3rd IFT canceled (death of 1% rule)

General TSP Discussion.

Moderator: Aitrus

Post Reply
User avatar
12squared
Posts: 695
Joined: Thu Dec 31, 2015 7:28 am

3rd IFT canceled (death of 1% rule)

Post by 12squared »

I made an IFT Thursday, September 19 which didn't go through. The TSP claims that because I had already used two IFTs I could not decrease from 50% F & 50% I to 50% F & 50% G. I had a similar situation in August when I was only able to submit the IFT by going 51% G and 49% of the other. In both cases I got a confirmation number immediately, on screen, followed by an email from TSP. However, I did not receive a second email - as I now note occurred with every previous successful transaction. All of this seems sketchy.

The TSP.gov site states:
Each calendar month, you can use your first two reallocations or fund transfers to redistribute money in your account among any of the TSP funds. After the first two of either transaction type, you can only move money into the G Fund.
I suspect that the new site or vendor interprets "into the G Fund" differently than three years ago. I also speculate that if market conditions at the close of business change the percentages of your funds such that your IFT would increase any fund except G, your transaction will be deemed invalid - and canceled.

TSP.gov called me about my IFT failure Monday, September 20th and left a voice message - and others in the following days. I did not listen to any until yesterday because I have found that calls from toll free numbers tend to be scams or solicitations. When I called back yesterday afternoon, the person (not the caseworker who left the previous messages) told me that I could make an IFT now because it was a new month. Not much of a consolation. I'm expecting a return call today from the person working my case. In the meantime, I am debating whether to make an IFT today.
“The genius of investing is recognizing the direction of the trend – not catching the highs or the lows.”
- Dean Witter

"Put all your eggs in one basket and then watch that basket."
- Andrew Carnegie

User avatar
12squared
Posts: 695
Joined: Thu Dec 31, 2015 7:28 am

Re: 3rd IFT canceled (death of 1% rule)

Post by 12squared »

Neither of the customer service persons, nor their manager could explain how to go from 50%X & 50%Y to 50%G & 50%Y on a 3rd IFT. I conclude that TSP.gov is interpreting "only move money into the G Fund" to mean that the 3rd IFT must be 100% into the G fund, even though the system has provided a confirmation number. This effectively eliminates 4th, 5th IFTs to fade to G .

I have been using the "Change your investment mix" option. Anyone know if the "Move money between funds" option works better?
“The genius of investing is recognizing the direction of the trend – not catching the highs or the lows.”
- Dean Witter

"Put all your eggs in one basket and then watch that basket."
- Andrew Carnegie

User avatar
mjedlin66
Posts: 1623
Joined: Wed Oct 02, 2013 7:51 pm

Re: 3rd IFT canceled (death of 1% rule)

Post by mjedlin66 »

I've never tried to do this... Sorry I'm not much help
Owner/creator of TSPcalc.com - "Know your numbers"

User avatar
misfit
Posts: 261
Joined: Fri Apr 13, 2018 9:21 am

Re: 3rd IFT canceled (death of 1% rule)

Post by misfit »

I’ve only used the ‘Move money between funds’ option and yes you can fade to g after 2 moves with no problem. I can’t seem to get the percentages to match tspcenter exactly, but it’s fairly close.

Bubba
Posts: 485
Joined: Thu Mar 05, 2020 3:40 am

Re: 3rd IFT canceled (death of 1% rule)

Post by Bubba »

Just to confirm, this did not work?

"51% G and 49% of the other"

I'm asking because I could see the interpretation to change from for example 50% C and 50% F (2nd move) and then as a 3rd move from 50% G and 50% F as not being valid because the C to G still leaves F. What I don't get is if you did 51% G and 49% F...then you're moving your money more into G which should be allowed. In fact, the majority of your money would go into G, still making the case that you're moving into G. Weird...

To be fair, I've never done this before at all. I try to always move either 100% or just leave 50% in G to start with (if I don't trust the full move...then I only move a percentage of the move).

"I have been using the "Change your investment mix" option. Anyone know if the "Move money between funds" option works better?"

Be very, very careful with the options. One of them changes the mix. For example, you move 100% from C to 100% in G. The other one sets up your "goal" which means that you might have 100% in C, but all new moves and money go to your next chosen fund (in this example G). This has been very VERY painful to me in the past as Alight (the new vendor) made enough wording changes to confuse me. As a result, I thought I had moved to G, whenever in reality the "goal" was to be in G. I lost money...and I'm still sore about it. I also couldn't tell you which one does what. Sorry!

I'm often reminded by this move to Alight that things do not always get better when the government relinquishes control of something. Sometimes companies suck.

User avatar
twinkc
Posts: 61
Joined: Mon Aug 08, 2011 10:29 pm

Re: 3rd IFT canceled (death of 1% rule)

Post by twinkc »

Happened to me to on the 3rd IFT for a partial move to G too, until I selected the option to "Move Money between funds" and then, like MISFIT said, it worked. If you try to "Change your investment mix" when doing a 3rd IFT (to try to move partial funds into G) then TSP won't do a partial, it will only move 100% into G.

Bubba
Posts: 485
Joined: Thu Mar 05, 2020 3:40 am

Re: 3rd IFT canceled (death of 1% rule)

Post by Bubba »

twinkc wrote: Mon Oct 07, 2024 11:50 am Happened to me to on the 3rd IFT for a partial move to G too, until I selected the option to "Move Money between funds" and then, like MISFIT said, it worked. If you try to "Change your investment mix" when doing a 3rd IFT (to try to move partial funds into G) then TSP won't do a partial, it will only move 100% into G.
I really have to remember this. I sometimes get confused and chose the other one with bad consequences...

Post Reply

Fund Prices2024-11-07

FundPriceDayYTD
G $18.63 0.01% 3.74%
F $19.62 0.70% 2.08%
C $94.16 0.75% 26.62%
S $93.11 0.36% 20.77%
I $43.87 1.05% 9.18%
L2070 $10.70 0.79% 6.97%
L2065 $18.05 0.79% 19.41%
L2060 $18.05 0.79% 19.41%
L2055 $18.06 0.79% 19.41%
L2050 $35.66 0.70% 16.51%
L2045 $16.19 0.67% 15.71%
L2040 $58.84 0.63% 14.92%
L2035 $15.45 0.58% 14.01%
L2030 $51.16 0.53% 13.10%
L2025 $13.82 0.29% 8.74%
Linc $26.82 0.26% 7.67%

Live Charts

Pending Allocations

Under development. For now, you may view Pending Allocations by going to "fantasy TSP" and selecting "Leaderboard sort" of "Pending Allocations".