Thanks to the coronavirus’ hit on the world economy, the number of federal workers and retirees with million-dollar Thrift Savings Plan accounts now stands at 47,219.

That’s a big jump from March 31 when it had slipped to 27,212; but in December the number of TSP millionaires was 49,620. The uptick in club membership, after the big decline, seems to indicate that many investors stayed the course and did not flee the stock market as so many investors did during the Great Recession.

The number with account balances between $50,000 and $249,000 edged up slightly to 1,492,088 — from 1,487,306 at the end of last year.

Largest account balance is now about $7.36 million.

What a difference a few months make.

Many investors are sticking with the stock market in the belief and hope that its up and down performance this year represents a buying opportunity. Some have shared their strategy with Federal News Network. They are dollar-cost-averaging (investing the same amount of money each pay period) so the amount of shares they buy depends on the actual price of the C, S and I funds at the time. During the Great Recession of 2008-09, hundreds of thousands moved some, most and in many cases all of their retirement nest egg into the super-safe, never has a bad day, Treasury securities G fund. Many never returned to the stock funds and many continued to buy G fund shares exclusively missing out 11-year bull market, the longest in U.S stock market history.

Numbers are merely snap shots and don’t predict with any accuracy peaks and valleys. But they are important. Here are the three charts showing TSP balances as of June 30, versus those at the end of last year:

Nearly Useless Factoid

By Amelia Brust

Joan of Arc was posthumously retried and acquitted of heresy on July 7, 1456, 25 years after her death, by Pope Callixtus III at the request of French Inquisitor-General Jean Bréhal and Joan’s mother Isabelle Romée.

Source: Wikipedia

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