All five TSP funds made money for investors in June.
The S fund was the biggest gainer, up 3.37% for the month. It is also the big winner in the past twelve months as it is up 13.77% for that time period.
The international stock fund (I fund) came up behind the S fund. It is up 1.86% for June and up 13.06% for the past twelve months.
The C fund, which tracks the Standard & Poor’s 500 index, trailed the other two stock funds in the Thrift Savings Plan. It was up 0.16% for the month and it is up 6.40% for the past twelve months.
Much to the surprise of some prognosticators, the F fund has fared reasonably well. It is up 6.80% for the past twelve months and was up again in June with a gain of 0.56%.
Finally, the G fund continued its slow and steady climb advancing 0.28% for June with a gain for the past twelve months of 4.40%.
For the past quarter, the TSP funds also performed well. The S fund looks very good over the past quarter–especially when compared to small company funds in general. The S fund in the TSP gained 5.5% for the second quarter of the year. That is the best of any of the TSP funds. The average conservative small company fund went up 3.3% for the same time period.
The I fund was down 1% for the quarter; the C fund was up 1.6% for the quarter; the G fund was up 1% and the F fund did surprisingly well with an increase of 3% for the quarter.
With proposals to include Real Estate Investment Trusts (REIT) as an option for TSP investors, how did these funds perform in recent months? According to USA Today, some of the best performers for investors during the past quarter were real estate funds. For example, three of the top five funds during the past quarter were real estate funds. These three funds had quarterly returns of 20.4%, 17.9% and 15.8%.
Last year, the stock market did not perform well until the end of the year. Some investors are hopeful the same trends will re-emerge this year to energize yearly investment returns. While no one can accurately predict the future of your investments, TSP investors with diversified investments among the five funds are likely to do better than the majority of investors.
For now, you can come back to work, reflect on the July 4th holiday, and enjoy the feeling of knowing that your TSP continued to grow this year.
