So understanding how to evaluate the performance of your TSP account can be more tricky than it seems. Performance is an ever-changing relative number.
To make a complex topic simple, the financial service industry publishes the performance snapshots that we all understand. The year to date, one year, three year, ten year rates of return.
Investors use these performance snapshots to evaluate one fund against another, or one method of TSP management against another. The reality is that performance is not a series of subjective snapshots.
The performance of your TSP account changes at the close of each trading day. More importantly is how individual investors utilize performance data along the course of their career and into retirement.
Our number one rule is don't lose money. Our number two rule is you have to be in the stock funds when the market is trending up for your TSP account to grow.
Our rule number one limits downside volatility. It does not protect against short term drawdowns, but it does protect against larger bear markets that can devastate your account balance.
Our rule number two allows us to capture much of the upside volatility when the market is in an uptrend. The model does not capture all upside gains, but that is the tradeoff for avoiding catastrophic losses.
TSP is a long term wealth building vehicle. It is not a day trading platform. The ability to zoom in and zoom out while evaluating performance and volatility relative to your personal circumstances and risk tolerance is a critical skill to build and retain wealth in TSP.
Why do we only show out to 5 years? We only started actively using this model 5 years ago. Our analysts look for ways to refine the methodology over time.
This performance data is not a guarantee of future performance.
The PIP for each individual TSP investor is calculated using the Modified Dietz Method. It is a snapshot of your personal investment performance. It is not designed to be compared to another investor’s PIP. Rate of return (ROR) is a much better comparison tool.
We recommend calculating your own Rate of Return, Risk Adjusted Rate, and Sharpe Ratio to better understand how much risk is associated with YOUR PIP and YOUR ACTUAL rate of return. Investors should strive for the highest ROR and the highest Sharpe Ratio.
The information presented on this site is not a recommendation or investment advice. We are sharing how we manage our TSP accounts for informational and educational purposes.
Feel free to follow, disregard, or make adjustments based on your personal risk tolerance. Some may choose to be more aggressive, or more conservative, based on their personal situation. The performance data listed is no guarantee of future performance.
