Gauging where we all stand.

[EFT]

It would be very helpful if there could be a poll, anonymously of course, on the balance of our TSP accounts and years of participation. I believe it would be helpful to people trying to make the most of their TSP to know where they stand at a certain place in their career. Thanks.

[crondanet5]

You see, we old timers daytraded our accounts any which way we chose. Then the 2 trade rule got implemented. Nuts. And the market playground changed as well. The afternoons didn't follow the morning moves. Some blame 3:30 P.M. Index Fund traders for making portfolio adjustments that last half hour of trading to look better. Curses. But there's hope! Different tactic is available. Check out the TSP Fantasy Leader Board to see who is furthest ahead by day, week, month, etc. Right now I believe you will find the top 10 leaders are all 100% invested in the S Fund. Are you? Why not? It's not where we've been; it's where we are going, n'est-ce pas? Thanks TSPKing, great investment decision maker!

[retiredART]

and why.

[retiredART]

How many folks here mirror their true TSP accounts? and how many are fantacy? Personaly I mirror my TSP.

[TSPking]

How many folks here mirror their true TSP accounts? and how many are fantacy? Personaly I mirror my TSP.

I've added a poll for this topic

[EFT]

Crondonet5.. I guess I'm one of those "Old Timers", since 1985 when we had no choice. I do not mirror my Fantasy and my REAL TSP. My real is doing much, much better. Buy and hold is DEAD, but I do love this site, it is very helpful to me in my real moves, thanks TSP KING. Long live the King!!

[crondanet5]

I wonder how many other Cron watchers missed it too. But if you search, you will find where I announced I was going to do it. Why? Well, fluff your pillow, pour a stiff drink and read on. A while back I took a C-141 to Volant Rodeo Airdrop Competition at No Hope Pope. Our INS navigation system was perfect after a real long down range trip with no reset to it along the way. We missed the airdrop target bullseye by 10 feet. Now in those days, the bender of the wrenches would spiffy up those airplanes like they were factory fresh, not one delayed discrepancy in the AFTO Form 781A. In the course of our preparation, I took the time one morning to read the rules for the maintenance competition. The only stipulation was that all discrepancies be documented. In fact a Reserve outfit got their airplane sent on a mission and were given a real dog like 3 days prior to the competition. They did the only thing they could do: write everthing up. So here are all these shiny new toys and one scruffy trash hauler on the tarmac for the Maintenance Stanfdardization Evaluation Team inspectors to inspect. Scruffy won. Moral? You gotta read the rules. Same same for the Fantasy TSP. If you want to win a trophy, you have to keep yourself at the front of the pack. And when I crashed and burned March 9th, I came to realize I would spend all my time trying to recover that lost $28,000 rather than trying to figure out how to make gain. Second old time story. (This is a long feet wet flight with lots of story time available to keep the aircrew awake isn't it?) I used to play chess. So there was this Brown University grad with a bunch of master's points. I asked her if she'd ever won a game in one move. You? Neither did she. So we set up her board. And I grabbed 2 white pawns in my hands to let her choose whether she was black or white. So she pushed a pawn for an opening move. I knocked my King over and announced "I resign." She won in one move. Cute? No. The moral of the story is no matter how many times you play a game there is yet another scenario to be explored. So I looked at the Fantasy leaders. They all started March 9th or thereafter. So I decided that for me to get back in the fray I needed to reset, which I did, and now my eye is on the leaders and what they are doing to succeed. Hope you all do the same. "Catch me if you can," said the Gingerbread Man, "Catch me if you can." And Merry Christmas to all. Can you match this Christmas gift?

[TSPking]

...If you want to win a trophy, you have to keep yourself at the front of the pack. And when I crashed and burned March 9th, I came to realize I would spend all my time trying to recover that lost $28,000 rather than trying to figure out how to make gain...

No need to reset though. The FantasyTSP Trophies are awarded each month for monthly top 5 performers. They have nothing to do with account balance or overall returns since signup. So you could suck all year like I've done for 2009, but still win a December trophy by outperforming everyone for the month of December.

[crondanet5]

reminiscence. A while back my wife's grandmother's friend brought her hairball cat over to show us. It was beautiful. I suggested she enter the cat in a show. She asked why, I thought a second, and said "So you can win a ribbon." She got a bit huffy and said "If I want my cat to have ribbons I will make them for her." Trophies? Who needs trophies? I would rather reset, and reset and reset again, and learn how my new selections affect my TSP return. The real purpose of this fantasy is to become a better allocator of TSP funds is it not? So the fantasy game is my laboratory. Now if the C Fund would make my anticipated Great Leap Forward I would move into first place. And if it doesn't, why, I'll just reset. King, bet you didn't think your fantasy program could be used this way.

[jeffvan1]

Well yeah, the fantasy program can be manipulated to make it "look" like someone is an intelligent investor, just like an SAT test can be cheated on to make it look like the person learned something. If your ambition is to just stay on the leader board and continually reset your account to achieve that goal, then what are you contributing to the TSP community ?? I thought the whole purpose of this site was to inform, educate and exchange investment ideas with other participants.

[crondanet5]

Well yeah, the fantasy program can be manipulated to make it "look" like someone is an intelligent investor, just like an SAT test can be cheated on to make it look like the person learned something. If your ambition is to just stay on the leader board and continually reset your account to achieve that goal, then what are you contributing to the TSP community ?? I thought the whole purpose of this site was to inform, educate and exchange investment ideas with other participants.

I thought I just did. jeffvan1, have you ift'd 100% S Fund yet? That is where the leaders show the best return to be-- why stay in a game of catch up when you can at least pretend your TSP account is making money.

[crondanet5]

even though we already had it last Summer. Namely, should we all reset our TSP Fantasy accounts January 1st of each year or stay where we end up during that last year. Back then we decided to stay where we were going forward into the new year. Only now I see the advantage of being able to reset the Fantasy so as to focus my attention on allocating my real TSP account in the same manner (thus, the real TSP should mirror the fantasy TSP and not vice versa) to gain the most return. If you choose to remain wherever you are in the Fantasy TSP then mentally you are handicapping your ability to achieve best results. As they say in the ad business, Fly with the eagles or scratch with the chickens. Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas morning despite all the wind and rain in the mid-section and are enjoying their time with their family and friends while this new concept of how to use the Fantasy Game sinks in. BTW: my real TSP Account is 20% C Fund, 80% S Fund and I used my last IFT to do it, having taken refuge back when the Ebb guy said to for my first IFT. Otherwise my second IFT would have made me 100% S Fund. Can you fantasize that monthly return for December?

[TSPking]

This is why we have various categories in the Leader Board. If you want to see the best allocation(s) for the past week, use the 'by week' Leader Board. If you want to see the best allocation(s) for the month, view the 'by month' Leader Board.

However, the current 2009 YTD Leader is ske722 who is currently 100% F. For the calendar year, he's outperforming S Fund by almost 20%.