allocate in knowing your 15 years from retirement

 

[homers]

Depends on what other sources of retirement income or investments you have. You can always put it into a age life cycle fund. I believe they are in the G funds for TSP

 

[SAJ-99]

Choice #1 = Equity vs Fixed income. At this point (15yrs to retirement), 70/30 unless you don't mind the volatility then 80/20. Most age based funds will be in this range.
Choice #2 = Equity split (size and region). Right now the index is about 55% US and 45% intl. Most investors have a US bias, but I always say it is a good idea to have some Intl.
Here is 2050 fund. Just mimic that.

Redirecting…

 

[Addicting]

I was just looking at mine today. Up till now it’s been 60/40 in 2030 and S. In March I will be officially retired from the Army at the ripe old age of 40, which will end my contributions. I am going to be putting it all into the 2040 fund and let it roll. I am curious what that money will do over the next 20 years.

 

[jnagel32]

Depends on what other sources of retirement income or investments you have. You can always put it into a age life cycle fund. I believe they are in the G funds for TSP

They are actually the L fund. The G fund is the Government Securities Investment fund. I invest entirely into the L 2050 fund.

 

[brownbear932008]

I've been 50/50 between C and S funds for some time. Been paying off pretty good. No plans on changing anything soon. Remember it's a marathon not a sprint at your 10 year mark. I'm right there in the same place. Hard not to just throw it all in that C fund and forget it.
Although I'll say I'm no whiz on markets I'm really wondering when we are going to see a pretty good down turn. Can't keep this pace forever. Mine has almost doubled with this market/administration in the past 3 years or so.

 

[mtmiller]

I've been 50/50 between C and S funds for some time. Been paying off pretty good. No plans on changing anything soon. Remember it's a marathon not a sprint at your 10 year mark. I'm right there in the same pkace. Hard not to just throw it all in that C fund and forget it.

This has been my strategy for some time as well. I did have I included until about 6 months ago, but dumped it into C and S. I still have a min of 7 yrs, so will stick with this for a bit.

 

[Mainewoods]

I can retire in ten years at 56 with 30 years in, but will wait til 62 probably. My TSP is 50% in L fund 2040, and then the other 50% split between the C and S funds.

 

[MThuntr]

I swapped mine over to Roth TSP and I follow plan recommended by Dave Ramsey 60% C, 20% S, 20% I funds.

 

[beginnerhunter]

I just use the lifecycle funds. One of the reasons I stay with the fed Gov is that I'm risk averse and would rather someone else handle my retirement investments. Plus we get that sweet sweet pension.

 

[brownbear932008]

I swapped mine over to Roth TSP and I follow plan recommended by Dave Ramsey 60% C, 20% S, 20% I funds.

I thought about a sizeable Roth route but then I thought maybe my tax liabilities would be higher now versus once I retire. What are your thoughts or reasons for going the Roth route versus traditional tsp if you don't mind me asking?

 

[MThuntr]

Long term taxes will likely increase while your personal deductions are likely to decrease even if you are "making less". All of my info is from Dave Ramsey...he argues that majority of your TSP is based on growth (he says 90% but that seems high) for which you'd be taxed on it all at current rates during disbursement while only the invested cash is taxed if using Roth TSP. Could be a flawed ideal.

An option could be to do a 50/50 TSP & Roth TSP to hedge your bets.

 

[Addicting]

Glad you brought this up and so many are chiming in. Made me go back and relook at all of the fund performances.

 

[Sytes]

I've been in G, C, and S. With a 14.97% for the past 12 months.

Good thread! Never dived into the L though...
I've followed along with FedSoup to some degree. I'll have to look into L a bit more. Still have another 8 years before force retirement

 

[sbhooper]

I am not up on it now, as I was on csrs and the tsp was an add-on. I am now pulling from it, after moving it to the private sector. That being said, monitor what you are doing with it and take some risks. Always have a good amount in the “g” fund for safety. The closer that you get to retirement, the more you need to keep in the “g” fund. I knew a guy that really monitored it and moved funds accordingly. I lost contact with him, but he was making gobs of money doing that. After retiring, I moved mine to a private company to get it out of government control.

 

[beginnerhunter]

Long term taxes will likely increase while your personal deductions are likely to decrease even if you are "making less". All of my info is from Dave Ramsey...he argues that majority of your TSP is based on growth (he says 90% but that seems high) for which you'd be taxed on it all at current rates during disbursement while only the invested cash is taxed if using Roth TSP. Could be a flawed ideal.

An option could be to do a 50/50 TSP & Roth TSP to hedge your bets.

Yeah u aren't taxed on the growth which is huge...in theory. *dons tinfoil hat* But I cant help but think future socialist governments will figure out a way to get at this type of wealth. Although I guess it won't matter at that point if you have trad or Roth. I do the 50/50 roth/trad as u mentioned so I at least get some tax benefits on the front end.

 

[SAJ-99]

The closer that you get to retirement, the more you need to keep in the “g” fund.

Not really. You could live 40 years after retirement. Current advice says most people will need to continue to take risk in equities past retirement. A lot of so called “thru” funds maintain at least a 50/50 split.

 

[marksjeep]

10 years out and currently allocated:

10% tax deferred L2040
5% Roth L2040
Fully funded Roth IRA

15 years I would be in L2050 with similar strategy.

 

[BuzzH]

Take this for what its worth, but I've had my stuff spread between L, S, and C for about the last 10 years or more and its done pretty darn good. Before that I was all in on C, did pretty well on that too. I have a small amount in both the G and I funds just to sort of track how those do out of curiosity more than anything else.

I'm also retirement eligible in about 6 years, but may work another couple years longer...we'll see.

I'm also not worried about time lines as I'm still far enough out that I don't think there's a reason to change anything at this point.

The big thing is just always making sure you aren't leaving any money on the table with the match...and I know folks that do, as tough as that is to believe.

I read just recently that there is nearly 700 billion invested in the TSP right now.

 

[BuzzH]

I've been in G, C, and S. With a 14.97% for the past 12 months.

Good thread! Never dived into the L though...
I've followed along with FedSoup to some degree. I'll have to look into L a bit more. Still have another 8 years before force retirement

If you're in that 14-16% range over the last 12 months that's pretty solid.