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Thread: UNIX84 Account Talk

  1. #1

    Default UNIX84 Account Talk

    Hello everyone. I have been reading this site for about a decade now, and always feel like I have been a part of this community, but I've just never posted. But now I hope that I can maybe inspire some young buck the way that some of you older members inspired me over the years.

    As of right now before COB on 3 November 2023, my account sits at just over $386,000 with a 75% C-fund and 25% S-fund allocation and contribution ratio.

    I have fluctuated between 70/30 and 80/20 over the past decade. I do not recall when or why I adjusted to 75/25, but it was after the pandemic.

    At one point in 2018, I held I-fund stocks for a brief period, but I decided to get out as I did not like the I-fund options and thought that it was missing a big portion of true international growth.

    My international exposure is with FZILX on my Roth IRA, which when added to my TSP, makes up slightly less than 20% of the entire retirement portfolio.

    I follow the Jack Bogle investment philosophy except, as a federal employee I treat my pension as the safety net. So my TSP and IRA is entirely stocks with very little change.

    I have a very modest house that will be paid off by the time I am 47, barring any major lifestyle changes.

    -UNIX84


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  3. #2

    Default Re: UNIX84 Account Talk

    My historical End-of-year Account Balances for reference:

    YEAR // EOY BALANCE TO NEAREST $1000
    -------------------------------------------------
    2012 // $5000
    2013 // $15000
    2014 // $38000
    2015 // $60000
    2016 // $92000
    2017 // $136000
    2018 // $149000
    2019 // $221000
    2020 // $302000
    2021 // $395000
    2022 // $328000




    -UNIX84

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  5. #3

    Default Re: UNIX84 Account Talk

    Reserved.

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  7. #4

    Default Re: UNIX84 Account Talk

    Another reserved post for future use.

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  9. #5

    Default Re: UNIX84 Account Talk

    Background:

    I grew up very dirt poor, like you wouldn't believe. Without too many details, I did not have running water my senior year of high school and I am the only one from my neighborhood to graduate college and survive past 30 without going to prison or being buried.

    I joined the military at 18 and I thought it was the best thing in the world, because I got consistent food and housing and great healthcare and if you got shot (which I didn't, but I did think it was pretty normal), you got even more benefits. I had never been to a doctor before I went to MEPS for processing. Nobody ever told me about retirement at 18, or I never listened.

    So years later, after I got my degree and started over as a GS-8 civilian, I was a bit smarter, and started saving for retirement. I was still in my late 20's living in the WDC area so it was difficult to live big. But I was married and had no kids and I saw people who worked much harder than me for much less and with more mouths to feed, and I thought if they could make it work, so could I. At one point, my wife reminds me, I gave up soda and only showered at the gym to save water, and I only used my computer at the library to save on internet and electricity costs.

    Lifestyle Creep:

    Because of my upbringing, I never really ate out, but living in WDC you start to make friends and it's expected that you go out every once in awhile. The salary slowly went up as did lifestyle creep and before you knew it, I was the guy buying a new iPhone and even a new car at one point. But I always made it a point to bump up my contributions with each step increase, promotion, and award, until finally, at age 30, I was able to max out my TSP.

    Back to Basics:

    We had three kids in our 30's. It was difficult and childcare is expensive relative to my spouse's salary, so we made the difficult decision of moving to a lower cost of living area and buying while interest rates were absurdly low. We bought a 3br/2ba home on a 15 year mortgage, and then had the third kid. Whoops. We thought about pulling back from retirement savings to get a bigger house, but with climbing mortgage rates and housing prices suddenly skyrocketing, we made the decision to just stay in our very modest home. It can get crowded at times, but it is still a very nice neighborhood with lots of trees (some of which we have planted ourselves) and my kids are still growing up much better than I did, with much better opportunities. We sold that new car for an older, but more reliable car. I buy used computers and phones when I need them. We reuse and thrift and use Goodwill and Habitat for clothes and still find ways to have fun. Having kids later in life did set me back a bit, and with more than 15 years before my youngest is out of the house, I will have to stay on for a bit beyond the MRA and I'm okay with that. Even with all of that, a major family emergency with my dad made me have to reduce my TSP contributions in 2021 and 2022, but after a COLA increase and a grade increase, I am back to maxing it out as of 2023 and I hope I can continue on this path.

    Philosophy:

    I am not very smart when it comes to markets and timing. My degree was in Macroeconomics with a concentration in Supply Chain Management, but when I listen to Bloomberg or read through these threads I am in awe of some of the math and effort put in. But that's not for me. I am a set it and forget it kind of guy, and I like what Jack Bogle taught. So I am an index fund guy, no individual stocks owned, no timing the market, just holding steady. The only difference is that I view the pension as my safety net, so I do not have any bonds. Maybe this comes back to bite me, but I'm hoping that by the time I retire in 15+ years, I am in a position where I can live on just the pension if possible. Pipe dream maybe, but it's still a goal and worth mentioning.

    I do not like the I-fund, so I also max my IRA and that is in FZILX, which is entirely international markets.

    I am content as a GS-13. I do not want to take a GS-14 position and move into management. I do not think the tradeoff is worth it. Barring any major change in my work, or a major accident, sudden diagnosis, or worse, I will stay at my current position and just live with the COLA and a few more within grade increases until I max out at step 10. Maybe this changes over the next few years, maybe I find that unicorn job as a Linux Engineer GS-14 level and that changes everything.

