Thread: TSP Transfer Fees and/or Transaction Limit Discussion

Airlift,
Got anybody else I can email this letter to... ??

-----Original Message-----
From: postmaster@eopds.eop.gov [mailtoostmaster@eopds.eop.gov]
Sent: Monday, December 31, 2007 7:52
To: [me]
Subject: Delivery Status Notification (Failure)
This is an automatically generated Delivery Status Notification.
Delivery to the following recipients failed.
DavidlRostker@omb.eop.gov

Hessian,

I do not have any other address. Guys, it seems that Mr. David Rostker of OMB has given instructions to reject some of our incoming e-mail.

I can assure you that I was able to receive a return receipt, but Hessian coul not. Below you can see the automatic return receipt I got last Saturday:


"The original message was received at Sat, 29 Dec 2007 10:47:46 GMT from smtp.vzwmail.net [66.174.76.25]

----- The following addresses had successful delivery notifications ----- <David_Rostker@omb.eop.gov> (relayed to non-DSN-aware mailer)

----- Transcript of session follows ----- <David_Rostker@omb.eop.gov>... relayed; expect no further notifications"


Does anyone else have a clue why, or to the intentions of not allowing an electronic return receipt?

Here are the comment I got from one of my letters.
__________________________________________________ _______________________________
Thank you for sending me your comments about the proposal by the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board (FRTIB) to reimpose limits on the numbers of free interfund transfers within the Thrift Savings Plan (TSP). I received comments from many people and am sending this one message to all since I will not be able to reply to each one individually.
Some of the people sending messages were under the impression that the Employees Thrift Advisory Council (ETAC) on which I serve has approval authority over proposals made by the FRTIB. That is not the case. As the name indicates, the ETAC members provide advice to the FRTIB and its Executive Director, Greg Long. At the ETAC meeting held Wednesday, December 19, 2007, the members discussed the proposals for limiting interfund transfers within the TSP after receiving a briefing by Tracey Ray, Chief Investment Officer, FRTIB.
Executive Director Long reminded the ETAC members that the FRTIB had not yet issued a formal proposal, that after publication of the proposal in the Federal register, possibly in January 2008, interested parties would have 30 days in which to submit comments. After considering the comments, the FRTIB would decide what action to take.
One of the pieces of information provided by Ms. Ray impressed me greatly. She reported that on Friday, October 19, 2007, about $271 million was transferred into the I-Fund by 2018 participants. On the following October 24, 2007, $291 million was transferred out by those participants. Thus they had a total profit of about $20 million in those five days. On the average, those 2018 participants had about $10,000 in profits at no cost to themselves. The transaction costs were borne by the other 3.8 million TSP account holders.
I reported on the ETAC meeting by email to Carol Bonosaro, President of the Senior Executives Association, shortly afterward. I expressed my concern about a different kind of trading scenario that would be very costly to the TSP. If participants in the I-fund withdrew a large amount before 4 pm on a Friday, a time after the international markets are closed, and some unexpected event occurred over the weekend to cause a large drop in international stock markets, the TSP would take a large loss in assets, not just a transaction cost. You can use your imagination about the diversity of possible events that could cause a large drop in international stock markets over a weekend.
Whether you oppose or support the idea of limiting interfund transfers in the TSP, I urge you to take the opportunity to send your comments on whatever specific proposal comes from the FRTIB.
Happy New Year.
Dick Strombotne
ETAC member
SEA nominee
__________________________________________________ _______________________________

Thanks for the info. I just check my e-mail and got the exact same response.

Originally Posted by kemorris

Here are the comment I got from one of my letters.
__________________________________________________ _______________________________

One of the pieces of information provided by Ms. Ray impressed me greatly. She reported that on Friday, October 19, 2007, about $271 million was transferred into the I-Fund by 2018 participants. On the following October 24, 2007, $291 million was transferred out by those participants. Thus they had a total profit of about $20 million in those five days. On the average, those 2018 participants had about $10,000 in profits at no cost to themselves. The transaction costs were borne by the other 3.8 million TSP account holders.

Happy New Year.
Dick Strombotne
ETAC member
SEA nominee
__________________________________________________ _______________________________

What a bunch of IDIOTS! 10/19 was a huge down day that marked a temporary bottom, which included a -22 cents FV. The market rallied the following week. Everybody that was in the market that week made money, not just the 2018 traders. How dare we try to enhance our retirement fund? I can't stand stupid people sitting in a position of power.

Originally Posted by 350zCommTech

What a bunch of IDIOTS! 10/19 was a huge down day that marked a temporary bottom, which included a -22 cents FV. The market rallied the following week. Everybody that was in the market that week made money, not just the 2018 traders. How dare we try to enhance our retirement fund? I can't stand stupid people sitting in a position of power.

