TSP gains lag in May

Pay & Benefits

TSP gains lag in May

After solid showings in March and April, Thrift Savings Plan funds lost a little steam last month, according to new data from the Federal Retirement Thrift...

Jack Moore

June 3, 2013 3:17 pm

1 min read

After across-the-board gains in March and April, Thrift Savings Plan funds lost a little steam last month, according to new data from the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board.

Overall, two of the five regular funds ended May in negative territory, including the F Fund (the bond market) and the I Fund (international stocks). The F Fund is down 0.76 percent for the year.

The remaining funds — the G, C and S Fund posted modest gains for the month.

The Lifecycle Funds (a mix of investment options targeted to when federal employee retiree and begin drawing on their TSP accounts) all ended last month on positive ground, although the gains were much smaller compared to April. Last month, all the L funds — with the exception of the L Income — were up more than 1 percent for the month; the L 2040 and L 2050 cracked 2 percent.

Even with the slight slow-down , it’s still a far cry from last May when economic turmoil roiled through Europe, Wall Street and feds’ retirement accounts.

Year-to-date, every fund but one (the F Fund) is in the black. Gains over the past 12 months are even higher. The C, S and the I Fund are all up at least 30 percent (or close to it) over the past 12 months. The L 2020 is up 15.78 percent and the L 2030 is up nearly 20 percent.

Thrift Savings Plan May 2013 returns

Fund	May	Year-to-Date	Last 12 Months
G Fund	0.12%	0.62%	1.41%
F Fund	-1.78%	-0.76%	1.11%
C Fund	2.34%	15.38%	27.26%
S Fund	2.71%	16.91%	31.05%
I Fund	-3.12%	6.46%	30.96%
L Income	0.19%	2.99%	6.50%
L 2020	0.33%	7.00%	15.78%
L 2030	0.43%	8.77%	19.66%
L 2040	0.51%	10.08%	22.59%
L 2050	0.53%	11.27%	25.56%