When the market takes a dip as it has done in this April, you are purchasing units of your TSP at different prices points. Image: gopixa/Shutterstock.com
As of March 2025, there are approximately 147,000 Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) millionaires. These are investors who made significant contributions to the TSP and invested aggressively for the long term. They ignored the financial markets and were focused on their federal careers.
As a 38-year investor in the TSP that was my approach and the results were that I was fortunate to achieve the TSP multi-millionaire dollar status. During my federal career and during my retirement, I never panicked. Each time there was a financial crisis and there were many, I continued to contribute to the maximum of what I could afford and I invested my TSP aggressively. Having a finance and accounting background, I understood these dips in the markets were buying opportunities.
Today, TSP investors are looking for immediate results and they are seeking financial advice from strangers on Facebook Forums. That is right strangers. I do not sit on a bus and ask the person next to me for medical or financial advice. I may ask them what book they are reading or song they are listening to but that is as far as it goes.
The markets rose to an all-time high in February 2025 which the S&P 500 reached approximately 6,100. I mention the S&P 500 because it mirrors the C Fund. If TSP investors were looking to get out of the market and move into the G Fund that was the time to do it. The Trump administration clearly said that the Tariffs would be imposed on April 2. TSP investors had sufficient warning to make their interfund investment changes. Instead, TSP investors PANICKED on April 2 and began asking for financial advice from Facebook Forum strangers. This created the new term “Panicans.” Anyone who moved their money after April 2 into the G Fund, recognized a loss to their account. By doing absolutely nothing much of the depreciation has already come back a few weeks later.
When the market takes a dip as it has done in this April, you are purchasing units of your TSP at different prices points. These purchases are called dollar cost averaging investing. As the market reaches all-time highs, the value of your TSP should be at an all-time high especially if you are purchasing in the funds other than the G Fund. There is nothing wrong with being a 100 percent G Fund investor. You will simply not become a TSP millionaire by only using this investment, the G Fund.
April 30, 2024, the S&P 500 was 5,036. As of April 2025, even with the Tariff Panican hysteria the S&P 500 is 5,569. That is approximately 11% percent increase from a year ago. So why are TSP Investors Panicking? It is because TSP investors are not tracking the history of the stock market and they are listening to strangers tell them to jump in and out of the various funds. This is a clear recipe for disaster.
Investing methodically is a strategy that emotionally is not for every TSP investor, but certainly worth trying. Using computer metrics, and taking advice from strangers in Facebook forums are not good strategies. Use the TSP website resources and look at what moments in history caused the TSP to drop value. Learn from those historical moments and take advantage of those moments for buying opportunities. Financial experts like Warren Buffett make slow and careful financial decisions and he is not speaking to strangers on Facebook for financial advice.
Proper Planning Prevents Poor Performance.
Abraham Grungold is a retired federal employee with 36 years of federal service – including with the USPS Inspector General, the VA Inspector General, the US Dept of Justice, and the US Dept of Labor. Through his company AG Financial Services he helps federal employees with their TSP and federal retirement planning and decisions. Mr. Grungold has written over 80 articles regarding the TSP and FERS retirement and been a guest on several podcasts with the Federal News Radio and Government Executive Magazine.
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