Since receiving my raise, I've been pondering increasing my contributions into my TSP. I was chatting with a co-worker about this, and she commented that she puts in the max. I'm impressed, but I'm not sure that's the plan for me. Right now, I want to keep setting aside money for a house, though I do put in 5% (enough to get the full match). I'm considering putting in up to another 5%, but haven't made a final decision yet. I'm not sure what's holding me back, as I can change it anytime, and it's a pretty quick switch - I can decide to put in 10% for a month and then decide that no, I'd rather put in only 8%, and that change is easy enough to make.
Over the weekend, I started to look into the historical data of the funds I invest in. I use a Target Retirement Date plan for my TSP, mainly because I've had trouble researching the individual funds to my satisfaction. Personally, I just want to stick it all into the "G Fund." The G Fund is simply government securities, with no risk of loss, but not a whole lot of gain either. I know that's not the best way to look at my retirement, which is at least 30 years off.
In 2008, my TSP account tanked. In actuality, I'm still doing okay, since I've been getting a match on all my contributions, so my account is worth more than the money I personally put into it. But it's starting to look better, which makes the idea of investing more kind of appealing.
In 2008, the fund lost 31%. In 2009, it's down another 2%. I know, that doesn't sound good. But March and April have shown positive returns. It's going to take a while to get all those percents back, but I'm not going to think about that. (Plus buying low isn't a bad thing.) I just like that the little graph is moving in a good direction. Sure, it might not stay this way, but I'll take my positive signs where I can find them.