Retirement funds rebound in October

After five months of losses, all the investment options in the federal employee retirement savings plan posted gains in October.

The Thrift Savings Plan's S Fund, which invests in small and midsize companies and tracks the Dow Jones Wilshire 4500 Index, increased the most with a 14.09 percent gain. The C Fund, which is invested in common stocks of large companies on the Standard & Poor's 500 Index, posted the second highest gains, rising by 10.93 percent, while the I Fund, which invests in international stocks, rose 9.48 percent.

The government securities in the G Fund increased only slightly, by 0.14 percent, and the F Fund, invested in fixed income bonds, rose by 0.11 percent.

The increases for the month helped bring three funds into the black for the year to date. The G Fund rose by 2.15 percent for the year, the F Fund increased 6.79 percent and the C fund grew 1.28 percent.

Despite its gains for October, the S Fund posted losses for the year of 2.85 percent, and the I Fund lost 7.71 percent.

All the life-cycle funds, designed to move investors nearing retirement toward less risky portfolios, also posted gains last month, with the L 2050, which opened Jan. 31, increasing 9.92 percent.

L Income, a fund for federal employees who have reached their target retirement date and have started withdrawing money, increased by 2.31 percent for the month and 2.01 percent for the year so far.

The L 2020 increased by 6.18 percent for October and 0.65 percent for 2011; L 2030 increased by 7.68 percent last month, which helped it gain 0.09 percent for the year; and L 2040 increased by 8.83 percent for October, but was still down by 0.41 percent for 2011.