Even worse- too few of my colleagues understand that the G Fund doesnt really exist in the same way that the other funds do. of the site will not work as intended if you do so. If long-term interest rates increase, the value of existing bonds decrease since investors can buy new bonds with higher yields). A more forthright approach would be to account for the governments missed payments separately from actual returns (which during the debt issuance suspension period is 0% for the G Fund), to provide more transparency to TSP participants and the public of the increasing impact of the law, given that overall G Fund holdings have grown significantly over the years. PDF Looking Ahead to TSP in 2022 - FedImpact Therefore, the G Fund is a rare exception to the risk/reward tradeoff typically found in investments. cookies (and the associated sale of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. FEHB 2022: Rough Year For TSP With One Fund Down 13.3%. What - FedSmith The increase in the inflation rate slowed in April but is still rising at a pace not experienced in decades. AnnetteLouisan Posts: 6330 Joined: Sun Sep 19, 2021 3:16 am What do you think? (Translation: your G Fund portfolio is just entries in a government spreadsheet.). Data from the TSP website. I suppose that would be more clear. The G Fund and 10-year are 98.4% correlated since 1988, the first full year of the G Funds operation, through February this year. Remember the point isnt to protect against inflation in the short term but in the long term. Bond Market ETF (AGG), which tracks the same index as the F Fund. As rates fell from their 1980speak, bond prices rose, and investors enjoyed capital gains on top of high interest rates. It has been proposed that Bitcoin is digital gold, but it seems to act more like a really volatile tech stock. The G Fund is often thought of as the "safest" TSP Fund as it never goes down. On More, Not everyone who starts a federal career will end up still being a federal employee at the time they retire. Its like a good Disney cartoon, enjoyable on more than one level. Even if they don't foreclose, they may end up with significantly lower income as they strike deals with the owners. Housing prices skyrocketed More, I cant contribute more to the TSP because I have kids in college. Unlike a 401(k) which contains mutual funds, the TSP has trust funds operated by the Comptroller of the Currency. By. What to do now going forward, of course, is not very clear. I doubt Vanguard or Fidelity will do anything like the G Fund, but many 401(k)s have a Stable Value Fund which is pretty similar. sites. Glad someone said something or I would have just let it go as something else. Our top user gained: 18.5360% between 7/25/2022 and 7/25/2023, 1% more return over your current investment pattern, $2 Monthly Fee, After the Risk-Free Trial, $1 Per Monthly Fee, After 36 Months of Membership, TSP Forecast System Version 2.0 New Feature Users Demo on 4/22/2022, TSP Allocation System Version 2.0 New Feature Walk Through on 4/15/2022, TSP Forecast System Version 1.0 Open House 06/2019, Jim Wu (X.J); Martin Zhu; Thomas Kays; Bing Huang, U.S. Federal Employee Event Planning System. International stocks also perform well in prosperous times, especially with low and/or falling interest rates. Performance & Risks Composition Fees & More Info Anton Petrus/Getty Images. It's 60% stocks, 20% bonds, and 20% real estate. But for some reason, no investments in Canada, which I've never understood, which pretty much is a developed market as far as I'm concerned. Also, when interest rates rise, the G Fund rate will rise right along with them again, without the loss of principal that you would experience in the F Fund under the same circumstances. As you build a portfolio (i.e. [1] But youd be wrong. Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. The August rate is 2.875%. Mark P. Cussen. Cash does particularly well in terrible economic times. AFGE Many people choose to retire at the More, One feature that many Thrift Savings Plan participants like about the TSP is its relatively simplicity. cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, The Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) offered to all U.S. government employees is one of . Sometimes, most or all of your asset classes do go down together. Election More, Required minimum distributions (RMDs) have been in the financial/investing news a lot over the last several years. The 2000s ushered in the time of super low (and even 0%) interest rates. Bear in mind that this post was written months before it ran. Since I went on active duty in 2006, I have had money in the G Fund of the Thrift Savings Plan (TSP). Your email address will not be published. services we are able to offer. In. While inflation is up more than 8.6% in one year, the cost of gas has increased almost 100% since he took office and more than 62% in the past year. Re: TSP G Fund rate 3.00% (June 2022) by Groundhog Tue Aug 02, 2022 6:33 pm. The Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) is a retirement savings and investment plan for Federal employees and members of the uniformed services, including the Ready Reserve. G Fund - Bogleheads With regard to the price of gas, some analysts do not agree there is nothing the president