TSP F fund

[RAE]

For those of you who are federal retirees and have $$ invested in the Thrift Savings Plan, I'm curious what your thoughts are on investments in the F fund (bond fund) going forward. I know that the F fund typically performs better when interest rates are going down (and poorly when rates rise), and since rates are so low right now (with not much room to go lower?), my initial feeling was that the F fund would probably not be a very good investment right now. But........the F fund gained 8.7% in 2019, and is up 7.7% year-to-date, so it's doing pretty well. It seems like, as long as rates don't rise from here (and I personally do not see rates rising anytime soon), the F fund may do okay(?), and outperform the G fund.



Just curious if anyone else out there has thoughts on this, and what your reasoning is. I know there is risk involved in any investment, and things can change quickly, but I thought I would ask for opinions from the braintrust on the forum about the F fund going forward. Thanks.........

 

[teej1985]

Rates have been dropping...so the F fund has increased. Who knows what will happen going forward. It's hard to believe Rates can go down more.

 

[Paulz]

I have roughly 20% of my TSP in the F, the rest in C and S. I was considering retiring so wanted to have a little safety.

I have to always go back to one of my first investing lessons which was to never chase results. As you noted, up 8.7% in 2019 and 7.7% ytd, so if results are the driver I'd stay out and go with the C and S fund. C fund is up 31.45 ytd and S is up 27.97 ytd. If you need less volatility, I'd go with the F but be ready to pivot to the G for small stretches in time. You can camp out in G, but you never want to live there!

 

[HawkeyeNFO]

I'm C and S funds, but because my overall risk is mitigated with military retirement pay, I see no need for the F fund.