Have you guys told other folks about this site?

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mmmmmbeer
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Have you guys told other folks about this site?

Post by mmmmmbeer »

So last year in May 2016 a co-worker and I found this site and of course the Seasonal Mixes. We made a pact to try one of them for a year, and used the "Jahbulon's Old Mix". We did pretty well @ 14% on the year, and we messed up July 2016, deviating from the plan, so we should have been 17%.

We waited a full year to tell anyone because... you know... we wanted to make sure this wasn't just a pipe dream and we were going to be the laughing stock of our entire agency by losing scads of our money in this Seasonal Mix Scam! Haha.....

Anyway... about June 2017 with a pretty danged good 12 months under our belts I started telling my friends at work. Some got it right away, some took some pretty in depth discussion. Several pretty intelligent numbery type guys took the seasonal musings and workbooks home with them as homework to try to figure out how it was bullsh!t... haha! Every single guy came back after pouring over the information and were floored. They each are following a mix now.

I'll say in the last 2-3 months I know of at least 12-18 folks following a Seasonal Mix, and there are 3 of us doing a Daily Mix.

Of the probably 20 guys I've spoken with from at least 5 different agencies... I'd say at least 18 are following now. I don't know if they've come here and are checking out the forums.

Anyway... I think it's pretty awesome and either we're all going to be millionaires before it's said and done or I may have to change my name and move out of country!

That being said... I've really had to put the caviat out there that it's up to them. I've had several email me the last couple months before IFT time and say... ok.. which one do I put it all in now mmmmm...beer? I'm like, well... you really need to look at the plan you've decided to follow and do what it says.

Many folks don't seem to want to do any homework, they just want someone else to do all the work and tell them what to do. I can see why those guys who run the pay sites are doing well, even though the Sell in May and Go away usually beats them.

So... if you do start telling your people.... a couple points of advice. Be sure to gauge your audience. If they won't be able to understand it, don't bother or your going to get a glazed look. Those are the folks I direct into one of the L Funds. Number two... be prepared for several of them to just call you asking what to do each month. It's up to you to either tell them or tell them to consult the workbooks.
Last edited by mmmmmbeer on Mon Aug 07, 2017 12:56 am, edited 2 times in total.
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mjedlin66
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Re: Have you guys told other folks about this site?

Post by mjedlin66 »

Isn't it amazing how many people don't want to understand it themselves and instead put full confidence in someone they trust?
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mmmmmbeer
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Re: Have you guys told other folks about this site?

Post by mmmmmbeer »

mjedlin66 wrote:Isn't it amazing how many people don't want to understand it themselves and instead put full confidence in someone they trust?



Yup exactly... wait... you tryin to say something here Matt?! :D Hahahaha!
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Scarfinger
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Re: Have you guys told other folks about this site?

Post by Scarfinger »

I have only tried to influence 5 co-workers. I got one to get out of the "G" fund and 2 others are trying clappers seasonal.

I have not even thought about going outside my department. Maybe I should...
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mjedlin66
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Re: Have you guys told other folks about this site?

Post by mjedlin66 »

I tried and failed to talk an engineer out of the G fund buy and hold. I think I convinced him it was smarter to buy and hold C, S, or I, but he always seemed to make moving his money a low priority. He never did it.
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mmmmmbeer
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Re: Have you guys told other folks about this site?

Post by mmmmmbeer »

Scarfinger wrote:I have only tried to influence 5 co-workers. I got one to get out of the "G" fund and 2 others are trying clappers seasonal.

I have not even thought about going outside my department. Maybe I should...



Dude .. the thing that I've found that's universal across the board is NOONE was told anything about TSP other then "oh this is TSP and you can put money in it. We match 5% so at least do that." That's it... no real explanation of anything.

I've talked to guys in HHS, VA, ATF, BIA, Parks, DOJ, DOI... all the same. Nobody knows what the heck we're doing. Everyone is just guessing. The seasonal and daily mixes are FINALLY something folks and latch on to as a program... not just poking holes in the dark.
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JaxBeach
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Re: Have you guys told other folks about this site?

Post by JaxBeach »

I told some folks and they signed up for the site. Not sure if they got into any seasonals or not.

mmmmmbeer
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Re: Have you guys told other folks about this site?

Post by mmmmmbeer »

mjedlin66 wrote:I tried and failed to talk an engineer out of the G fund buy and hold. I think I convinced him it was smarter to buy and hold C, S, or I, but he always seemed to make moving his money a low priority. He never did it.



So usually I regurgitate the gist of seasonal musings. Then I run them through the workbooks.... looking at each funds returns for 30 years... then the various seasonal mixes and their returns. Explaining the concept.

Then we look at their own tsp... balance and PIP. Their balance in hand, I take them to the TSP calculators on tsp.gov. We'll go through "How Much Will My Savings Grow" @ 7, 9, 12, 14%. Then using like one of the lower ones we look at the "TSP Monthly Payment Calculator". Show them the hundreds of thousands of dollars difference in a few percentage average difference over the decades.

I usually leave them with a .doc of Seasonal Musings I copied from the thread, and an excel workbook showing the tsp funds and seasonal mixes.

After awhile I will show them all the tsp-calc, only after they have some experience in IFT's on a schedule and a good knowledge base at what we're doing. I'll show the ones that get it enough to understand it. Otherwise I think it may confuse them at the beginning.
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winsprint
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Re: Have you guys told other folks about this site?

Post by winsprint »

I have tried to help several others with the use of TSP Center. Some were receptive and some weren't. I came to the conclusion, you can lead a horse to water....well you know the rest.

