The smartest one have locked their earnings for the year

[mms]

The smartest one have locked their earnings for the year. If you did more than 10% this year, you would have beaten most of the index funds. So, each one of us must establish our own goal for earnings and associated risk. This has been a tough year and we all know it is impossible to predict the market. If you don.t have time like me to be on the computer all the time, then stay mostly about 50% with the S&P 500 or C fund and mix it with the other funds then you will have positive earnings. My comments are very simple and Please do not follow my selections as they are not correct on this site. My first and last post and good luck to all of you.

[crondanet5]

Actually according to the date/time group in the upper right corner this is your second post on this site in less than four minutes. And according to the post counter on the left this is your third post on this site.. It's redundant but still interesting. I'd like to hear more from you.

[Vatspguy23]

I don't think the smartest ones have locked their earnings in by any means. I think there's still money to be made this year!

[dougellen1]

Nope. there is still money on the table this year. Historically, between Christmas and New Year the S fund roars. Notice I said historically!

[MakeMe$$$$]

I don't think that locking in anything based on a calendar makes sense. Certainly if one is trading and feels they have peaked out that locking in the gains (or to minimize loses) is a tactical decision not based strictly on meeting some kind of calendar goal.

That doesn't mean I disrespect another person's position on this because there can certainly be factors to consider such as tax advantages and such. To each their own. BTW...if someone was to lock in a great year, one that I haven't had, who am I to criticize in any great measure anyway. LOL

[LoGiK]

My goal is 12% a year, I'm currently sitting at 12.29%. I'm still sitting at 65%C, 35%S...guess you could say I'm being greedy and hoping for a positive close out these last few days...

It is tempting to go G though...

[fletman055]

If you follow the technicals such as moving averages, bollinger bands, and slow stochastic readings the bulls are in solid control right now. The market remains in an uptrend and there is still more to gain than lose in my estimation. I have learned to time the market sufficiently enough to know when to retreat and "lock in my profits". Using these indicators I have made closer to 18% this year. No disrespect intended but now is not the time for retreat.

[Tomanyiron]

privatized their FantasyTSP account.

[Tomanyiron]

If you follow the technicals such as moving averages, bollinger bands, and slow stochastic readings the bulls are in solid control right now.

Fletman thanks for contributing, but why the privatized account? It's difficult for us to take anyone seriously if they hide their past performance.

But say we give you the benefit of the doubt, and I do "follow the technicals", you know there is about a million different ways to do that? But let's just pick one, the Bollinger Bands. I see the bands getting into "The Squeeze" and after this type of uptrend, that usually is bad news. But we need to get on the same page, what chart are you looking at?

[fletman055]

I use Ira Epstein's daily analysis. He is on YouTube. As far as the privatized account. On my end it is open but I can look at my settings. Only problem their is that I have reset my allotments and don't always have time to make the changes to my fantasy account. In other words it doesn't mirror my TSP account or my regular contributions. I work at the VA and most of my coworkers have their money in the G fund and can't believer how much I have made this year. Just trying to help. My suggestion is to contribute 50/50 to the C and S fund or 100% to the C. The S tends to be a little more volatile as of late even though last year it went up almost 30%. Just my own humble opinion. I am just learning myself. If anybody know of other technical analysis sites could always use some more opinions. I still stand by my original point. It's not time to get out. The potential outweighs the risk for me. Have a great trading week.

[Tomanyiron]

I understand, and thanks for your perspective. Only a select few of our TSP participants has stood the test of time. IMO to succeed you must first realize that you need a good market timing strategy and the discipline to stick to it. The second one may be more difficult than the first.

I have watched Ira's videos, it is a good place to start. But Ira won't tell you "SELL, SELL, SELL", or BUY, BUY, BUY. Maybe if you subscribe to his service, but I'm thinking not even then. His comments on the free videos are more about what has happen, not what is going to happen. By the time Ira starts talking about the market is down, it will be after you have already taken a loss.

I still think you need to open up to the Fantasy, you have 15 min after noon to make IFT on this site.

[fletman055]

According to my setting my TSP is open. I don't enable the part for my actual TSP but the fantasy portion is not set to private. That is a new feature of which I do not want to utilize. Unless I am missing something my fantasy TSP should be seen by other members. You are correct on Mr. Epstein. For example the market is down today. Tonight I will watch his commentary and decide if I want to take my profits. That depends on the embedded reading and the VIX. I may miss the high, (or the low), using this strategy but I gain more than most. Thanks for your comments and I will check the settings again when I have time.

[RGEN]

Flet,
When you click on your "fantasyTSP" button the message is "fletman055 has privatized their FantasyTSP account. ".

[fletman055]

I will change my setting. I did notice one issue. Let me know if that works. Like I said my fantasy TSP has not mirrored my actual account. I had to reset it.