Thursday, August 16, 2007

The TSP Funds

TSP funds
The TSP offers investors a choice of funds:
G fund - Government Securities. These are unique government securities, backed by the full faith and credit of the US Government, available only through the G Fund.
F fund - Fixed Income Index (Barclay's US Debt Index Fund tracks the LBA Bond Index)
C fund - Common Stock Index (Barclay's Equity Index Fund tracks the S&P 500 Stock Index)
S fund - Small Cap Stock Index (introduced in 2001, Barclay's Extended Market Index tracks the Wilshire 4500 Index)
I fund - International Stock Index (introduced in 2001, Barclay's EAFE Index Fund tracks the EAFE Stock Index)
Plus the L (Lifecycle) family, described below, which maintains a dynamic melange of the above five core funds appropriately and frequently rebalanced in anticipation of employee's retirement date.
Four of these, managed by Barclays Global Investors, are trust funds open only to tax-exempt employee benefit plans. These funds are not mutual funds and are not open to individual investors. As such, there are no tickers for the funds reported in the financial press.
In 2005, the TSP introduced the lifecycle funds (L2040, L2030, L2020 L2010, L Income), which are composed of percentages of the five funds based on target retirement year. The composition of the L funds will shift to be more secure as the target years approach. For instance, around 2010, the L2010 fund will be given a makeup similar to the current L Income fund, and an aggressive L2050 fund will be established. These asset shifts are automatic and the advantage of the L funds.
The following percentages indicate the initial breakdown of the L funds at the time of their creation. According to TSP literature, these funds are rebalanced on a quarterly basis, becoming less risky (higher percentage in the G fund), as they eventually align with the initial "L income" percentages by their "target dates".
L2040 - 5%G, 10%F, 42%C, 18%S, 25%I
L2030 - 16%G, 9%F, 38%C, 16%S, 21%I
L2020 - 27%G, 8%F, 34%C, 12%S, 19%I
L2010 - 43%G, 7%F, 27%C, 8%S, 15%I
L Income - 74% G, 6%F, 12%C, 3%S, 5%I

Wednesday, August 15, 2007

Welcome... TSP Investors

Welcome to the TSP Dashboard. This site consists of TSP related resources which will help Thrift Saving Plan members keep abreast of what the market is doing.