Ralph Smith

2 weeks ago | fedsmith.com | Ralph Smith

How much money do you have in international stock funds? Probably not as much as you should have. Most investors in America do not have much in these funds, and Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) investors are no exception. For the TSP, the relevant Fund is the I Fund. That investing approach is easy to understand. In 2024, the I Fund had a return of 4.27%. That is not a great return, especially when the C Fund had an annual return of 24.96% and the S Fund returned 16.93% for the year.

2 weeks ago | fedsmith.com | Ralph Smith

In an emergency appeal filed with the US Supreme Court, the Department of Justice requested the Court to approve a stay of judgments of the District Court of the District of Columbia. The lower-court orders were blocking President Trump from firing National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) member Gwynne Wilcox and Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) member Cathy Harris. Shortly after the emergency appeal was filed, Chief Justice John Roberts issued an administrative stay.

2 weeks ago | fedsmith.com | Ralph Smith

The U.S. Supreme Court has blocked a preliminary injunction of a lower court order directing the Trump administration to reinstate about 16,000 probationary federal employees. This latest Court order gave the Department of Justice a third victory in a few days after seeking emergency action from the Supreme Court to stop numerous district judges around the country from slowing policies the Trump administration is working to implement.

3 weeks ago | fedsmith.com | Ralph Smith

Concerns about a possible trade war and the possibility of inflation resulted in a loss for most TSP Funds in March. The C Fund dropped 5.64% for the month, and the S Fund was down 7.92%. For the TSP’s core stock funds, only the I Fund showed a positive return, rising 0.02% in the month. As the United States has been warning Europe not to take America’s military protection for granted, European countries are proposing an increase in their defense spending.

3 weeks ago | fedsmith.com | Ralph Smith

A new Executive Order has been issued that will have a major impact on unions and employees in the federal government. The Executive Order is entitled Exclusions from Federal Labor-Management Relations Programs. The new Executive Order signed by President Trump modifies Executive Order 12171 of November 19, 1979 signed by President Jimmy Carter. That Executive Order was entitled Exclusions from the Federal Labor-Management Relations Program. The new Order significantly expands the Carter Order.