New Tracker Wanted!

[tsptalk]

After 11 months of hard work EWGuy has decided he needs a break from the job as the TSP Returns Tracker. I want to thank EWGuy for his dedication and commitment to a complex job that he made look easy. He made many changes to the project he took over over nearly a year ago, and it will be difficult to replace him.

So, it will be a hard act to follow, but we are now in need of a new tracker. If you might be interested, please send myself and/or EWGuy a PM and we can answer any questions and fill you in on what you can expect - and we'll tell you about the puny benefits that come with the job. :D

Thanks!

[tsptalk]

Unfortunately, if I have to take over the tracker myself, I may have to start to charge a small fee. I just don't have the extra time to do it so it has to be worth what I will give up, namely sleep or family time.

If someone wants to step up and take over the job, here's what you might expect in return:

- The tracker page will be set up with Ads that pay you

- PayPal donate buttons can be placed on the page using your payPal account

- I can even compensate someone on a per account basis and see how that goes

You must have some knowlegde in spreadsheets. EWGuy can explain the rest. We also have a member working on an automated program but that is still months away.

You must be able to work well with, and communicate well with others as you will be in contact with other members when there are problems or questions with account allocations.

Any questions or comments, please contact myself (Tom) and / or EWGuy via PM or email.

Thanks!
Tom

[GGal]

I can't volunteer for such a big task. I'm not reliable. Why not give everyone a tracker and let them do their own and report to rokid if they want to be included in his report?

[Spaf]

We need that automated version, sort of like the TSP.gov site for submitting and confirming IFT's.....;)

[ChemEng]

Ive been tooling around with website design the past few weeks and Im just about certain that you could automate the process using php. I just got to get myself smart on the details.

[tsptalk]

Ive been tooling around with website design the past few weeks and Im just about certain that you could automate the process using php. I just got to get myself smart on the details.
We made need you. :) Actually, Ocean has been working on this off and on and has given us a drop dead date of August to - have it completed or to move on to someone else if not.

[ChemEng]

We made need you. :) Actually, Ocean has been working on this off and on and has given us a drop dead date of August to - have it completed or to move on to someone else if not.

No big deal. I was just talking out loud to see if anyone who currently possesses php skills could affirm or deny. :) (Im just not beginning to tool around with php for my website. It is getting better, but I am far from an expert right now.)

But the more I think about it, it should be entirely possible to pull the transactions of the day from the mb database. The trick would be to automate the integration of that file into the master excel database. But even if you cant get the 2nd phase, the amount of work would be much smaller than what is currently being done.

[FundSurfer]

You could always create a file and then write an excel macro to suck in the data. That I could do... writing php-whatever I couldn't. I've thought about learning but it's too low on my list of priorities to ever actually get done.

[ATCJeff]

Since I started my little thread on the top decile returns, I've been thinking of a easier way to compile the data for the tracker. I'm not a expert on Excel, but I'm pretty sure you can just input allocation changes onto a master member list and have a list of the daily fund prices and you should be able to output a ranking based on YTD return.

Any thoughts?

Jeff

[tsptalk]

EWGuy has offered to stay on as tracker until the automated program is ready to go. That's a relief! He will take a two-week vacation this month and some folks have offered to step in temporarily. Much appreciation to all!!

Keep those ideas coming. Anything that will make the tracking and tallying easier is a big help.

[rokid]

Thanks EWGuy! Have a great vacation.

[FogSailing]

Tom:

I have to be on a road trip until early July (family bidddness), however, I can offer EW some part time help for a few weeks to a month in either July or August.

Just let me know.

FS

[tsptalk]

Thanks! Good to know.

[EW_ret]

Thanks for the offer on help. I will keep that in mind. Just to keep our members informed, I have all TSP fund prices and member transactions in a MySQL database located on internet server. We use PHP software routines to manually enter member IFTs into a transaction form, and generate the weekly WebTracker spreadsheet. This was developed earlier in the year by a good friend of mine. It has saved time entering member transactions, generating the spreadsheet, and reduced the spreadsheet size.

Tom:

I have to be on a road trip until early July (family bidddness), however, I can offer EW some part time help for a few weeks to a month in either July or August.