can do or that the increase in the cost of gas is not the result of the administrations policies. It's Wednesday night . privacy request at our Do Not Sell page. The relationship between effective duration and volatility is also straightforward: A fund with duration of 10 years is expected to be twice as volatile as a fund with a 5-year duration. Donald Trump Not only is it in the green (+2.65%) but its yield is now up to 3.875% (while money market funds are paying about 3.5%) and is likely to rise even further as the Fed continues to raise interest rates to combat inflation. OPM Tests Chatbot For Retirement Services. Our goal is to add 1% more yearly to your TSP plan. You The president and the Green lobby are doing everything they can to prevent fossil fuel companies from producing more energy. This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and Proposed Legislation Its important to have your wishes as to who you want to inherit your Thrift Savings Plan More, Should you consider your principal residence an investment? The law states that Treasury may suspend the issuance of additional amounts of obligations of the United States, if such issuances could not be made without causing the public debt of the United States to exceed the public debt limit., Once we hit the current debt limit of $31.4 trillion, on Jan. 23,the Treasury Departmentannounced several measures, one of which was "suspending reinvestment of the Government Securities Investment Fund (G Fund) of the Federal Employees Retirement System Thrift Savings Plan." [2] Looking at interest rates during this period, they rose from Great Depression lows towards their peak in the 1980s. Historically, there are times when precious metals have done well as a flight to safety asset during bad economic times, but that is hardly a guarantee. The TSP is the military/government 401(k). FLRA I love the way you worked Flight of the Conchords into that article Jim, strong work, The little pearls keep the long time readers coming back for more. The TSP (Thrift Savings Plan) states the objective of the G Fund is to maintain a higher return than inflation without exposing the fund to risk of default or changes in market prices. How Would Your Agency Do Under Biden's 2024 Budget? Get Gov Workers top 4 tips for federal employees! However, in a really terrible real estate environment, debt real estate investors become equity real estate investors as they foreclose on the properties whose loans are in default. Are there other ways interest payments might be suspended but still be accounted for, as in the case of the G Fund? But, to clarify, this calculation is based only on the averageofthe third-quarter months of July,August, and September. Pay Raise U.S. bond investors have enjoyed a long bull market that started in the early 1980s, when interest rates were as high as 17 percent. TSP performance trending up, but mostly still in the red Postal Service There's not much with positive returns in 2022. Commodities have done well. It tends to do a little bit better during inflationary times as well, especially with shorter-term tenant contracts. Has 2022 given any of your asset classes their day in the sun? Official Time All but three funds lost ground, according to monthly returns released by the TSP on Wednesday. The government securities of the G Fund, grow at a statutorily mandated rate. Over the past decades, when the debt ceiling debate rages in congress, the Treasury Department invokes extraordinary measures to avoid the risk of default. and analytics partners. tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. From this perspective, as far as bond funds go, the G Fund is still a better deal than just about anything else out there. Ill change it. Depending on how you count them, somewhere between 3-9 asset classes. Look at the returns from the first half of 2022: That's a lot of red. The G Fund rate is calculated by the U.S. Treasury as the weighted average yield of approximately 183 U.S. Treasury securities on the last day of the previous month. Historic Crash and G Fund Interest Rate Reduction - FEDweek FedSmith Polls sale of your personal information to third parties. But you know what's doing great? Because the bonds are non-marketable, they cannot lose value. The Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board (FRTIB) the fiduciary entity that oversees the TSP states unequivocally that TSP participants have property rights under the law to their TSP holdings. The Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) Gets a New Lookand I Dont Love It. ensure the proper functioning of our But should they? (The national debt at the time wasapproaching $10 trillion.). your investments), you want to ensure your portfolio will allow you to reach your financial goals under a wide variety of potential future outcomes. Head on over to our Facebook Group. With all of the bad news out there and a stock market that has been dropping, federal employees may be tempted to sell their TSP stock funds. But it performs well when nothing else does. Thats a 15 percent spread Ill leave it to you to do the math, based on your own opinion about future interest rates. According to thelaw establishing the TSP, the G Fund is technically called the "Government Securities Investment Fund, and