The Best TSP Investment Strategy Out There

On December 22, 2018

I’m sharing several options for investing in the TSP.

The Thrift Savings Plan is a defined contribution plan for United States civil service employees and retirees as well as for members of the uniformed services.

It is essentially like a 401K for military and civil service employees.

I’m not here to tell you which TSP recommendation is best, that’s a fool’s errand.

The only way to do that is to go into the future, see how things turn out, and then tell you which TSP asset allocation would have been ideal.

I will, however, give you the tools to make an informed decision.

Most of these TSP investments strategies should work well if you regularly contribute to your thrift savings plan, ensure you are getting matching if it’s offered, and stick with the same strategy over the long term.

I would caution against jumping back and forth between strategies every time you find something bright and shiny. Many people erode their long term returns by “dancing in and out of the market.” (Warren Buffett)

First, it’s important to understand the five core funds inside the TSP and what they consist of. This is important in understanding how they are used in building investment portfolios.

THE FIVE CORE FUNDS PLUS L

The G fund contains short term U.S. Treasury securities with no exposure to the risk of the bond or stock market
The F fund is an index of world-wide government, corporate, and mortgage-backed bonds
The C fund is equivalent to the S&P 500 index.
The S fund is an index of mid and small-cap stocks not included in the S&P 500.
The I fund mimics the MSCI EAFE Index of international stocks in 21 developed markets excluding the United States and Canada.
The L funds are professionally managed investment funds tailored to a specific time horizon.

Now we dive into each one a little more in depth before going into our TSP investment strategies:

The G fund – The Government Security Investment Fund

Pros: No volatility and backed by full faith and credit of the U.S. government

Cons: Can barely match the inflation rate; rate based on prevailing interest rate, which is currently low

This unique investment is only available to TSP investors. It’s rate is equal to 10-year treasuries, but their liquidity and protection from interest rate fluctuations is superior to 3-month T-bills.

The interest rate resets monthly and is based on the average of U.S. treasuries with a duration of 4 year or more.

9 Proven Ways to Boost Your Index Fund Returns (Video)

By Rich

On November 23, 2018

In Investing

I’ll tell you how I’ve invested most of my career.

S&P 500 index fund. That’s it.

But, shouldn’t I be able to do better than that?

This post will show you a data-proven way to boost your index fund returns.

PAUL MERRIMAN

Paul Merriman is a believer in index fund investing. Additionally, he is a nationally recognized authority on mutual funds, index investing, asset allocation, and ran his own investment advisory firm since 1983. Paul has been on Wall Street since the 1960’s.

He’s been preaching something called the ultimate buy-and-hold portfolio for the past 20 years. His ideas aren’t revolutionary. It’s very similar to Larry Swedroe’s research on small value stocks and their superior performance over long periods of time. Moreover, he believes in the work of Dr. Fauna and Dr. French in regards to diversification to increase returns without adding risk.

With the ultimate buy-and-hold portfolio, we are going to keep the S&P 500 index, but only 10% of the portfolio, and then give 10% each to 9 other asset classes.

Most people say nothing outperforms the S&P 500 index over the long term. Well, that’s not exactly true.

Over the long term, 8 of the 9 asset classes we’ll be diversifying with have outperformed the S&P 500. Consequently, the risk is also roughly the same.

So the main ingredient in this portfolio is still the S&P 500 index. According to Merriman’s research, it has compounded at 9.3% between the years of 1970 to 2016.

Personally, that feels a bit high, but we’ll stick with his numbers today. I’m more comfortable claiming a historic 7% rate.

THE ULTIMATE BUY-AND-HOLD PORTFOLIO

Portfolio 1

For the sake of explaining this portfolio, think of the S&P 500 index as Portfolio 1. To start, we will invest $100,000 into our portfolio today between the dates of 1970-2016 to illustrate the growth that would have occurred with each step of diversification over that period.

At 9.3%, $100,000 would have grown to $6.5 million. No way I can live off that! We’ve got to do better!!

Compound return: 9.3%

Growth: $6.5 million

Portfolio 2

Seven Steps to Being a Military Millionaire (Video)

By Rich

On November 14, 2018

In Debt, Investing, Real Estate

It is possible to retire a military millionaire?

It is.

I did it before retirement.

No rich parents, no help, wife didn’t work.

Can the average military member go from being in debt to military millionaire?

We all see websites and books from people who were deep in debt and somehow quickly made millions.

