Comparing the Funds

All three Thrift Savings Plan stock funds are passively managed, meaning that managers try to match fund performance to a stock index. TSP accounts are updated monthly, so federal investors should monitor the performance of each index month-to-month, rather than day-to-day. The C Fund tracks the S&P 500, an index published daily in most newspapers. The I Fund tracks the Morgan Stanley Europe, Australia and Far East index, or EAFE index. The EAFE index appears daily in some publications, including The Wall Street Journal. The S Fund tracks the Wilshire 4500, an index that is not published in most newspapers. GovExec.com publishes the indexes every business day and includes month-to-date performance for each. The indexes are found in the TSP Ticker at www.govexec.com.