Retirement plan funds continue to slide in August

All but two of the investment options in the federal employee retirement savings plan posted losses in August for the fourth month in a row, also dropping into the red for the year.

The Thrift Savings Plan's I Fund, which invests in international stocks, saw the largest decrease for the month, falling 9.03 percent. The S Fund, which invests in small and midsize companies and tracks the Dow Jones Wilshire 4500 Index, was close behind with an 8.12 percent drop, while the C Fund -- invested in common stocks of large companies on the Standard & Poor's 500 Index -- declined 5.44 percent.

The I Fund has lost 5.76 percent this year to date, followed closely by the S Fund, down 4.62 percent in 2011. The C Fund has lost 1.8 percent so far this year.

The F Fund, which invests in fixed-income bonds, saw a small gain for the month, up 1.45 percent. The stable government securities in the G Fund also posted small monthly growth of 0.19 percent. The F Fund has increased 5.90 percent so far this year, while the G Fund rose 1.85 percent in 2011.

All the life-cycle funds, designed to move investors to less risky portfolios as they get closer to retirement, saw losses for the fourth straight month. The L 2040 dropped 5.37 percent in August; L 2030 declined 4.63 percent; L 2020 lost 3.69 percent; and L Income, for federal employees who have reached their target retirement date and have started withdrawing money, fell 1.10 percent. The new L 2050 Fund, which opened on Jan. 31, declined 6.16 percent.

L 2040 is down 1.76 percent so far this year, with L 2030 close behind at 1.20 percent and L 2020 down 0.50 percent. L Income grew 1.24 percent in that time.