Readers' Comments
Total Comments: 29
Page 2 of 3
Page 2 of 3
Lifecycle Funds Growing in Popularity--But With an Unexpected Twist
Total Comments: 29
Page 2 of 3
Page 2 of 3
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| Close | Change | YTD | |
| G | $13.2114 | +0.0012 | +0.70% |
| F | $13.6201 | -0.0062 | +2.14% |
| C | $13.8116 | -0.0706 | +4.49% |
| S | $17.9282 | -0.1903 | +8.91% |
| I | $18.5079 | -0.0782 | -0.16% |
| Close | Change | YTD | |
| L 2040 | $16.1968 | -0.0789 | +3.59% |
| L 2030 | $15.9593 | -0.0673 | +3.23% |
| L 2020 | $15.7365 | -0.0532 | +2.72% |
| L 2010 | $15.4595 | -0.0197 | +1.57% |
| L Income | $14.0856 | -0.0155 | +1.48% |
March 21, 2010
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Lifecycle Funds
Somewhere
Tue Aug 18, 2009 10:33 AM
Post Reply
Lifecycle Funds are probably the best option for those that want to invest long term and put their investments on automatic pilot.
Too many feds are amateur investors that buy high and sell low and act on emotion and fear (or elation).
Switched from L fund to G
US Forest Service
Tue Aug 18, 2009 11:31 AM
Post Reply
I also am very close to retirement (end of the year), and that's why, when the market started falling, and 2010 started losing A LOT, I switched from 2010 to G. I'm not a market expert, and I don't follow market news. But on the general newscasts I do follow (PBS), the experts were saying that if you were close to retiring, switching to government securities was the best idea -- this confirmed my decision to switch. I also "get" the L funds, and had I longer to go before retiring, I would have stayed in the L funds. I am slowly putting more into L funds now that things are looking better. You have to make decisions on what's best for your particular situation.
National pension for average Joe
DOE Albuquerque, NM
Tue Aug 18, 2009 11:42 AM
Post Reply
It goes to show you why the aveage joe has no clue and why we need a national pension system. It wouldn't help me. Im down 3.5% since january 2008 while the s&P is down 28.5%
Re: National pension for average Joe
dod agency
Tue Aug 18, 2009 11:45 AM
George Orwell was a good writer and a prophet--just ahead of his time.
Re: National pension for average Joe
Retired
Tue Aug 18, 2009 12:24 PM
The government goes out of its way to make people more dependant on it instead of more self reliant. That policy goes across the entire range of welfare, entitlement, and nanny-state programs. I sometimes wonder if the horrible public school system isn't intentionally bad in order to have a stupid gullible public to manipulate. Based on the last election, it certainly seems to be having some impact.
Re: National pension for average Joe
USDC
Tue Aug 25, 2009 7:33 PM
You *do* understand that you are gambling your money in a very efficiently run government plan (TSP), right? I suggest, if you think government is so bad, that you take your money out of TSP and go play with it in the private sector. And while you're at it, go find some private sector health insurance, forfeit your Social Security, and Medicare/Medicaid when and if the time comes.
Hypocrites.
Re: National pension for average Joe
DOD
Thu Aug 27, 2009 4:20 PM
All those who retired under CSRS are already enjoying that ‘national’ pension system, with full COLAs no less. If you’re one of them, just be grateful that your TSP doesn’t have to provide anything other than play money for your entertainment.
Just depends on your needs
DON
Tue Aug 18, 2009 12:32 PM
Post Reply
I am not in L fund. I use my tsp to balance my retirement overall with my 401k and CSR pension. I won't have much in any case as I am a lower level GS, but I am trying to be wise with what I have.
I felt L was better used by those who were starting out. When my son was setting up his 401K in a private employer, I advised him to use the plan similar to L fund. He could change it later if he learned more about investing and in the mean time have a plan that fit standard wisdom about his age and stage of life.
I would use it if I were younger with more time. I would also send money to other choices just to see what I could do with it.
The results make sense to me.
Funding Tables Scewed
USSTRATCOM
Tue Aug 18, 2009 2:54 PM
Post Reply
I think the tables provided might be scewed a bit. Since the L funds didn't exist until August 2005, anyone contributing up until that point had to use one of the other funds (G, F, C, S, or I). Also, the G fund might show a higher percentage now than it would have if the market didn't take a big hit last year. I know many folks moved funds out of the other funds to the G fund, just to protect their assets until things settled down.
L Funds are different
Retired
Wed Aug 19, 2009 7:53 AM
Post Reply
One thing about the L-funds that are different is that they are revalued daily.
This means that you cannot come up with an equivalent of the L-funds yourself by creating the desired mix of the 5 funds yourself, especially that we are limited to 2 changes per month.
Whether or not daily re-balancing is good or bad is another story.
L fund nhancement
VA
Mon Aug 24, 2009 7:08 AM
Post Reply
I am retired (4 years now) and was 100% in the L income fund at first. Read a piece here (look in past articles) re the I fund and its performance. Put 10% of my TSP funds in I and it added a nice chunk of extra performance. Lost a bunch in 2008, especially in I. Now I have 20% in I and it is accounting for almost half of my gains YTD. It is a somewhat risky way of regaining what I lost but it is working for the moment.