Most TSP Plans Suffered Hard Losses in October

October was not a kind month to Thrift Savings Plan portfolios. Most of the funds for the federal government’s 401(k)-like retirement savings program fell, echoing the financial markets own downturn.

The only TSP fund to gain in the month was the G Fund, which is comprised of government securities and saw a 0.26 percent increase. For 2018, it’s an increase of 2.38 percent.

-The S Fund, which is made up of small to mid-size companies, saw the greatest drop at 10.06 percent. This means the portfolio is in the negative for 2018 at 0.30 percent.

-The I Fund, or international funds, dropped 7.64 percent and its total losses for 2018 is 8.92 percent.

-The C fund, or common stocks, dropped 6.84 percent but is still up 2.98 percent for 2018.

-The F fund, or fixed income stocks, dropped 0.78 percent with its losses hitting 2.26 percent for the year.

The lifecycle funds (L funds), which moves investments to more steady portfolios as people get closer to retirement, also decreased in value. The L Income fund for people already withdrawing money lost 1.40 percent. The L2020 saw a 2.24 percent loss, the L2030 saw a 4.60 percent loss, the L2040 loss was 5.54 percent and, lastly, the L2050 dropped a whopping 6.35 percent.

Since the start of 2018, the L Income Fund increased 1.52 percent with the L2020 and L2030 seeing increases of 1.21 percent and 0.12 percent respectively. For the L2040 and L2050 Fund, there has been a decrease of 0.35 percent and 0.74 percent respectively.