One TSP Fund Up 32% During Pandemic

Despite the pandemic and political wrangling, the TSP funds have fared very well in 2020.

With all of the problems the country has experienced in 2020, including a historically deep recession as a result of the COVID pandemic, it is counterintuitive that the stock market would go up significantly during the year.

S Fund Up 32.45%

But, despite the political wrangling, backbiting, and screaming headlines throughout the year, the stock market is higher. In fact, as of December 18th, the S Fund is up 32.45% for the year. That is the highest rate of return for any of the Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) Funds so far in 2020.

The C Fund had the second-highest return in 2020 so far for any of the core TSP Funds. The C Fund is up 16.79% as of December 18th.

Here are the year-to-date (YTD) results for the TSP core funds as of December 18, 2020:

G FundF FundC FundS FundI Fund
YTD+0.94%+7.12%+16.79%+32.45%+7.32%

Call Center Swamped

Some Thrift Savings Plan investors calling the TSP may have experienced a problem getting through. In November, there were 227,133 calls and 209,289 were answered.

The Thriftline call volume has recently significantly exceeded expectations and the call center did not have enough staff members to respond. Staffing has rapidly increased as the organization prepares for usual seasonal increases in call volume but there may still be delays in handling the volume of calls.

Recent log in changes for TSP accounts have accounted for many of the calls. To log in securely to My TSP Account, you need a user ID, password, and validated phone number to receive an authentication code. The TSP has added features to make the change easier for TSP account holders.

TSP Participant Fund Transfers

In November, the S Fund was the biggest recipient of fund transfers. The S Fund received about $1.3 billion in transfers in November. The I Fund received about $184 million and the L Funds received about $596 million.

About $1.67 billion was transferred from the G Fund while significantly smaller amounts were transferred from the F and C Funds.

Total assets in the TSP at the end of November were just under $691 billion.

TSP Investor Allocations

The G Fund has the largest percentage of participant assets with 31.8%. The I Fund has the smallest percentage with 3.7%. Here is the breakdown of investment allocations by TSP participants:

G FundF FundC FundS FundI FundL Funds
31.8%4.2%28.6%10.4%3.7%21.4%

FedSmith will provide the annual investment returns for 2020 for each TSP Fund on January 4th.

About the Author

Ralph Smith has several decades of experience working with federal human resources issues. He has written extensively on a full range of human resources topics in books and newsletters and is a co-founder of two companies and several newsletters on federal human resources. Follow Ralph on Twitter: @RalphSmith47