I understood clean to be a Premium Service Member and unclean to be someone who is not. It's just a humorous way of saying that.
I understood clean to be a Premium Service Member and unclean to be someone who is not. It's just a humorous way of saying that.
Allocations as of COB Dec 28 : 100% S. | Retirement Date:Dec 2025
Past Returns: 2020 31.85%,2019 27.97%,2018 -3.36%,2017 13.10%, 2016 -1.79%, 5Yr Avg 12.61%
[COLOR=#0000ff][FONT=comic sans ms][I]"In the land of idiots, the moron is King."--Unknown[/I][/FONT][/COLOR]
I'll be re-entering 100% S at the close. Come what may.
So begins the last month of my 30s. I'll post more about that in the next day or two...
For now, I just wanted to note (before going to bed) that the TSP Talk Herd is allocated thusly going into the new month of April:
G&F: 41%
CSI&Ls: 59%
I'll check back when the AT is updated to see how people re-allocated with a new set of IFTs. Shweet dreams!
Congrats on getting a great early start toward financial independence (hopefully). Looking back, I can genuinely say that had I started investing when you did, I would be relatively, well, wealthy today. I am doing well enough financially and I am happy, but in hindsight, I do regret not having started saving and investing earlier as (1) it would have provided me with an added sense of security and greater ability to help my kids achieve their goals, (2) I learned later that saving more requires less actual sacrifice than it seemed at the time, and (3) the exponential growth of rewards from saving over time have been literally mind-blowing for me -- while I knew and understood compounding, I never really understood how great the rewards actually are until many years later. ... So, good for you!
Originally posted 2/2/2011
This was the first post in my account thread, over 4 years ago. I was still 35 at the time. In the back of my mind, I thought I'd give myself until I turned 40 to try to educate myself on the stock market and investing/trading for retirement. At the beginning, I was fascinated and absorbed as much information as I could from the various seasoned posters on this site. I've been fortunate to have followed TspTalk.com since back when Coolhand posted a daily blog, Tom let us have the Sentiment Survey for free, and I even recall when Intrepid Timer was Intrepid "Trader" and had his account on the AT for everyone to follow.
At first I had a rocky start, holding S throughout most of the summer of 2011. But I bounced back and had a big 2012, beating all the funds and finishing near the top of the AT. That gave me a false sense of confidence early on, and although I continued to do well in 2013, who didn't? The S fund was up 40% or something. Over time, I've found myself losing the desire and interest to delve into charts and data on a daily basis, my trades are based more on my gut than on any solid rationale or "system". In other words, I'm just gambling with my retirement.
So, on the cusp of 40, I'm thinking of pitching it all in and subscribing to a premium service. I'm not certain yet, but it's something I'm thinking about. I'm not in any hurry. I'll give myself a little more time. I hear Birchtree has a pretty good service, and it's free. Maybe I'll give that a try.
To all my Catholic peeps, have a "Good" Friday - eat a Five Guys burger for me on Saturday! Hopefully I'll get to have one this summer (though we've greatly reduced our consumption of 4 legged animals in our household recently). Have a nice weekend everyone!
Thanks for your candid post. Seriously! I am surprised however, since the Premium service isn't expensive, that you haven't availed yourself of the extra info contained therein. (No I don't get a referral commission! )All too often I keep playing hunches that turn out wrong and if I had just followed 'the system' I would've have done much better. (don't pay any attention to my AT numbers - I don't make consistent entries. I'm actually around 5% YTD). Again, thanks for your candid post and best of luck to you and yours.
I say "go for it"
I do what I do because I love it, but the reality is, this is game about making money and we have a very short window of opportunity to work with. In my mind, joining a premium service does not in any way mean you threw in the towel, it means you made a logical choice to improve yourself in the most efficient way possible.
Being frank, these services are more than a fair bargain. I've thought about joining myself, mostly becuase my time is limited, and I only have a few years left to hit the books and get ready for my post-military career. For myself, if my performacne this year does not meet my expectations, then I'm likely to shelf my business plan and set everything on cruise control until I'm in a better place.
S&P500 (C Fund) (delayed) (Stockcharts.com Real-time) |
DWCPF (S Fund) (delayed) (Stockcharts.com Real-time) |
EFA (I Fund) (delayed) (Stockcharts.com Real-time) |
BND (F Fund) (delayed) (Stockcharts.com Real-time) |
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Yahoo Finance Realtime TSP Fund Tracking Index Quotes |
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