Just let me know.

FS

[FogSailing]

Tom/EW:

Just send me a private email when you would like my help. TSPTalk offers tremendous benefit to federal workers and retirees. Nothing wrong with a little relief pitching once in a while.:)

FS

[tsptalk]

(except for the poor guy or gal who gets stuck with writing the software :().
That would be Ocean. Let's hope it comes through for us.

[MADDOG]

my concern would be that everyone is trying to input at the same time,
11:50 - 12:00, and how slow it would / may be. i can tell a big difference when i hit the new post button during this time

md

[Griffin]

I don't know if ocean read this, but my concern with creating something that looks to close to the tsp.gov site is that folks will get confused about which screen they entered a transaction into and forget to make one or the other. It probably would be helpful to have a bold message on the screen to remind folks to make the change in both places.


Someone needs to create a screen exactly like the TSP IFT screen.....

[ocean]

Hi,

I am more than 50% done with the automated tracker and I expect it to be completed by early August. I am writing the transfer rule sets now and I believe the following rules are correct but I would like to verify with someone here. Please let me know if the followings are true.

1. IFT the day before the holiday after 12:00 EDT (the government official site will IFT at the end of the next business day. (e.g. IFT from 7/3/2007 after 12:00 EDT to 7/5/2007 before 12:00 EDT, the actual effective transfer will take place at the end of 7/5/2007).
2. IFT from Friday after 12:00 EDT to Monday before 11:59 EDT will take effect on Monday COB.

Thanks
Ocean

[nnuut]

All seem right to me ocean! Keep up the good work on the new tracker, sounds like MAGIC!:D
Norman

[ocean]

Thanks nnuut,

Ocean

[tsptalk]

I agree. That is correct info. Good luck ocean!

[EW_ret]

How is the ten minute grace period accounted for? Should the 12:00 pm ET times be 12:10 pm ET?

I will send you the MYSQL (ver 5.0.18-Debian_9) database tables on member names, transactions, and fund prices that I have for this year. If we transition to the automated tracker this year we will have the data for this year. The format and layout will likely be different from yours. The fund price table contains all Lifecycle funds prices and well as G/F/C/S/I. How do you want me to send these MySQL database tables? Send me your email by PM.

[ocean]

EWGuy,

The 10 minute grace period will be enforced. The tracker will track the member's IFT allocation with time stamp. If IFT report is recorded before or at 12:10 PM, the transfer will take place on the same COB day. Everything else at or after 12:11 PM will be deferred for the next COB day and holidays and weekend rules will apply.

As for your database, it is a challenge to incorporate into the tracker but I will try my best to make good use of the data that you have. I will PM you for exporting the data.

As for stat reports, it will open for all members, I will try to have YTD returns, Qtr-T-D, Month-T-D, Week-T-D, daily movers, top 10 list or 20 or 30 that similar to what Rokid, Fundsufer, ATCJeff are doing now. Hopefully these automated stat reports will save everybody's time in the future.

Ocean

[ocean]

Hi,

It took me a week (spare time) to get the logic nailed down for synchronizing members daily allocation, share prices and balances. It was the most difficult part so far in this project. I am glad that I got it working now.

Next question to the board members is: Do you want to have the L funds to be tracked also? I can add this feature if it is desired.

Ocean

[weatherweenie]

Hi,


Next question to the board members is: Do you want to have the L funds to be tracked also? I can add this feature if it is desired.



Personally, I don't use the L funds, so I don't need them tracked.

[nnuut]

Not me!

[ChemEng]

Personally, I don't use the L funds, so I don't need them tracked.

Part of the reason that they weren't tracked before was the difficulty of determining returns using the standard returns spreadsheet. (You had to work with the returns spreadsheet that had the L fund on them.)

I dont use the L funds. But would recommend that if there is very little cost for implementing the capability, include it since you could always remove it later if it is unused or unwanted.

[FundSurfer]

IMHO, if you are using a L-fund, then you should be in that fund as a long and not moving around. Being 50% L-Income and 50% L-2040 just would not make sense. Returns on 100% Allocation on any of the L-funds is easy to find.