Maybe we should read their books or infomercials and try their methods…

A lot of that stuff is shady.

These gurus get rich off people looking for shortcuts. Most that try the guru route fail miserably.

It often involves going into lots of debt or paying a lot upfront for a product or a course.

It also requires no common sense

5 Best Places to Save Your Down Payment (Video)

By Rich

On October 26, 2018

In Investing, Real Estate

Where should you save your down payment for a house?

There are tons of articles and blogs trying to answer this question. I’m not happy with any of them.

I’ll try to answer this my way.

The Rich on Money way.

There are two main factors that will influence where you should invest your downpayment for a house.

The first is how certain you are in what timeframe you will need that money. Are you for sure using it within the next year? Not much of a reason to put it at risk.

Are you unsure if you will purchase something in the next several years, but want the option?

Maybe you should consider putting some of that money at risk instead of just letting it sit there not working for you.

The next factor is your risk tolerance.

Some people understand that by putting their down payment in the stock market or a mutual fund, they run the risk of either having it grow quickly, or the opposite, losing half or more of its value quickly.

Could you live with that tradeoff?

If not, go with the less risky options, even if you are not sure when you will purchase a house.

Also, there’s what I ended up doing in my life.

I’ll explain which one of these methods I ended up using for my money.

It’s one that could have backfired on me big-time, but luckily didn’t.

Let’s look at the least risky options first.

TREASURY BILLS

The 10 Cheapest Index Funds to Supercharge your Portfolio

By Rich

On September 8, 2018

In Investing

index fund fees

UPDATE 2: I’m updating this article to reflect new information coming from Fidelity Investments making significant reductions to the costs of their index funds on August 1, 2018 and changes to Vanguard’s fee structure on December 1, 2018.

Index Funds

Let’s have some index fund fun today.

Many in the Financial Independence Retire Early (FIRE) community recommend VTSAX (Vanguard’s Total Stock Market Index) as the investment of choice.

Why is that?

It probably has something to do with the blog www.jlcollinsnh.com or the book The Simple Path to Wealth.

If you are in the Choose FI world, then you’ve heard of the Godfather of FI, Jim Collins.

You may know he is a huge fan of Vanguard as the mutual fund company of choice.

Why?

Does it have the cheapest index fund fees?

Does it have the lowest investment minimums?

It turns out…

It does not.

Then why does he recommend it?

I’ll get to that…

One thing I did the first time I read The Simple Path to Wealth (I ended up reading it about 15 times as his editor on the book) was check all my current investments to find out if I was paying too much in fees.

I’ve always followed the simple advice of Warren Buffett.

Invest in index funds.

I don’t believe investors can or should try to beat the market.

The Complete Guide to Investing with VA Loans

By Rich

On August 8, 2018

In Debt, Investing, Real Estate

Welcome to the Rich on Money Complete Guide to VA Loan Investing!

There are many things you can do with the VA loan benefit.

But can you invest with it?

Kind of, sort of.

The VA doesn’t say you can, but if you understand the rules, and buy properties as you move from assignment to assignment in the military, it is possible.

You can’t just buy a home and make it a rental property without living in it first. There is an occupancy rule I’ll be discussing.

You can, however, buy a house at your current assignment using your VA benefit, live in it for a short period of time, turn it into a rental property when you leave, and buy a house at your next assignment with a VA loan repeating the entire process.

Another possibility for investing is buying a 2, 3, or 4-plex using your VA benefit and living in one of the units for a short period of time. When you move on to your next assignment, you’ll be able to turn the entire property into an investment legally.

Let’s start digging into the details!

The first thing we need to understand is the occupancy rule.

Occupancy Rule

Why Timing the Market is a Bad Idea

By Rich

On February 4, 2018

In Investing

Here are the headlines that I saw when I googled “stock market” today:

“Is a global recession led by a US Stock Market crash in the offing?”

“Dow slides as US stock market suffers worst week in two years”

“Chart analysts see bigger market pullback if interest rates continue to shoot higher”

These headlines are going to affect everyone differently. Let me share with you how it affects me. Normally, I would never read it. But today,

I laugh at it.

It’s useless information.

Let me give you a little background on me.

I worked for Fidelity Investments as a stock broker while I was in college before I joined the military. I’m an avid finance nerd and real estate investor.

I’ve studied the markets long enough to know that index funds are the smartest way to invest your money. Trying to beat the market is pointless.