it invests in special interest-bearing obligations of the United States" issued by the Treasury Department. In the end, these extraordinary measures are just an accounting trick. Backlog Sure, its returns over the past year have been an anemic 1.4 percent. Also available on Audible! Investment objectives change as you age. traffic on our website. (The TSP G Fund) Earn(s) a statutory interest rate equal to the average market yield on outstanding marketable U.S. Treasury securities with 4 or more years to maturity, G Fund rate is calculated by the U.S. Treasury as the weighted average yield of approximately 153 U.S. Treasury securities on the last day of the previous month, The Treasury securities used in the G Fund rate calculation have a weighted average maturity of approximately 12 years.. All of the other TSP Funds are down so far this year. Lee Radcliffe is a U.S. Army veteran with over 20 years of federal government and data analytics experience who has written extensively about Investing in the Thrift Savings Plan for Government Executive, Federal News Network, Federal Times, and other publications. A rapid increase in the cost of inflation impacts almost everything else we buy. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. (lots of stocks and real estate, inflation protected bonds, and keeping nominal bonds short duration. there's nothing good on TV, and I'm wearing my business socks, etc. Yes, Government Executive can email me on behalf of carefully selected companies and organizations. These tactics have been every bit as effective as price controls in holding back Americas potential to respond to todays higher prices with more energy production. use third-party cookies which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are TSP G Fund: A Ponzi scheme with minuscule returns - Government Worker FI There is, and one day shows how much these items are intertwined. The G Fund gives TSP investors the investment returns of a long-term government bond with no risk of loss of principal. The rate is calculated monthly, based on the average yield of all U.S. Treasury securities with 4 or more years to maturity. This question has been trending lately as LeBron James neared, and then More, Those of you who watch Family Feud are used to hearing the phrase Survey says. He told me about how he thought about putting some in stocks but then the market crashed in 08 and he was sure glad he never got around to changing his TSP allocation. Aggregate Bond C Large-cap U.S. stocks Standard & Poor's 500 S Small & mid-cap U.S. stocks Dow Jones U.S. I was under the impression they were doing essentially the same as nominal treasuries, which is to say bad. Click to learn more! The trend of declining interest rates is reflected in the performance of the TSP G Fund: when it was introduced in the late 1980s, it returned as much as 8.9 percent per year, risk free. January 2023 G Fund rate is 3.75%. Pick something reasonable and stick with it for the long term. The Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) is a retirement savings and investment plan for Federal employees and members of the uniformed services, including the Ready Reserve. As it turns out, the fear of more rapid inflation was justified. The yield on the G fund is an interest rate calculated once a month from the average yield of all (nominal) US treasury securities with four or more years to maturity. Federal retirees received a 5.9% increase for Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) annuities and Social Security benefits and a 4.9% increase for Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) annuities starting in January 2022. I know there were only brief periods of rising interest rates these past 4 decades but how did the G fund do in those times? One thing to realize about the G Fund is that, while it looks good now with no price drop and rising interest rates, previously when rates were dropping there was no corresponding price increase. Can it afford $1 billion in outflows, $3 billion, $10 billion or more? One of its most unique holdings is the G Fund, which provides treasury bond yields with money market risk. The formula for calculating duration is complicated, but bond fund managers publish an effective duration, which indicates how sensitive the fund is to changes in interest rates. Many of us may be rethinking that vacation. Most of us may have been planning to go on a driving trip this summer with the fear of the COVID pandemic decreasing. At these levels, what are the odds of significant capital appreciation versus losses? If you're a G Fund owner, enjoy it! Breaking Down the TSP Investment Funds - Investopedia 8 Thrift Savings Plan Mistakes: What Not to Do With Your TSP You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts In April, inflation only went up 0.3%. But payment of G Fund principal and interest is guaranteed by the U.S. government. Nominal treasuries yields can be considered to have three components: an inflation forecast, a real return above inflation forecast, plus an inflation risk premium. With the business-as-usual accounting, Treasury would have to redeem G Fund holdings at higher values even though Treasury has elected to stop paying interest to the G Fund. The Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) is