The F fund is a little more risky than the G fund but, has performed better than the other four funds.
F Fund
Key Features
The F Fund offers the opportunity to earn rates of
• return that exceed
those of money market funds over the long term (particularly during
periods of declining interest rates), with relatively low risk.
• The objective of the F Fund is to match the performance of the Barclays
Capital U.S. Aggregate Index, a broad index representing the U.S. bond
market.
• The risk of nonpayment of interest or principal (credit risk) is relatively
low because the fund includes only investment-grade securities and is
broadly diversified. However, the F Fund has market risk (the risk that
the value of the underlying securities will decline) and prepayment risk
(the risk that the security will be repaid before it matures).
• Earnings consist of interest income on the securities and gains (or
losses) in the value of securities.
G Fund
Key Features
The G Fund offers the opportunity to earn rates of
• interest similar to those of long-term Government securities but without any risk of loss
of principal and very little volatility of earnings.
• The objective of the G Fund is to maintain a higher return than inflation
without exposing the fund to risk of default or changes in market prices.
• The G Fund is invested in short-term U.S. Treasury securities specially issued to the TSP. Payment of principal and interest is guaranteed by
the U.S. Government. Thus, there is no “credit risk.”
• The interest rate resets monthly and is based on the weighted average yield of all outstanding Treasury notes and bonds with 4 or more years
to maturity.
• Earnings consist entirely of interest income on the securities.
• Interest on G Fund securities has, over time, outpaced inflation and
90-day T-bills.
