So your retirement date is 2030, but you're using a 2050 allocation because you don't plan to touch the TSP for 30 years?
I'm using the 2050 bc the 2030 has like 40% in the G and F fund. I see the dates as just indicating when the fund turns into its most conservative form. But it seems like they're all too conservative.
I agree that they seem conservative for this crowd, but they're not really targeted at this crowd. Remember that the 2030 is supposedly for people who are already 20 years into a 30 year career. For someone who is only ten years from traditional retirement age, being 40% G/F is probably about right if you follow the standard retirement recommendations.
As an added complication, virtually everyone who has access to the TSP also has a federal pension. The traditional asset allocation advice that the TSP is based on was formulated for people who do NOT have pensions. Pensions act very much like bonds, when you look at your whole retirement savings picture together, and depending on how aggressively you save in the TSP it's likely that you have a comparable amount of (NPV) value stored in your pension as you do in your TSP. So for many federal employees, roughly half of their retirement plan is in something that is basically 100% bonds, and the other half is in some sort of L fund that is between 10 and 90% bonds depending on their age. It's a
very conservative mixture, when evaluated holistically.
I think rocking the 2050 is probably fine for most of us, unless you plan to spend that money sometime soon.