European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - August 15, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Thursday August 15, 1991 the stars and stripes b Page 17�?�� Money matters today s tip China a National airline has signed a contract to Purchase 13 Boeing 757 jetliners in a Deal with the american aircraft manufacturer Worth More than $800 million officials said wednesday. The Purchase is part of an Effort by the civil aviation administration of China the governments aviation Agency and Flag Carrier to update its Fleet that includes Vintage soviet made airliners. The order Calls for the planes All of which have 202 seats to be delivered a Between 1994 and 1997. 1 conversion rates London up wednesdays rates for the . Dollar to other currencies. Figures Are expressed in dollars to the British Pound other local currencies in dollars Gold was quoted at $356.25 an ounce. Silver was quoted at 3.91 an ounce. Aug. 13 aug. 14 British pound.1.6935 1.689 German Mark .1.73. 1.7365 French franc.5.875 5.921 dutch guilder.1.944 1.9576 belgian franc.35.58 35.77 italian lira.1,295.10 1,301.10 Swiss franc.1.5095 1.5195 greekdrachma.190.82 192.05 turkish lira.4,451.90 4,481.50 saudi arabian riyal.3.7501 3.7501 Spanish peseta.108.08 1 08.83 portuguese escudo.148.19 -149.35 Canadian Dollar. 1.1447 1.1455 austrian schilling.12.132 12.215 norwegian krone.6.7465 6.796 danish krone.6.676 6.723 these Are unofficial rates As reported by wire service and banking sources and they Are listed to give some idea of daily currency fluctuations. The Only official rate concerns the Sale of German Marks to . Personnel for personal use and this will be 1.70 through thursday based on wednesdays noontime Price fixing. New York Exchange new York up York Stock Exchange the 15 most Active stocks in new composite trading on tuesday. Slock Salos last is chg. Sec Pacific 9,116,100 35% up 3% ban America 5,936,000 43% up 3% at amp to company 3,544,500 38% off % St int Bop a 3,527,600 1% up % Telefoni 0 mex 2,590,900 30% up % Glaxo Homes 2,528,400 45% a up 1% a cab corp Eastman Kodak 2,442,400 36% up 1% 2,418,700 43% up a amps sovran 2,356,000 30% up 1% we stings Al 2,304,900 23% up limited inc 2,243,100 29% Oft % Alcan Alum 2,160,800 20% up Chase Manhon 2,043,700 21% up % Amer express 2,027,800 26% up % Salomon inc 2,010,600 32 up american Exchange new York up the 10 most Active stocks in american Stock Exchange composite trading tuesday. Slock Western Ditl Wang labs b Forest labs Newmark Lewis Prehl Thor found Atn hath me chem prod atari corp metro mob b Echo Bay min Saks 761.200 452,700 307.000 305,900 303,300 299,800 275.200 268,500 242.000 196.000 Lett 3% 3 40% 1 14 23% 14 2% 19% 8% net chg. Up % unch up it off % off % off % off % up %. Off/4 unch Dow Jones new York up a Dow Jones closing Range of averages tuesday Tow Cit ii cd 30 industrials 3041.�?T 20 transports 15 utilities 65 stocks he Low close Cuenot 41.14 2989.27 3008.72 up 7.38 1225.32 1204.87 1211.39 of Loo up 1.06 up 1.50 205.25 202.49 204.24 1082.74 1064.93 1071.84 tire manufacturer plans to Lay off 290 Decatur 111. A Brid Gestone Firestone inc. Said tuesday that it is laying off 290 production and maintenance employees at its Decatur tire company and cutting 75 salaried jobs through restructuring. Revamped savings plan gives . Employees More options by Randy Mcclain financial writer Federal employees Haven to exactly turned into riverboat gamblers when it comes to investing but More of them than Ever Are dabbling in the Stock Market with at least a portion of their retirement funds. A we advocate for everybody that some of their Money should be in equities a said Priscilla a. Sammet a certified financial planner in Washington who advises Federal employees. A historically stocks Are the Only place that people can beat the inflation Factor. In our opinion Federal employees should be considering them More and  the idea of investing in stocks has come to the forefront of Many Federal workers minds in recent months because the rules governing employees contributions to the Federal governments tax deferred Thrift savings plan have been loosened. Thrift savings plan accounts Are held by More than 1.7 million Federal w orders