New member from Central VA

Hi everyone.

I currently work for the USPS. I have almost 25 years with them and 6 years active duty military for a total of 31 years federal service. I've been coming to this site for almost a year now, so I finally registered to get more in depth into investing my TSP. I am currently about 7 years out from my MRA, and I would like to retire as soon as possible, but definitely no later than 62 years of age. I've used the OPM Ballpark Estimator using various scenarios to see where I need to be for that to happen.

I've done fairly well with my TSP, but I'm sure I could have done better. I am considering joining one of the premium sites, specifically TSP Talk Plus. I would like to hear constructive feedback from other members about it.

Thanks in advance.

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Originally Posted by ETinVA

Hi everyone.

I currently work for the USPS. I have almost 25 years with them and 6 years active duty military for a total of 31 years federal service. I've been coming to this site for almost a year now, so I finally registered to get more in depth into investing my TSP. I am currently about 7 years out from my MRA, and I would like to retire as soon as possible, but definitely no later than 62 years of age. I've used the OPM Ballpark Estimator using various scenarios to see where I need to be for that to happen.

I've done fairly well with my TSP, but I'm sure I could have done better. I am considering joining one of the premium sites, specifically TSP Talk Plus. I would like to hear constructive feedback from other members about it.

Thanks in advance.

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Welcome. You seem to know the basics regarding the premium services, so I'll cut to the chase.

You can see the past performance of the different services here: https://www.tsptalk.com/tracker/tsp-tracker.php

Attachment 44273

If they perform better than you, then maybe subscribe?

Even if they don't outperform you, they may offer additional information via their services that you can use to further improve your performance. Full disclosure: I am not a subscriber to any premium service.

Good luck!

Thanks for the info!

Hi and welcome aboard!
I subscribe to TSP Talk Plus and I recommend it because it focuses on the TSP investor and considers the TSP limitations like being limited in the number of transactions per month. I especially value the fact that Tom has been doing this trough the tough times in 2000 and 2008 so his system is geared to being in when things look good and out when it doesn't.

I also watch Chris Ciovacco's videos every weekend. They are very good at looking at the big picture and this weekend's video was particularly good at reminding everyone that even though we have been through a multi year expansion and the 50 day and 100 day and 200 day moving averages have aligned back up towards a positive potential for future expansion and gain.
https://www.youtube.com/user/CiovaccoCapital

I started out on Jim Cramer's site TheStreet.com and subscribed to his actionalerts.com site which was a good introduction and graduated to realmoney.com which is a subscription site aand I especially valued Rev Shark and Helene Meisler who I still follow on Twitter.

Retiring at 62 is fine if you are really ready but 66 or whatever your Social Security Full year might be a better. I made a lot of money and realized that retireing at 63 with a buyout was probably not the best financial decision because I was making so much money but it worked out. Actually it worked out because I knew that I could ride my TSP down to pay off my mortgage and live very well off my other two legs of Federal Retirement and Social Security.

Things went well but I realized that investing 30% when things were really good was not cutting it and making me anxious because you can't plan enough for unknown problems. So since we have been in a tremendous rally especially 2017 I have been more fully invested like 50% C and 50% S unless things look especially dire and it has worked out. Most months I make more than I take out of my TSP account.

That and a lot of prayer seems to work very well.Thank you Lord! :smile:

Welcome to the boards ETinVA!!
I suggest you join the AutoTracker (it’s free) so you can see how you are doing compared to the rest of the TSPTalkers.

I am a member of both Intrepid Timer and TSPTalk Plus. I find it useful to have 2 opinions so I can make my own personal choices. (And Talk Plus is half price if you subscribe to IT, or any other paid subcription.) I have been happy with both.

Good Luck in your investing!!

Welcome to the Forum ETinVA!! Best of luck with your TSP!:banana:

https://www.tsptalk.com/returns/returns3.html

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Originally Posted by uscfanhawaii

Welcome to the boards ETinVA!!
I suggest you join the AutoTracker (it’s free) so you can see how you are doing compared to the rest of the TSPTalkers. ...

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https://www.tsptalk.com/mb/tsp-talk-...t-started.html

Welcome ETinVA,
I was like you and looked at this site for several years before I registered and became a premium service member (Intrepid Timer). As mentioned below, I do watch the Ciovacco videos on the weekends as I find it informative.

One thing I haven't seen mentioned yet is that when you join a premium service you can get access to the forum for that service. I enjoy reading other member's thoughts on the markets, etc. Can be quite lively at times.

Glad to see you have a goal of retiring at your MRA. I was able to do that last year and managing my TSP with with the help of information from this site made that possible. Lots of good ideas get mentioned on the forums and on the site. One thing I enjoyed doing was participating in the AutoTracker with several of my coworkers and comparing returns throughout the year. Once I was retired for a few months I no longer continued to do that as I found I was taking unnecessary risks to beat them and was making poor decisions with my retirement account. I now have my personal goal for the year and that is the only thing that I track to now. They are probably beating me with respect to returns, but that does not bother me as they are still working and I am not so I think that I am ahead in that respect.

Good luck in investing your TSP.