How about writing her and setting her in her place???

Originally Posted by kemorris

One of the pieces of information provided by Ms. Ray impressed me greatly. She reported that on Friday, October 19, 2007, about $271 million was transferred into the I-Fund by 2018 participants. On the following October 24, 2007, $291 million was transferred out by those participants. Thus they had a total profit of about $20 million in those five days. On the average, those 2018 participants had about $10,000 in profits at no cost to themselves. The transaction costs were borne by the other 3.8 million TSP account holders.

Happy New Year.
Dick Strombotne
ETAC member
SEA nominee

Here James' perfect response to that excuse... http://tspshareholder.org/newsletters/Vol2_No2.html

Originally Posted by kemorris

Here are the comment I got from one of my letters.
__________________________________________________ _______________________________
Thank you for sending me your comments about the proposal by the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board (FRTIB) to reimpose limits on the numbers of free interfund transfers within the Thrift Savings Plan (TSP). I received comments from many people and am sending this one message to all since I will not be able to reply to each one individually.
Some of the people sending messages were under the impression that the Employees Thrift Advisory Council (ETAC) on which I serve has approval authority over proposals made by the FRTIB. That is not the case. As the name indicates, the ETAC members provide advice to the FRTIB and its Executive Director, Greg Long. At the ETAC meeting held Wednesday, December 19, 2007, the members discussed the proposals for limiting interfund transfers within the TSP after receiving a briefing by Tracey Ray, Chief Investment Officer, FRTIB.
Executive Director Long reminded the ETAC members that the FRTIB had not yet issued a formal proposal, that after publication of the proposal in the Federal register, possibly in January 2008, interested parties would have 30 days in which to submit comments. After considering the comments, the FRTIB would decide what action to take.
One of the pieces of information provided by Ms. Ray impressed me greatly. She reported that on Friday, October 19, 2007, about $271 million was transferred into the I-Fund by 2018 participants. On the following October 24, 2007, $291 million was transferred out by those participants. Thus they had a total profit of about $20 million in those five days. On the average, those 2018 participants had about $10,000 in profits at no cost to themselves. The transaction costs were borne by the other 3.8 million TSP account holders.
I reported on the ETAC meeting by email to Carol Bonosaro, President of the Senior Executives Association, shortly afterward. I expressed my concern about a different kind of trading scenario that would be very costly to the TSP. If participants in the I-fund withdrew a large amount before 4 pm on a Friday, a time after the international markets are closed, and some unexpected event occurred over the weekend to cause a large drop in international stock markets, the TSP would take a large loss in assets, not just a transaction cost. You can use your imagination about the diversity of possible events that could cause a large drop in international stock markets over a weekend.
Whether you oppose or support the idea of limiting interfund transfers in the TSP, I urge you to take the opportunity to send your comments on whatever specific proposal comes from the FRTIB.
Happy New Year.
Dick Strombotne
ETAC member
SEA nominee
__________________________________________________ _______________________________

What is an "SEA nominee"? Would this affect his point of view on whether he wants to make waves or not?

Originally Posted by oreo

What is an "SEA nominee"? Would this affect his point of view on whether he wants to make waves or not?

SEA nominee= Senior Executive Association.

He is the SINGLE person who is on the ETAC to represent all of the Senior Executives now serving in our United States Government.

Scarey, isn't it?

"Dick" in fact isn't a current Senior Executive at all. He's a retiree, who happens to be head of the Gaithersberg, Maryland chpater of the National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association.

http://www.mdnarfe.org/


At least I'll give him credit for responding. None of the other ETAC members I've written have responded yet.

Hi James,
You may know ALL this already, but FYI, just to ensure our best foot is forwaard... I've worked in DC for 15 years. In past, I've twice weekly, briefed DASNs, rubbed noses many times with SES'ers, once briefed the #2 in USMC, and once The 5-star ops Admiral at PACFLT.
My point is this: folks at this level, only catch "sound-bites". You gotta' put everything into "sound-bites, or it just passes right-on-by them!

Like I said , you probably aready know all this, but just to ensure our best foot is forward, best suggestion I can give is: To put the "conclusions" right-up-front (that we need to make). Make those "conclusions" as "bullets," - if they need more -they will then ask - then have those backup responses "at-ready," as facts, that prove our point(s).

The website should do this too - just in case they go there for further info.
VR
VR

This may be naive of me, but could the transfer fee problem be alleviated if the tsp limits daily transfers only to the L Funds? Here's my (naive) rationale: since they readjust the percentages of G F C S and I in each of these L funds on a daily basis, significant dollar amounts are being shuffled around anyway. Why not let us shuffle amongst the funds in the process.

This would at least give us the chance to move back and forth between the aggressive and conservative L fund mixes.