a retirement savings and investment plan for Federal employees and members of the uniformed services, including the Ready Reserve. The 14th Amendment, Section 4, of the U.S. Constitution states that [t]he validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensionsshall not be questioned. The law authorizing suspension of interest payments on U.S. Government debt, coupled with the business-as-usual accounting as if interest was being paid on time, sets precedent at odds with this constitutional requirement. What it Takes to Be a TSP Millionaire in Today's Dollars. Eventually, every asset class in your portfolio will have its day in the sun, but you might have to wait for a whilejust like I did with the G Fund. However, its hard to not think of the G Fund as a $200 billion dollar Ponzi scheme. Financial Wellness and Burnout Prevention for Medical Professionals, What You Need To Know About The Thrift Savings Plan (TSP), 5 Reasons Why I Dont Regret Lump-Sum Investing in January 2022. However, before you get too excited and transfer all your money to the G Fund, you should know that investing in the G Fund is not risk free. They will average the increase for these three months. That's not a small feat as the C Fund - the next. Should the correlation under the Nominal Bonds section be -1 instead of 1? internet device. An annual COLA is calculated by comparing the change in the CPI-W from year to year. While you will never have negative returns with the G Fund, annual returns may not keep up with inflation. (However, the government loaned those securities out to someone else). Last year at this time, it was $3.073. Do you think thats possible or is this only available through a government authority? The food index rose 1.2% in May as the food at home index increased 1.4%. default settings according to your preference. Nobody goes to cocktail parties and brags about owning shares of the G Fund. He has written extensively on a full range of human resources topics in books and newsletters and is a co-founder of two companies and several newsletters onfederal human resources. More accurately still, it was the fear of inflation and the possibility it will shoot higher. The F Fund holds thousands of bonds of various durations. C Fund | The Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) The G Fund. Our estimated expenses are $6000 per year (for hosting and licenses). Reviewed by. The debt holder in first lien position does just fine even when the owners aren't doing that great. If youre not certain about what interest rates will do, then perhaps a tactical asset allocation makes sense. Social Security The TSP G fund is designed to earn inflation-beating interest with no risk of losses. You receive the weighted average yield of long-term Treasury notes and bonds. All rights reserved. Yes, G Fund is an ideal fixed income holding in a rising rate environment. When you do that, it generally means you will have at least one asset class doing well at any given time and you will have at least one asset class doing poorly at any given time. After 90 days risk-free trial, this service costs $2 per month for the first three years and is reduced to $1 monthly. The bonds in the GIRY study were on the longer end of the duration spectrum. CSRS Take a look and you'll see what I mean: But now, conditions are perfect. Overview Interactive Chart Level Chart View Full Chart Historical Data View and export this data back to 1988. The longer the term of the bond, the better they do with falling interest rates and vice versa. More, Whos your beneficiary? I did some serious contemplation of switching to G fund but didnt want to lock my losses in. Private real estate tends to do a little better than publicly traded real estate when the stock market is doing poorly and vice versa. It also presents an opportunity to center discussion on TSP participants property rights and the constitutionality of Treasury withholding payments to the G Fund during any debt ceiling impasse. They are particularly good in deflationary times, such as the Great Depression. All rights reserved. A higher rate of inflation is also a precursor to an increase in interest rates by the Federal Reserve. Almost everything else has done poorly in 2022. (Corrected to read G fund rate was 4.0 percent in Jan 2023, in Feb 2023 dropped to 3.625%) My impression as a longtime TSP G fund holder is the current TSP managers seem far more focused on getting their new brokerage window launched, instead of offering best in class value to TSP members. Armed with our longer-term insights into the bond market, it should not come as a surprise that interest rates will eventually rise, and the TSP F Fund will struggle. Compared to 2022, the C Fund had a return of -36.99% in 2008, the S Fund at -38.32, and the I Fund at -42.43%. Well, if you believe that interest rates are indeed on the rise, youre better off holding the G Fund than the F Fund, as explained before. Although the G Fund reports a Daily Share Price, the interest rate is calculated monthly, based on the last day of the previous month. technologies for the following purposes: We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to choices) and/or to monitor site performance. You read that right: 0.2% per year for 80 years. OPM Vaccinations I'm talking about a general economic downturn combined with rising interest rates. If you read the prospectus, they talk about how the G Fund does not have transaction costs because it only exists electronically. Breaking Down the TSP Investment Funds. