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The Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) had another good month in March with
all of the TSP funds, except for one, going up. The one exception was
the F fund which went down 0.11% for the month. For the past twelve
months, that fund is also up, advancing 7.78%.
The first quarter of 2010 has been a good one for the stock market. The Dow
Jones Industrial Average gained 4.1% during the first quarter. That is the the
Dow's fourth consecutive quarterly gain and the best first-quarter performance
since 1999. The Standard & Poor's 500-stock index (which is the basis for the
TSP's C fund) rose 4.9%. Keep in mind that, despite this gain, it is still 25%
below its all-time high posted in October 2007.
No doubt, the stock market tumble from 2008 is still very much on the minds
of investors in the Thrift Savings Plan. (See the
annual chart on for TSP returns.) Many individual investors are still afraid
of stocks or are jumpy when watching their investments go up while being fearful
of another significant downturn. The Wall Street
Journal notes that individual investors are continuing to pour money into
bond mutual funds while largely ignoring American stock funds.
That trend is also evident among TSP investors.
TSP participants transferred money into the G fund during February at a
substantial rate for the first time since March of 2009. $518 million was
transferred into the G fund by TSP investors. In the same month, $200 million
was also transferred into the F fund during February.
$379 million was transferred out of the C fund, $34 million was transferred
out of the S fund and $431 million was transferred out of the I fund in
February.
At the same time, the number of investors in the L funds continues to
increase. 663,525 TSP participants are now investing in the L funds. At the end
of February 2009, there were 580,588 participants in the L funds.
Here are the returns from the TSP funds for March:
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