Thread: TSP Survey posted by FRTIB

Fers-age.jpg

March TSP Board Minutes are available.

The graphic above is from an appendix that was posted with a bunch of participation data.

FundSurfer,

I could be wrong but that graph looks fairly good!

This may be old news to everybody else, but I just found this today while following the link Fundsurfer posted on the 23rd. The remarks in red don't sound good.

http://www.frtib.gov/FOIA/minutes-bo...gs_2007Apr.pdf

Minutes of the meeting of the board members-April 16, 2007
(page 3)
"...she noted that $1.6 billion was traded in the C Fund in March, $1.4 billion was traded in the S Fund in March, and $3.3 billion was traded in the I Fund in March. The large amount traded was caused by falling markets. In fact, $865 million was traded in the I Fund on March 5th. We had a trading credit of almost $1 million. This was largely caused by the March 5th transaction costs. We make I Fund trades the next day and the markets opened strongly on March 6th, resulting in a credit of $8 million. That is, the participants placed orders when the market was low, but the actual transaction occurred when the market was higher. It could have easily gone the other way. Chairman Saul remarked that TSP participants should not be day traders. Mr. Long replied that we are looking at this issue."

Andrew M. Saul, Chairman, Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board
Gregory T. Long, Executive Director, FRTIB

Bud, they actually say that quite often. I think the day will one day arrive when they try harder to discourage us. I think the most likely candidate is for them to ..... (I don't think I'll say it since I don't want to give them any ideas).

http://www.frtib.gov/FOIA/minutes-bo...gs_2007Apr.pdf

Highlights:

There was little activity to report on the divestiture bills that had been introduced. The divestment bill for Darfur is H.R. 180. The Iran Energy Sector Divestment bill is H.R. 1357. Expect Congress to introduce a bill requiring divestiture from countries that sponsor terrorism.

Mr. Fink remarked that the financial statement showed
that investment expenses were double the amount charged in 2005. He assumed that this was due to higher turnover, but that the new split on fees should offset this. He then noted that administrative expenses were $14 million less in 2006 than in 2005 and asked whether this was partially due to a $3 million increase in forfeitures to the Plan since forfeitures are used to offset administrative expenses. Mr. Petrick stated he believed the numbers listed were not offset by forfeitures, but he would confirm this.

She noted that $1.6 billion was traded in the C Fund in March, $1.4 billion was traded in the S Fund in March, and $3.3 billion was traded in the I Fund in March. The large amount traded was caused by falling markets. In fact, $865 million was traded in the I Fund on March 5th. We had a trading credit of almost $1 million. This was largely caused by the March 5th transaction costs. We make I Fund trades the next day and the markets opened strongly on March 6th, resulting in a credit of $8 million. That is, the participants placed orders when the market was low, but the actual transaction occurred when the market was higher. It could have easily gone the other way. Chairman Saul remarked that TSP participants should not be day traders. Mr. Long replied that we are looking at this issue.

Ms. Ray noted that there were 268 thousand interfund transfers in March; this exceeded the previous monthly high of 240 thousand. Chairman Saul asked whether these volumes stressed the system. Mr. Hagerty remarked that it did, but that the system was able to process all transactions on a timely basis. We are looking at long term solutions to ensure that investments are never delayed. Chairman Saul remarked that the system must be capable of responding to a macro event. The recent market downturn was not a major event. A market downturn of 10-15 percent would be a major event. He asked how the system would respond to such an event. Mr. Hagerty replied that we have already hired IBM to ensure that the system has adequate capacity for continued growth. Chairman Saul stated that he would like to have a report on this at the next meeting.