I also know that a lot of what you see in the financial media space is useless information. They try to predict where the market is going. When they get it wrong, they try to explain logically why they got it wrong, which ends up being the perfect definition of hindsight bias.

Hindsight bias, also known as the knew-it-all-along effect or creeping determinism, is the inclination, after an event has occurred, to see the event as having been predictable, despite there having been little or no objective basis for predicting it.

Financial magazines, newsletters, cable programs, videos, it’s all meant to capitalize on either fear or greed. A few weeks ago, it was greed. The markets were kicking ass.

3 Steps to Retire Early on a Military Salary

By Rich

On January 12, 2017

In Debt, Investing, Real Estate

This week I did a guest post on one of the most popular military financial independence websites. This website was started by Doug Nordman. He retired from the Navy in 2002 and hasn’t worked since. He currently lives in Hawaii and surfs often when he’s not traveling the world.

Not a bad life.

What he did is what I’m writing about. Working 20 years (or less), and then retiring, never needing to work again!

Here we go…

BLUF: In college I paid off $32k in student loans in a year. On a military salary I paid off a $280k mortgage in seven years. I’ve bought several rental properties with cash. I did this through paying off debt, having a high savings rate, and investing well.

My name is Rich. I’m an Air Force Lt Col of 16 years. I’m married with 2 young kids.

Here is my message:

Don’t work until you’re 65. Not even 55. You can save enough money to retire in 20 years or less. I mean after 20 years of work, NEVER WORK AGAIN (unless you want to). This method doesn’t depend on a military retirement, that’s just a bonus!

I currently make enough money from my investments to live on. I could quit working today, but I’m less than four years from a generous military retirement.

What should I teach my kids about money?

By Rich

On December 11, 2016

In Debt, Investing, Real Estate

I love all things money. My kids often see me reading finance books and browsing real estate blogs. They hear me talking about money with my wife. They watch us negotiate deals to buy houses with cash, and they overhear our discussions on retiring early.

I explain what I’m doing with money in simple terms to my kids, but I can’t be sure it’s sinking in. They are 10 and 6. It is my job to prepare them to navigate money and life. I wonder how I’m doing.

How I Achieved a PERFECT Credit Score!

By Rich

On November 1, 2016

In Debt, Investing

How does one get a perfect credit score? I’m in the military. People around the office ask me for for financial advice. They know I’m a “money guy” and word gets around that I like talking investing and real estate.

I warn people they won’t like my advice. They usually don’t.

This guy didn’t.

Recently a co-worker told me he’s got $20,000 burning a hole in his pocket, and what I think about investing in the British Pound. With the Brexit, it seems like a sure thing!

I told him this kind of speculation in currency isn’t for everyone. Even those who devote their lives to studying this are wrong more often then right. I warned him this would be a fun way to lose money quickly on something he doesn’t understand. It seemed like he took that to heart.

Guy: “Ok, I got a better idea! What about gold!?!?!?”

Category: Investing (Page 1 of 2)

The Best TSP Investment Strategy Out There

THE FIVE CORE FUNDS PLUS L

The G fund contains short term U.S. Treasury securities with no exposure to the risk of the bond or stock market

The F fund is an index of world-wide government, corporate, and mortgage-backed bonds

The C fund is equivalent to the S&P 500 index.

The S fund is an index of mid and small-cap stocks not included in the S&P 500.

The I fund mimics the MSCI EAFE Index of international stocks in 21 developed markets excluding the United States and Canada.

The L funds are professionally managed investment funds tailored to a specific time horizon.

The G fund – The Government Security Investment Fund

Pros: No volatility and backed by full faith and credit of the U.S. government

Cons: Can barely match the inflation rate; rate based on prevailing interest rate, which is currently low

9 Proven Ways to Boost Your Index Fund Returns (Video)

PAUL MERRIMAN

THE ULTIMATE BUY-AND-HOLD PORTFOLIO

Portfolio 1

Portfolio 2

Seven Steps to Being a Military Millionaire (Video)

5 Best Places to Save Your Down Payment (Video)

TREASURY BILLS

The 10 Cheapest Index Funds to Supercharge your Portfolio

Index Funds

The Complete Guide to Investing with VA Loans

Occupancy Rule

Why Timing the Market is a Bad Idea

3 Steps to Retire Early on a Military Salary

What should I teach my kids about money?

How I Achieved a PERFECT Credit Score!

My name is Rich. I’m Rich on Money

Rich

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