Midway
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Re: Have you guys told other folks about this site?

Post by Midway »

I try to tell everyone. Co-workers, Forest Service people when I get permits or go camping, Customs and Border Patrol when crossing back and forth. Any Fed that I come into contact with.
I don't only tell the about this site, but about the wide variety of newsletters, forums, and advisers available for the TSP. I found out about it by doing a google search for TSP help after a disastrous year. I wish I knew about the advice available earlier in my career; it could have reduced many of my aimless mistakes and knee jerk failings.
Surprisingly, the hardest sell was to my co-workers. I would talk to someone about it, their eyes would glaze over... Funny thing though. One of them came up to me the other day and said " hey, have you ever heard of this TSP Center forum? I just heard about it from XXX."

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Aitrus
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Re: Have you guys told other folks about this site?

Post by Aitrus »

Thank you, mmmbeer. You're spreading word of the work I've done and continue to do. That was one of my goals for starting Seasonal Musings in the first place - to help people be ready for retirement, to be more mindful of their money. Hopefully, in the end it means that fewer people will be reliant on government to take care of them, and that helps keep our country functioning.

Like you, I tell people that seem interested within my sphere of influence. I use more or less the same tactics you guys use. Some follow the advice, some don't. Since I work for DoD, I tend to focus on the younger troops. They seem to be really interested in making good financial decisions.

I think it's cool that some number-gurus you know took the Seasonal Musings stuff home to try to poke holes in it. Thank them for looking over my work and giving it their seal of approval for me, would you?
Seasonal Musings 2022: viewtopic.php?f=14&t=19005
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mmmmmbeer
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Re: Have you guys told other folks about this site?

Post by mmmmmbeer »

Aitrus wrote:I think it's cool that some number-gurus you know took the Seasonal Musings stuff home to try to poke holes in it. Thank them for looking over my work and giving it their seal of approval for me, would you?


Haha! Will do sir! As always everything you put out has been worth its weight in gold and I always acknowledge everything I'm talking about and showing is your work. I'm just a "high yellow" on the DISC personality method... so good at chatting folks up about things. :)
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Longstreet
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Re: Have you guys told other folks about this site?

Post by Longstreet »

I second the thanks to Aitrus for getting this all started, it has been a gamechanger for us!

I'm an Air Force civilian in our Business Ops office I tell anyone that comes up to our front office about it. Not sure how many have actually joined TSP Center but I keep a copy of my Daily Calendar moves from TSP Calc up as my background on my third computer screen and have a few print outs of the monthly seasonal strats laying around that get people asking questions. So far I've gotten a few section chiefs and one of our Lt Cols following the GC Clapper and Jahby mixes. I think the rest have been some of our new hire trainees that have just come on board in the last 1-2 years. Either way, just love seeing the sparkle in their eyes when they realize how great of an opportunity this is!

wisepierre
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Re: Have you guys told other folks about this site?

Post by wisepierre »

I've shared this before, but I give a financial briefing to all the new Airmen entering my shop. I'm just a SrA/E-4, but my SNCO's know I'm passionate about money and personal finance, and so let me do whatever I want.

I talk about budgeting, general rules of thumbs for buying a car, how much to spend on housing, limiting your expenses, how to pay down debts, when you should (or could) take on debt, the proper ways to use credit cards, and spend a large portion on retirement savings, and Financial Independence / Retire Early mindsets. I mean really it's spend less than you earn, so it's mostly about frugality and minimalism, and taking advantage of all the great resources the military gives you, especially as a junior enlisted.

Most of the legwork is already done, I'm mainly just regurgitate things I have found on Reddit, here, the FI/RE blogger community, and personal finance books I have checked out of the library on base. I just try and present it in a clear, dumbed down manner, to give everyone a nice base, and point them to the resources I've used if they want to delve deeper. Or just tell them to come talk to me after the briefing if they want to know more about this stuff.

I don't ever talk about this website unless they get really interested in investing later on. I think buy and hold is a great starting point and it isn't going to hurt them, and truthfully I'm not totally sold on the seasonal investing strategy myself. But when they are itching for more, I have told a few people about this site. But this place is more "advanced" than most people want to be, and they need a good foundation of personal finance and investing before they just blindly follow something like the seasonal strategies.

I explain all the funds in the TSP, what indexes they track, how the L funds work. You would be surprised how many still have questions after getting financial and TSP briefings at basic training, during tech school, and during FTAC when they inprocess the base. It might just be that it's easier to ask questions when you will be working with the person giving the briefing, or they are a similar age to you, or that it's much more personal (usually 1-4 people in a briefing session).

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evilanne
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Re: Have you guys told other folks about this site?

Post by evilanne »

wisepierre,

That is great that you can guide the young military and take the time to focus them in the right direction financially :mrgreen:

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Fund Prices2024-03-28

FundPriceDayYTD
G $18.15 0.05% 1.05%
F $19.08 -0.06% -0.74%
C $82.21 0.11% 10.55%
S $82.43 0.30% 6.92%
I $42.57 -0.24% 5.95%
L2065 $16.38 0.02% 8.37%
L2060 $16.39 0.02% 8.38%
L2055 $16.39 0.02% 8.38%
L2050 $32.73 0.01% 6.95%
L2045 $14.91 0.02% 6.58%
L2040 $54.38 0.02% 6.22%
L2035 $14.34 0.02% 5.79%
L2030 $47.67 0.02% 5.38%
L2025 $13.15 0.03% 3.43%
Linc $25.61 0.03% 2.82%

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