TSP Funds Suffer Through Another Rough Month

September adds to 2022’s losses for all but one TSP fund
TSP September
Image credit: © Traviswolfe | Dreamstime.com

Another bad month for the stock market translated to another bad month for the federal government’s 401k-like Thrift Savings Plan.

Every portfolio in the TSP finished July in the black, and the month marked the best single-month performance for the 401k-style retirement savings program since November 2020. But negative returns in August and September have added to what’s shaping up as a very rough year.

September is usually a bad month for stocks with the S&P 500 falling on average by about 1%, but this September it fell by more than 9%, making it the worst September since it fell by 11% in 2002.

While the markets are off to an encouraging start so far in October (with the Dow jumping 765 points, the S&P 500 up 2.6% and the NASDAQ up 2.3% on Monday and building on those gains as of midday Tuesday), it was not a September to remember.

All but one TSP fund lost ground in September, continuing a trend from August. The notoriously conservative government securities investment G Fund saw a modest 0.28% increase, bringing its gain so far this year to 2.34%.

The small cap stock index S Fund saw the largest drop at -9.91% in September. S Fund shares started the month at $64.17 and ended the month at $58.53. Federal News Network notes it has been a rough last 12 months for the S Fund, which a year ago ended the month of September at $82.86 per share, meaning a 29.36% drop since then (and down 29.85% for the year).

The I Fund made up of international stocks fell 9.40%, bringing its overall decline to 27.25% this year.

The common stocks of the C Fund fell 9.21% in September, and the fund is down 23.87% in 2022. The fixed income F Fund fell 4.31% last month and is down 14.30% for the year.

September also saw declines for all of the TSP’s target-date fund-like Lifecycle funds. The L Income Fund had the smallest drop, losing 2.33% (down 6% for the year). The L 2055, 2060 and 2065 funds saw the biggest drops, all going down 9.29%. For the year, all three of those funds are down 25.6%.

The L 2025 was down 3.98% in September (down 11.2% for the year); L 2030 down 5.85% (down 16.24% for the year); L 2035 down 6.44% (down 17.92% for the year); L 2040 down 7.01% (down 19.5% for the year); L 2045 down 7.50% (down 20.9% for the year); and L 2050 down 7.97% (down 22.18% for the year).

The TSP is the world’s largest defined contribution plan with more than 6.6 million participants.

SEE ALSO:

• TSP Millionaire Ranks Thinned by More Than One-Third

• Thrift Savings Plan Gets Much-Needed July Boost

• New Bill Calls for Oversight of Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board

Brian Anderson Editor
Editor-in-Chief at  | banderson@401kspecialist.com | + posts

Veteran financial services industry journalist Brian Anderson joined 401(k) Specialist as Managing Editor in January 2019. He has led editorial content for a variety of well-known properties including Insurance Forums, Life Insurance Selling, National Underwriter Life & Health, and Senior Market Advisor. He has always maintained a focus on providing readers with timely, useful information intended to help them build their business.

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