Thread: New Member

Welcome to the Forum Boomer01. Yes the markets are hard to read with all of the politics pushing them up and down. Looks to be topping to me so I will wait a while and see how it goes, been waiting too long myself. Check the Auto Tracker some of us are doing real well.
Best of luck,
Norman

Originally Posted by nnuut

Check the Auto Tracker some of us are doing real well.

I'm not one of them. Welcome to the board and good luck.

Welcome Boomer! There's a lot to consider like age, how long you have until retirement, etc. But one good way to get a feel for things is to throw a little into the stock funds (maybe 10% or so) and you will look at your account and the stock market a little differently. After a while you will be able to make better decisions about whether you want to put more in, or take some or all out.

It's like when I'm in a losing stock position for a long time and am afraid to sell because I think it may shoot up as soon as I sell. But selling, in this case) sometimes clears the mind and you look at the investment differently. I can reevaluate the the stock better when I've made a change.

Good luck!

Thanks for the advise. I have about 10 years to go until retirement (I can go in 8, but my past G fund investment strategy will make it more like 10). There have been a few times this year where i said if the S&P goes down to 1500 (Aug) or 1600 ( a few weeks ago) I will go in. In both cases it came close, but never went that low and it shot up from there. I'm hoping the S&P will drop a little in the near future so I can put a little in. I'm thinking about putting some money in the I fund next week.

Once you get into virgin uncharted territory there are no rules - trendlines and chart patterns may not predict anything. There may not be an opportunity for a pull back for months on end - everything happens intraday. In other words, waiting to buy pull backs may not turn out to be the right play. Buy now and cry later.

IMHO, you may want to consider dollar cost averaging into some of the equity funds by changing how your "new money" going in to the TSP is allocated. That will slowly increase your equity exposure. Depending on your age, your years to retirement, and your risk tolerance, you should consider placing a portion of your assets in equities in order to grow your TSP.

Since you've been in the G Fund for so long, it may scare you to be in equities. Rather than put your money in the market all at once, you may want to consider putting in a pre-determined amount, say, 20-25% from your G Fund if/when the S&P drops down to it's 50 day moving average. So far this year, the market has bounced right back each time it's reached that level. That way you at least have a plan, and are systematically getting your money to work for you over time.

Good luck!

Welcome BOOMER. Is that BOOMER as in BOOMER SOONER!!?? Go OU Sooners!!

Welcome Boomer,

If you're Air Force I know what you do, if you're Navy, I know what you do.....Other than that Read the smart ones on the boards, they'll give you most of what you need.

Plan, execute, adjust.....

Originally Posted by Boomer01

Thanks for the advise. I have about 10 years to go until retirement (I can go in 8, but my past G fund investment strategy will make it more like 10). There have been a few times this year where i said if the S&P goes down to 1500 (Aug) or 1600 ( a few weeks ago) I will go in. In both cases it came close, but never went that low and it shot up from there. I'm hoping the S&P will drop a little in the near future so I can put a little in. I'm thinking about putting some money in the I fund next week.

Boomer,

Sitting in the 'G Fund' has not and will not be safe. But, with 10 years till retirement I would never (although never is such a long time - yuk, yuk...) be more than 40% or 50% in C/S/I. I don't know anything about you other than a potential time horizon - you might be a multi-millionaire trust funder or a widget maker for all I know - but would probably recommend two things:

1. Move 25% - 50% into a mix of C/S/I
2. Make all Contributions to C/S/I

That way, if the market crashes 50% you will be down less than 25% - which would take less than 3 years to recover from. The reason for new contributions going only to C/S/I is that you would take advantage of a down market that way. In fact, if the market crashes start contributing more. In another post I mentioned a personal milestone I just attained. That happened much faster because BirchTree convinced me to contribute to C/S/I in 2008 till it hurt. And it really hurt. But now I love it. Yummy...

Originally Posted by MrJohnRoss

IMHO, you may want to consider dollar cost averaging into some of the equity funds by changing how your "new money" going in to the TSP is allocated. That will slowly increase your equity exposure. Depending on your age, your years to retirement, and your risk tolerance, you should consider placing a portion of your assets in equities in order to grow your TSP.

Since you've been in the G Fund for so long, it may scare you to be in equities. Rather than put your money in the market all at once, you may want to consider putting in a pre-determined amount, say, 20-25% from your G Fund if/when the S&P drops down to it's 50 day moving average. So far this year, the market has bounced right back each time it's reached that level. That way you at least have a plan, and are systematically getting your money to work for you over time.

Good luck!

Spot on advice...

I changed my new contributions to 40%C, 40%I and 20%S. Is the 50 day moving average about 1680?