TSP funds
The Thrift Savings Plan consists of five Individual funds and five Lifecycle funds. The Individual funds, similar to those found in some other retirement plans, track popular market components, including the money market, bonds, and stocks. Each Lifecycle fund is a combination of the five Individual funds, with the weights on the Individual funds determined by static diversification.
TSP Individual funds
Below are the details for each of the Individual funds. You might also be interested in the historical prices of the funds and in how you can use our TSP newsletter if you are not a TSP participant.
Short name: G Fund.
Long name: Government Securities Investment Fund.
Another common name: Money Market.
Managed by: Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board (FRTIB).
Invested in: Short-term nonmarketable U.S. Treasury securities specially issued to the TSP.
Note: This is the only TSP fund guaranteed not to decrease in value.
Return: The average market yield on outstanding marketable U.S. Treasury securities with 4 or more years to maturity.
Similar mutual funds: Vanguard Prime Money Market Fund (VMMXX) and Fidelity Cash Reserves (FDRXX).
Short name: F Fund.
Long name: Fixed Income Index Investment Fund.
Other common names: Total Bond, Bond, Lehman Aggregate Bond.
Managed by: Barclays Global Investors.
Invested in: Barclays U.S. Debt Index Fund "E".
Index tracked by the fund: Lehman Brothers U.S. Aggregate (LBA) Index, also called Lehman Aggregate Bond Index.
Index follows: Investment-grade bonds traded in the United States.
Index version: Only a single version of the index exists.
Similar exchange-traded funds (ETF's): iShares Barclays Aggregate Bond Fund (AGG) and Vanguard Total Bond Market ETF (BND).
Similar mutual funds: Vanguard Total Bond Market Index Fund Investor Shares (VBMFX) and Fidelity U.S. Bond Index Fund (FBIDX).
Short name: C Fund.
Long name: Common Stock Index Investment Fund.
Other common names: S&P 500, Large-cap.
Managed by: Barclays Global Investors.
Invested in: Barclays Equity Index Fund "E".
Index tracked by the fund: Standard and Poor's 500 Index, also called S&P 500.
Index follows: 500 large-cap common stocks actively traded in the United States.
Index version: The fund tracks the total return (TR) version of the index, which reflects the effects of reinvesting dividends before taxes.
Similar exchange-traded funds (ETF's): SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY) and iShares S&P 500 Index Fund (IVV).
Similar mutual funds: Vanguard 500 Index Fund Investor Shares (VFINX) and Fidelity Spartan 500 Index Fund - Investor Class (FSMKX).
Short name: S Fund.
Long name: Small Capitalization Stock Index Investment Fund.
Other common names: Extended Market, Wilshire 4500, Mid & Small-cap.
Managed by: Barclays Global Investors.
Invested in: Barclays Extended Market Index Fund "E".
Index tracked by the fund: Dow Jones Wilshire 4500 Completion Index, also called DJW 4500 or Wilshire 4500.
Index follows: all stocks actively traded in the United States other than the stocks included in the S&P 500 index.
Index version: The fund tracks the float adjusted total return version of the index. The symbol of this version of the index is DWCPFT. "Float adjusted" means that the stocks in the index are weighted by their float, which is basically the number of shares held by the public. "Total return" means that the index reflects the effects of reinvesting dividends before taxes.
Similar exchange-traded funds (ETF's): An ETF that tracks the Wilshire 4500 index does not exist. Vanguard Extended Market ETF (VXF) tracks the S&P Completion Index. S&P Completion is a different index from Wilshire 4500, though its concept is the same.
Similar mutual funds: Vanguard Extended Market Index Fund Investor Shares (VEXMX) and Fidelity Spartan Extended Market Index Fund - Investor Class (FSEMX). In the past, VEXMX tracked the Wilshire 4500 index. It currently tracks the S&P Completion Index, a different index with the same concept.
Short name: I Fund.
Long name: International Stock Index Investment Fund.
Other common names: Europe Pacific, Developed Markets, International, EAFE.
Managed by: Barclays Global Investors.
Invested in: Barclays EAFE Index Fund "E".
Index tracked by the fund: Morgan Stanley Capital International EAFE (Europe, Australasia, Far East) Index, also called MSCI EAFE.
Index follows: stocks traded in Europe, Australasia (Australia and New Zealand), and the Far East (Japan, Singapore, and Hong Kong).
Index version: The fund tracks the net version of the index, which reflects the effects of reinvesting dividends after taxes.
Similar exchange-traded funds (ETF's): iShares MSCI EAFE Index Fund (EFA) and Vanguard Europe Pacific ETF (VEA).
Similar mutual funds: Vanguard Developed Markets Index Fund (VDMIX) and Fidelity Spartan International Index Fund - Investor Class (FSIIX).
Three of the indices that the TSP funds track actually have several versions. These versions differ from each other based on how they account for dividends and, in one case, how they weigh the components of the index. Unfortunately, TSP does not make it easy to figure out which versions of the indices its funds follow. We have determined the index versions by matching the annual returns of the indices as reported by the TSP to those reported by the companies that maintain the indices.
Often, when the three indices with multiple versions are discussed, such as in the media, it is the price versions that are being discussed. These versions of the indices only track the price of the index components, ignoring the dividends. By contrast, the versions of the indices that the TSP funds follow account for dividend reinvestment.
The ETF's that correspond to the TSP funds pay out the dividends. Thus, while the prices of the TSP funds reflect the effects of dividend reinvestment, the ETF prices do not.
TSP Lifecycle funds
As mentioned above, each Lifecycle fund is just a combination of the Individual funds. Because of this, and because we want our TSP newsletter to be usable by participants in other retirement plans, the newsletter never recommends any of the Lifecycle funds. For the record, though, here is some information on these funds.
When the Lifecycle funds were launched in August 2005, the following five funds were created:
- L Income
- L 2010
- L 2020
- L 2030
- L 2040
The year in each fund's name is called the "target year". When the calendar year becomes equal to the target year of a particular Lifecycle fund, that fund is merged into the L Income fund. At the same time, a new fund is created with target year equalling the highest target year in the set plus ten years. In this way, the number of Lifecycle funds is maintained at five. Thus, in 2010, the L 2010 fund was merged into the L Income fund and a new fund called L 2050 was created.
We are aware of two sets of ETF's with names similar to those of the Lifecycle funds. The first set is the iShares S&P Target Date Index Funds. As of 2009, they ranged from iShares S&P Target Date Retirement Income Index Fund (TGR) to iShares S&P Target Date 2040 Index Fund (TZV). The other set is the TDX Independence ETF's, which range from TDX Independence In Target ETF (TDX) to TDX Independence 2040 ETF (TDV). However, while these funds are named similarly to the Lifecycle funds, they are based on completely different underlying funds and so their performance is unrelated to the performance of the Lifecycle funds.