3/23/04 Going 25% S fund.

[tsptalk]

Sticking my toe in the water, going25% into the S fund.

Tom

Tom

I didn't get your warning email this morning about moving 25-S- system very sluggish.

:?RA

Tom

Maybe next time will get it on time......... maybe all this proxy setting and all this security issues.

-- RA

[tsptalk]

Yeah, I know. All around bad day. AOL members received the email right away, but most of us at work, including my own email, did not get the message for over an hour. I had a problem with several websites today so I hope it is all cleared up tomorrow. I'm home now and everything is working fine.

That 25% move was certainly not a deal breaker. Just dribbling in. We're actually looking pretty bad after today's failed rally. I'll write more in tomorrow's comments. Hope you can get to the site in the morning. :?

Tom

[smine]

Same here. Couldn't get through to the message board to see last minute changes. :( Humbug!

[tsptalk]

I'm still home this morning and the connection is still good. How is the site today for you? I had one reader email me and said he's still having problems. If you reply, can you please tell me if your connection is through your home or work?

Thanks,
Tom

Tom

Finally I am connecting to the site. I had to changed-- addedthehttp://www.tsptalk.com/comments.html (http://www.tsptalk.com/comments.html)as an EXCEPTION to the Proxy in the Internet Explorer (IE)in order to get it connected to the site.

[flannelpants]

Let me just make sure that I have this straight… when you say that you are going 25% into the S fund, you mean that you are doing a contribution allocation, right? Or are you doing interfund tranfers?

Sorry if this is a dumb question. I’m young and trying to get up to speed on where my money’s going and what I should be doing with it.

Speaking of which, is there a reason why someone would want to do a interfund transfer?

[smine]

Tom, I was connecting from home yesterday, with cable; even switched to AOL broadband but no luck by 10:30am.When we all went to G last Friday I submitted changes to TSP at the last minute. This is not a good idea as it "didn't take." So I spent all weekend and Monday in S and I; changed on Tuesday back to G, just as you moved some to S!!! Whenever I do what you suggest I always do better! Thanks. People at work reported the same connection problems yesterday. Today seems OK for now from work.

[zbwmy]

I will let Tom respond to the 25% S Fund move.

As far as an interfund transfer, meaning taking a chunk of your already invested money in one fund and moving it to another, there are a couple reasons you may want to do it.

If you had say %100 in the C Fund and had a strong indication that the stock market was going to go down sharply, you may wish to move (interfund transfer), that money to a safer fund say the G Fund.

As you get closer to Retirement, you may wish to restructure your asset allocation from agressive to something less agressive. This can be done via interfund transfer.

[tsptalk]

The connection does seem noticeably better in the last ten minutes or so. I couldn't get on at all for about 1/2 hour. Thanks for your updates.

flannel -
I think zbwmy answered your "why do an interfundtransfer?" question fully.

The other question you had was ifI was doing an interfundtransfer or a contribution allocation change. I rarely do a contribution change. A contribution change only changes the allocation of your payroll deductions, not your entire balance as an interfund transfer does. Every time you do an interfund transfer, your entire balance gets moved. Since I make so many interfund transfers, I don't have a need to do a contribution change.

Let's say my contribution allocation is 50% C 50% S. But I just did an interfund transfer to 100% G. At that point, my entire balance will be in the G fund. If I don't make an interfund transfer for a month,I would have new money going into the C and S fund every time I waspaid. If I was still wanting to be in the G fund, I may go in and do another interfund transfer at that point to movethe entire balance (including the small amount that had been going into C and S) intothe G fund.

If you have a small balance relative to your contributions, you may want to change both. If you have accumulated a significant balance, your contributions make up a much smaller percentage of your total balance and it is not as important to do this.

So to answer your initial question, my entire balance is currently 75% G, 25% S.

I know its confusing but I hope this helps. I get asked this question a lot so I may cut and paste it into the "questions" forums.

Tom

[puertorico]

What it going on ?

What I'm seeing today is the evil and the good battle !

It's turning red and green all day long !more than 15 times.:shock:

[tsptalk]

Tom, I was connecting from home yesterday, with cable; even switched to AOL broadband but no luck by 10:30am.When we all went to G last Friday I submitted changes to TSP at the last minute. This is not a good idea as it "didn't take." So I spent all weekend and Monday in S and I; changed on Tuesday back to G, just as you moved some to S!!! Whenever I do what you suggest I always do better! Thanks. People at work reported the same connection problems yesterday. Today seems OK for now from work.

Smine-
Something just clicked, all is well for now. I assume we all had the same problem. Sorry to hear about your timing issues. The TSP deadline has been pretty consistent for me. If I'm a minute or two early, I seem to get the transfer through. If I'm a minute or two late, it doesn't.

It usually doesn't make a big difference being a day off but lately that hasn't been the case with the big swings we have been seeing daily. I'll do my best to get those emails out before 11:30 and I will always post something to the board when I make a move.

Thanks for keeping me posted on the connection problem.
Tom

[tsptalk]

What it going on ?
What I'm seeing today is the evil and the good battle !

Hi PR -

Hopefully this battle isforming a bottom. The 200 day moving averages, especially on the Nasdaq, seems to be holding so far.


The volatilty seemed to have been caused by a bomb scare in France. There was a report of a bomb found on a train. It turns out it was only on the tracks and is not related to al-Qaeda.

[lovegardening]

:shock:watching and waiting for your words of wisdom. I was caught in that internet crap at work myself....gov computer.....thank god I changed to all G funds just in time.....I didnt even bother stickin my toe in the waters......safe for now. all i have seen today is a yo-yo. safe for now.

[tsptalk]

The Nasdaq is looking better, unfortunately that is not one of our fund options. The S&P 500 and the small caps are not doing as well but arerecovering here late today.Of course the Nasdaq has been hit hard lately and this bounce was inevitable but holding the 200 day moving average is a good sign so far.

Still no conviction either way so I'm just watching and waiting also. Safe is a good place to be rightnow LG. Sometimes I gamble but not right now.