I'd bet it wouldn't take a whole lot of programming to add but at the same time I don't think it should be there. I'm sure there will be many others who will want it added. There will be others who want other things added to whatever software program you develop -- version creep. People will never be completely satisfied. I always suggest clean, straight forward, get the job done software.

[FundSurfer]

Part of the reason that they weren't tracked before was the difficulty of determining returns using the standard returns spreadsheet. (You had to work with the returns spreadsheet that had the L fund on them.)

Actually, the reason for not putting that capability into the tracker was that it exploded the size of the tracker spreadsheet. The data is readily available fron the tsp.gov share price page.

[EW_ret]

There are actually two parts to this question/issue. Should we track/record the Lifecycle fund prices? Should we track member returns that choose to invest in the L funds?

We currently track all Lifecycle (L) fund prices in the WebTracker database. Rokid lists the YTD performance of each L fund in the Weekly Tally. It makes sense that we continue to track L fund prices so we can calculate returns for report purposes. The alternatives would be 1) not include L fund returns in any future reports, or 2) develop a method to get L fund return data from other internet sites that report weekly, or monthly YTD return performance.

The second part to this question, that others have voiced opinion, is should we track member returns who use the L funds? We have handled this in the past by having the member give the percentage allocated to each underlying TSP fund (G/F/C/S/I). As FundSufer stated, we did this to minimize the size of the TSPTalk calculator spreadsheet. This Excel spreadsheet got so large last year that its size (11 MB) exceeded many email server attachment limits. Adding five columns, for L funds, in each member spreadsheet would increase the size of this file way beyond limits. Tom and others believed that TSPTalk members should use the basic TSP funds. The L funds are for those who do not have the time, or expertise, to manage their TSP account.

Should we now reconsider tracker members invested in the L funds? The file size issue should not be a problem since the new Auto Tracker database will reside on a TSPTalk server. The second reason is still valid; the L funds are for those who do not have the time, or expertise, to manage their TSP account.

Will we continue to generate the same Excel calculator spreadsheet? I don't see that we need to generate the entire TSPTalk calculator spreadsheet. We can directly generate other reports, such as the Weekly Tally, from the database. These reports need to be defined. The calculator software (php) that I developed to generate Excel shreadsheets from the WebTracker database can generate any member’s worksheet, or All worksheets. I email the All worksheets version to Tom, Rokid and Fundsurfer. Perhaps we will have a demand/need to generate a members worksheet. (?)


Hi,

Next question to the board members is: Do you want to have the L funds to be tracked also? I can add this feature if it is desired.

Ocean

[tsptalk]

I would rather not encourage trading the L-funds as they were put in place as buy and hold vehicles. I think trading them is over the top and I would vote for not using them.

[ocean]

Good day. (Indeed it was, who could deny a 284 point jump in the Dow in one day - just by watching it).

Thanks for all your feedbacks and thanks for EWGuy's clarification, and you exactly hit the right points that I had considered.

But judging by the responses, the L funds tracking seems not needed. So I will not implement it even though all it needs is 5 more fields in a few database tables.

On the other, because of the data is generated automatically from the database, so there will a lot of reports that can be generated with a few clicks of the mouse. I may come up with option that a few favor members that other members may be able to bookmark it. Members like 12%, EBB (until he charges it), Thunder, T2040, ACTJeff, Griffin, Fundsurfer etc etc etc. Hope I can come through with this.

Ocean

[ChemEng]

even though all it needs is 5 more fields in a few database tables.

Exactly why I recommended putting it in there... shrug

[tsptalk]

I guess it wouldn't hurt to program it in in case we change our minds, but we'd want to comment out the display of those fields on the screen so no one uses them.

[ocean]

Exactly why I recommended putting it in there... shrug



I guess it wouldn't hurt to program it in in case we change our minds, but we'd want to comment out the display of those fields on the screen so no one uses them.


Got it, will do.

[ChemEng]

I guess it wouldn't hurt to program it in in case we change our minds, but we'd want to comment out the display of those fields on the screen so no one uses them.

