TSP Past-Performance Calculator

Want to try out our crude worksheet? Before you do, remember that if you want real investment advice, consult a financial planner. Also remember that you can try out some forecasting calculators and figure out your actual account balance on the TSP Web site. Don't make investment decisions based solely on this worksheet. But if you like playing with numbers as much as we do, follow these directions:

1. Download the Excel worksheet, TSPchart.xls. (You have to have Microsoft Excel 2000 to use it. If you have an earlier version of Excel, try 95chart.xls.)
2. Save it to your computer.
3. Open the worksheet in Excel.
4. Look in the area that is shaded light blue. You'll see that we have entered $100 into each of the five funds. That means we're pretending to invest $100 per month from January 1990 through November 2001 in each of the funds.
5. Look in the area that's shaded yellow. You'll see the balance in each of the funds at the end of the 1990-to-2001 period after the investment of $100 per month. You'll also see a total for the five funds combined ($ 121,970.46).
6. Look in the area that's shaded purple. You'll see the monthly percentage return for each of the funds. Why monthly? Because that's how frequently the TSP updates participants' accounts.
7. Look in the area that is shaded green. You'll see the monthly fund balance based on the monthly investment of $100 and the monthly percentage return listed in the purple area.
8. To try out various investment strategies, change the dollar figures in the light blue area and hit return. You'll see changes in the total balances in the yellow area, as well as the monthly balances in the green area.