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); The book summarizes the most important information on the blog and contains material not found on the site at all. See next paragraph for specific impact of duration on fund drawdowns. Data Breach Let's talk about it. What is the impact on the 2023 COLA and the TSP? Our estimated expenses are $6000 per year (for hosting and licenses). Stellar TSP Performance So Far in 2023 - FedSmith That sounds like gobbledegook to most of us. The TSP G Fund allows investors to earn interest rates similar to those of long-term U.S. Treasury Bonds, but without any risk of loss of principal. This illustrates the additional moral hazard of continuing to account for interest payments even though they have not been received. Rates of Return | The Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) Calculator This calculator helps you determine the specific dollar amount to be deducted each pay period. Federal retirees and Social Security recipients are in for a substantial increase in January 2023. to take that as a valid request to opt-out. The S&P 500 (the index on which the TSP C Fund is based) is up 19% this year despite analysts' predictions that 2023 . may not be reproduced without express written consent from Ralph R. Smith. Debt Ceiling Causes Treasury to again 'Disinvest' G Fund - FEDweek The S&P was down 8.78% for 2022, ranking as Wall Street's worst year since 2008. Other experienced bond market experts have also turned bearish. Look back further to the beginning of the 20th century, and a completely different picture emerges. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and Now, I admit it's hard to get excited about an investment like this. While I cant predict the future, I have a hard time imagining what a return to 6% interest rates would look like for the US. What is the current TSP G Fund interest rate? Rising interest rates and inflation have not been kind to them. While retail investors won't be able to match . Bonds do particularly well in times of falling interest rates. They also often do well when stocks are doing poorly, but the correlation there is 0, not -1, so there are times when stocks and bonds go up or go down together. Ultimately, TSP investors should be afforded the same rights as all other investors in U.S. government securities, and not treated as second-class investors who are disenfranchised by current law. Remember that rates were 17 percent in the early 1980s, and are currently around 2 percent for medium-duration bonds. G Fund returns did not keep up with the cost of living. The bond party that started in the 1980s appears to be over for now. The two challenges on the minds of most working families are prices at the pump and prices at the grocery store. Were addicted to low interest rates. Debt real estate is a little bit safer than equity real estate. The Fixed Income Index Investment (F) Fund The F Fund is invested in a bond index fund that tracks the Bloomberg Barclays U.S. 2023 by Government Media Executive Group LLC. language preference or login information. Calculators | The Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) The continuing rise in inflation continues to raise estimates for the final figure. Why the sudden drop in value? Thus it was business as usual despite the announced suspension of funding: The G Fund rose on Jan. 24by .0019 cents, from $17.2784 to $17.2803. It preserves its (nominal) value to cover your living expenses, and it provides the ability to purchase stocks, real estate, and other assets at a discount. to learn more. can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the Yet, given the size of the fund and structural changes to the TSP, the fact that the G Fund has not received any interest payments for over 90 days might pose some underlying challenges during this or future extended budget ceiling impasses. May 3, 2023 Pay & Benefits Watch Thrift Savings Plan The G Fund is quite possibly the most boring investment vehicle available to any group of investors in the United States. Follow Lee online at tspstrategies.com, and @TSPstrategies on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Inflation Rate, 2023 COLA, And Why TSP Dropped Dramatically - FedSmith His most recent book is TSP Investing Strategies: Building Wealth While Working for Uncle Sam, 2nd Edition (Thrift Strategies LLC, 2020). The chart and table below show the recent history of the G Fund rate. You can usually find these settings in the Options or web. The more aggressive Lifecycle Funds are down more than 20% so far in 2022. Simply know the number of salary payments you have left for the year and grab your most recent pay statement to see how much you can contribute. This calls for a familiar answer it depends. The 2022 inflation rate is rising rapidly. If you want more details about what is in the TSP, TSPLF14 states that: The unique attributes of the TSP G Fund have also made it a tool for the U.S. Government to avoid default.
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