If you are attempting to track the progress of the TSP I Fund, you may be looking for a ticker symbol for easy reference. However, Thrift Savings Plan funds do not have ticker symbols. TSP funds are trust funds regulated by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency; they are not traditional securities on an exchange.
However, you can track the progress of the TSP I Fund fairly closely by following the ticker EFA.
EFA is the ticker for the iShares MSCI EAFE ETF. The TSP I Fund is invested in an index fund that tracks the MCSI EAFE Index, so by following the ticker EFA you will essentially be able to see how the I Fund is performing, even though it is not an exact match.
If you don’t know exactly what the MSCI EAFE Index is:
- MSCI is the company that created and maintains this index and other stock indices.
- EAFE stands for Europe, Australasia, Far East — signifying where the stocks in the index are from.
- Together, then, the MCSI EAFE index is simply a list of international stocks that are tracked as a group to see their combined performance over time.
- In the TSP I Fund (and in the iShares MSCI EAFE ETF), the stocks that make up the index are actually purchased, and so the performance of the fund will mostly match the performance of the index.