Which stocks model S & C for seasonal?

[PraiseGod7]

If I am following seasonal in a Fidelity account, is there a better stock to use for S besides VXF, What about FSMAX? I have never bought mutual funds. Is there a reason not to buy mutual funds if owning less than a month? What fund should I use for C?

[imktwo]

I do not have a Fidelity account. I do recall seeing in previous correspondence that FSEVX was a Fidelity benchmark fund for the S.

[imktwo]

FUSVX is what I recall for a Fidelity benchmark fund for the C.

[Bubba]

If I am following seasonal in a Fidelity account, is there a better stock to use for S besides VXF, What about FSMAX? I have never bought mutual funds. Is there a reason not to buy mutual funds if owning less than a month? What fund should I use for C?

FSMAX uses the exact same index as the S fund, buuuuttt there's a caveat. You must hold it for at least 30 days. If you want to stick with ETFs that allow you to buy and sell within days, consider either SMOT, VXF or PRFZ. VXF is probably the easiest to buy and sell.

I wouldn't suggest mimicking your trades in your personal accounts. I've modeled for many years different strats from TSPCalc in regular investing systems. They do not correspond at all. There are a number of reasons for this:

1. The TSP does not pay out dividends as payments. They simply increase prices. Index funds and ETFs usually pay a dividend at almost equal times of the year. Therefore the impact is different on the prices.
2. From what I gather, the funds from the TSP place their dividends within their funds at different intervals throughout the year...different from the standard mutual fund/index fund or ETF.
3. SSG and Blackrock perform securities lending and whatever they earn they put into the funds. That causes our funds to sometimes outperform their indexes.
4. The only option in trying to buy and sell along with a TSPCalc strategy is to use an ETF. That means that you're going to get some daily buy-sell cost in there too.

Good luck with whatever you do!

Edit: Oh and FXAIX uses the exact same index as the C Fund. I think it does a better job too. I believe that FSMAX does too.

[PraiseGod7]

Thank you.