Edited by author 08-24-2009 08:53 PM
In /m1481, I mentioned that I had done a funds transfer into the G fund. I now have only 5% in the TSP stock funds. Partly, this is my cautious nature with a $160,000 wad of money, and partly it's because I'm pretty close to retiring, and I also have around $50,000 of my own money in pretty risky stocks, so the TSP helps balance the risk.

But, I put the transfer in Friday (effective this morning) because the market has come up a LOT in the last few months, and though it could very well continue to go up, I wouldn't get as big a %-age return if it did. Other reasons for transferring were that the market was on a 5-day win streak and there was an options expiration on Friday. The market was "due" for a pause, and often it will reverse on the Monday following an options expiration Friday. The problem, of course, is that we only have 2 transfers now, and so I've got to do bigger shifts than what I did previously. IF I did catch the market just prior to a correction (I usually don't), I've only got one shot at re-entering at a lower level. It makes switching a LOT tougher.

Anyhow, I thought I'd do a post just to show some of my thought processes. Others out there probably have a totally different take on how to proceed. That doesn't mean I'm wrong or they're wrong - we just have different situations and factors playing into our decision-making.

When I saw the futures this morning, I figured I'd done my premature thing again, and when the market opened up nicely, I was sure of it. Wonder of wonders, as the day wore on, the market dropped back and finished essentially flat. Is this the start of the long-awaited correction? Who knows? Right now, I'm sitting this hand out.