Performance among the Thrift Savings Plan’s stock funds was mixed last month but the Lifecycle funds at least showed continued gains ever since their sharp plunge at the start of 2022.
Compared to a year ago, nearly all funds are down, according to monthly returns released by the TSP on Friday. One exception was the small cap stock index S fund, which had a return of 0.90% for March 2022 compared to -0.39% in 2021. The other year-over-year gain was in the government securities investment G fund which rose from 0.11% in March 2021 to 0.17% for March 2022.
Last month marked approximately two years since the COVID-19 pandemic reached the U.S. in full effect and pushed the federal government into a maximum telework stance.
The S and G funds also had monthly increases in their returns from February to March of this year, as did the common stock index investment C fund, which rose from -2.99% in February to 3.72% in March, and the international stock index I fund, which rose from -2.61% in February to -0.33% in March.
Only the fixed income investment F fund dropped both month over month and year over year. It finished last month with a return of -2.73% compared to -1.08% in February, and compared to -1.23% in March 2021.
Lifecycle funds finished in the black last month after finishing entirely in the red for February. The biggest monthly gains were in the L 2055 and L 2060 funds, which both rose from -2.38% in February to 1.88% last month. The smallest gain was in L Income fund which had a March return of 0.49% compared to -0.51% for the prior month.
Year over year, however, all Lifecycle funds were down in March.
| Thrift Savings Plan — March 2022 Returns | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Fund | March | Year-to-Date | Last 12 Months |
| G fund | 0.17% | 0.44% | 1.56% |
| F fund | -2.73% | -5.79% | -3.95% |
| C fund | 3.72% | -4.59% | 15.63% |
| S fund | 0.90% | -9.24% | -5.31% |
| I fund | -0.33% | -6.77% | 0.37% |
| L Income | 0.49% | -1.30% | 2.77% |
| L 2025 | 0.85% | -2.54% | 4.29% |
| L 2030 | 1.14% | -3.65% | 4.93% |
| L 2035 | 1.21% | -4.08% | 5.16% |
| L 2040 | 1.29% | -4.49% | 5.41% |
| L 2045 | 1.34% | -4.86% | 5.55% |
| L 2050 | 1.42% | -5.19% | 5.77% |
| L 2055 | 1.88% | -5.93% | 6.95% |
| L 2060 | 1.88% | -5.93% | 6.94% |
| L 2065 | 1.87% | -5.94% | 6.94% |