    I started at rock bottom; there's nowhere to go but up.

    -UNIX84

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  11. #6

    Default Re: UNIX84 Account Talk

    Welcome UNIX84! I'm glad to see you jumped in after a decade.

    And thanks for sharing your great story - rags to riches! It sounds like a good blueprint for many young investors.

    I look forward to your input, although as a buy and holder, there may not be much to talk about.

    Good luck!
    Tom
    Market Commentary | My Blog | TSP Talk Plus | |

    I am not a Registered Investment Advisor and this is not investment advice. Please do your own due diligence.

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  13. #7

    Join Date
    Sep 2008
    Location
    Kentucky
    Posts
    5,260

    Default Re: UNIX84 Account Talk

    Quote Originally Posted by tsptalk View Post
    although as a buy and holder
    Birchtree disciple

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  15. #8

    Default Re: UNIX84 Account Talk

    I just saw that we are going up to $23,000 as the limit in 2024.

    With 26 pay periods (bi-weekly), that makes it $885/pay period as my contribution.

    I could likely just go up to $900/pp, which puts me at $22,500 by pay period 25. My matching contribution is still much less than the $500 I would contribute that final pay period 2024, so I would still be okay.

    The next milestone would be $23,500 in 2025 or so, which is $904/pp. If I moved to $904/pp in 2024, I would end up at $22,600 by pay period 25, and still likely get the full match in pay period 26. Moving to $904/pp now conditions me ahead of time to not need that money and lets me not have to make an allotment change for another two years. I would likely be on Christmas leave next year when it's time to make the change. The only risk is a super strong year where we end up with a $24,000 limit in 2025, where I would have to make the adjustment anyway, since I would have to contribute $924/pay period at that limit. Of course I cannot contribute that much per paycheck in 2024, as that would put me over the limit in pay period 25 and I would miss the matching contribution in that final pay period.

    I think I will just move to $904/pay period starting next year and forget about it.

    -UNIX84

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  17. #9

    Default Re: UNIX84 Account Talk

    In 2012, I made a spreadsheet that made a specific set of assumptions about my career and Thrift Contributions. This included I would stay all in equities, not try to time the market, and would always max the TSP.

    One column had 6% growth; one 8%; and one had 9.77% which at the time was the historical S&P 500 return going back 90 years or so. Other assumptions, such as anticipated wage increases and TSP contribution increases were just pulled out of the ether; I do not have a science behind it.

    Even with the big dip in 2022 and then life events resulting in an inability to max the Thrift from September 2021 until July 2023, I am over-performing that spreadsheet by about a year and another $20k or so. This is with about 7 weeks to go in 2023.

    That spreadsheet has me in the two comma club by the time I am 48 years old. Obviously, the further along we move from 2012, the spreadsheet trends away from the actual numbers. I think the biggest culprit is that I under-estimated the employer match.

    In a future post, I will document how many months it took me to reach milestones: First 10k, 100k, 200k, 300k, etc. I can't find that file right now (It was sometime in 2020 when I first crossed the 300k barrier) and I cannot access this through the new TSP platform.

    By the way, I really don't like the new TSP platform.
    -UNIX84


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  19. #10

    Default Re: UNIX84 Account Talk

    Quote Originally Posted by UNIX84 View Post
    That spreadsheet has me in the two comma club...
    Love that. Never heard it phrased that way before.
    Tom
    Market Commentary | My Blog | TSP Talk Plus | |

    I am not a Registered Investment Advisor and this is not investment advice. Please do your own due diligence.

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  21. #11

    Default Re: UNIX84 Account Talk

    Managing Expectations:

    I previously mentioned that I grew up poor, and this rears its ugly head every few months with family. What was once pride at me making it through high school and joining the military turned into resentment over time as that military career turned into a college degree and then steady postwar employment, which ended up being a Federal Career.

    Now, ten years later, I am referred to as having, "All that **** money" during bitter disputes, although never to my face. In person, it usually comes out in the form of, "XXXX is struggling, really down on their luck right now, the cops won't leave them alone, the landlord, blah blah blah" and while I sympathize with them, I cannot be the savior or the bail out for everyone's bad decision making. What was once pride in me moving on has turned to envy and everything that I confided in people during my younger adulthood is weaponized against me these days, including all of the "investments" and savings that I championed in my early career. The "why don't you drive a BMW" that I was asked in my 20's is now "he has a lot of money and he's a tightwad." And of course I'm the ******* for not giving it to everyone for nothing.

    So in 2022, I lost it all. Every **** cent. One of those crypto schemes got me. FTX and I hope that Sam Bankman-Fried goes to jail for the rest of his life for what he did to me. And I'm sure to let everyone in the room know.

    I'm not smart. I'm just like everyone else. Screwed over by the system. Now I'll be paying off that crypto scheme for the rest of my life. I don't have a penny to spare because it's all going to the creditors. Who knows if I'll ever be able to retire?

    And that makes it easy to explain why I'm not in a BMW, and why I'm using the oldest phone in the room.

    The only person who never asked for a single dime was my dad. Even when I offered, he refused, and he's the guy who needed it the most with his medical bills. I help supplement his elder care without him knowing, and maybe that's a future post.
    -UNIX84

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  23. #12

    Default Re: UNIX84 Account Talk

    With today's market close, I should surpass my previous all time high as well as break the 400k barrier for the first time.
    -UNIX84

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