I guess I see it somewhat differently though. This website isnt about informed day trading, its about informed investing through TSP. And BAH is a popular investing option. Its no different that tracking members who choose to stay in C for years, right?

Not to mention that the L funds will get a lot more attention should congress ever approve the boards recommendation to make the L funds the default funds much like G is now.

Its your barbecue Tom, but Im going to give you my opinion. :)

[ocean]

I tend to agree with ChemEng on this one. The tracker is for information only and day trading or not is up to the individual. The intent of this site is to provide whatever information that is available to all members.

Ocean

[tsptalk]

Playing devil's advocate, buy and hold is not something others will sit by and follow. The tracker is designed so others can watch those that are managing their accounts well. And I agree, someone who sits in the C fund for years isn't imparting any knowledge to those looking in, even if it does well. We can all see what the C fund and the L funds are doing.

I worry about those who trade the L-funds - and split them up (ie 20% L20, 30% L10, 50% C). I'm also worried about the TSP folks getting P.O.'d enough that they take away the daily transfers. I don't want anyone pointing to this site saying we are encouraging trading the L-funds. The men in black already want to shut us down. :D

Can we make it so that anyone who uses the L-funds can only be 100% in that one fund?

[ocean]

Tom,

I see your point now. OK, we will stick with the original plan and just use G/F/C/S/I and will not touch the L funds at all.

Ocean

[tsptalk]

Take the poll... http://www.tsptalk.com/mb/showthread.php?p=103282

[EW_ret]

I have used a single L fund and mixed with G because its convenient, and easier, to place 30% L2020 and 70% G. Its just simpler than making five allocations. I do not think we should discriminate on what TSP funds a member uses. I agree it makes no sense to use multiple L funds. I do not see why we should not allow trading the L funds, just as we do G, F, C, S, and I funds. Are we going to stop tracking the L fund return performance? Is so, then we can not compare member performance against the L fund returns.

[tsptalk]

I was thinking we were not accepting transfers into the L-funds currently? Am I wrong about that?

I can be persuaded - But I am worried about the TSP folks most of all. :worried:

[James48843]

Alright- here is a twist to think about:

I DO want to include the "L" funds, and here is why.

Several times, I've run close to the deadline, and had to decide what I was going to do.

I had a gut feeling about where to go, but also harbored "regrets" before pulling the trigger. I would debate myself for a few minutes about how "sure" I was that I was making the right move to go to "X" positions.

But what I really wanted to do was to move to L income, for instance. If I was moving from a fully invested stock position, to a "G" fund position, but was not real sure, I would have to think about how much did I want to split where, and move it there in little pieces.

IN fact, I have intentionally NOT split with an "L" fund, when I wanted to, specifically because it was not trackable in the tracker.

If I guessed wrong, by having some portion in the "L" funds (Example- L income if I was 95% sure I was better off in "G", but would want to use the L2020 if I was only 60% sure- thereby reducing the risk if losing an upside if it came the next day, but still fairly well protected against a large downside move).

I'm all for including "L" funds.

I think a lot like EWGuy. I'd use only ONE of the "L" funds for a secondary placement, most likely on days when I REALLY don't want to go 100% "G" fund, but want to protect against a huge downside risk the next day.

Today is a prime example.

I was 100% "I" yesterday. I debated about following Ebb into "G", or leaving it where it was, and was persuaded to leave it be when I saw that Japan would probably react favorably, and saw that Ebb had said Monday was looking "I" green.

I ended up not touching anything, being 100% "I".

If I had an "L" option, I probably would have gone 50% "I", 50% L2020, as that affords some consierable downside protection, with considerble uprisk reward potential should the maket go up today.

And it could be done with a simple split, rather than having to figure out how much did I want in five different funds.

Quick. easy, dirty.

Count me as a vote for "L".

[James48843]

I would only ever use ONE "L" fund at a time as a possible safe harbor.

Most likely it would be the "L INCOME" or the "L 2020", depending on how much downside risk I wanted to avoid.

I would never split between multiple "L" funds.

[James48843]

You COULD say that I would want to use "L" funds as a type of easy, quick, convieniet "hedge fund".