affiliated with either the new Federal employees retirement system or the older civil service retirement system. Almost $9.5 billion in assets was in the plan As of july 31. The vast majority of those funds is in an account known As the g fund which puts participants Money in Short term . Treasury securities. The fund established More than a decade ago is a very conservative investment Choice delivering Between 8 percent and 9 percent in average annual returns for each of the past five years. A recent revamping of the Federal retirement system has increased investment options for Federal workers. Until january of this year most employee contributions and All Matching government contributions had to go into the g fund. However the g fund has traditionally had a significantly lower cumulative rate of return than the new plans Stock fund which generally tracks the Standard amp poor a 500 Stock Index. The a amp a 500 has averaged a 13.84 average annual rate of return Ever the past 10 years. The Good news for Federal workers is that they now can invest not Only in the g fund but in two other funds a the riskier but potentially higher yielding c fund an Index of stocks or f fund Long term Bonds. Moreover four times a year at the employees discretion funds can be shifted among the three accounts. That Means workers can make their own investment choices shifting Money Back and Forth to earn what they believe will be the highest returns. Most financial planners think Federal workers could make greater use of the c and f funds. However the funds assets have grown Over the last few months. The balance in the c fund stood at $379 million As of March 31, but has grown to $649 million by the end of july. The f fund account is also up see graphic. In comparison the balance of assets held in the g fund stood at $7.9 billion As of the end of March and $8.7 billion by july 31. Employees with Money already in the plan have started to Transfer that Money to the c fund and to a lesser extent the f fund. The bulk of each funds gains have come from employees shifting Cash out of the g fund. In the past year More than $200 million in net asset transfers have flowed into the Stock c fund. The f fund which is invested in a mix Thrift savings plan funds recent performance of Thrift savings plan funds month g fund c fund f fund 1990 july 0.72% -0.36% 1.24% August 0.72% -8.65% -1.42% september 0.73% -4.85% 0.81% october 0.76% -0.46% 1.32% november 0.70% 6.36% 2.15% december 0.70% 2.72% 1.46% 1991 january 0.69% 4.55% 1.15% february 0.62% 7.07% 0.86% March 0.68% 2.40% 0.67% april 0.66% 0.18% 1.05% May 0.68% 4.30% 0.57% june 0.66% -4.49% -0.01% total gain last 12 8.64% 7.76% 10.27% months monthly rates of return shown Are after expenses Lor the 12 months through june 1991. G fund this fund is invested in Short term u.s�?~. Treasury securities specially issued to the Federal Thrift savings plan. Investment risk is considered minimal. C fund this fund is invested in an Index of stocks that closely tracks. Performance of the Standard amp poor s 500. The risk of investing in the c fund is that the value of stocks can decline sharply. F fund this fund is invested in Long term. Securities that tend to perform better in periods when Short term interest rates Are falling. Value of assets held in Thrift savings plan a As of 3/31/91 As of 7/31/91 $379 million $649 million $125 million $194 million c fund f fund source Federal retirement Thrift investment Board of . Government corporate and mortgage backed securities has also shown big gains during the past year. Workers have transferred a net of almost $58 million in assets into the f fund since Jan. 1. Tom Trabucco director of external affairs for the Federal retirement Thrift investment Board the organization that a amps. Weser i suspect that people Are getting More comfortable with the notion of investing in stocks and Bonds a Tom Trabucco director of external affairs for the Federal retirement Thrift investment Board oversees the Thrift plan said those numbers indicate that Federal employees Are becoming better informed about their options. �?o1 suspect that people Are getting More comfortable with the notion of investing in stocks and Bonds a Trabucco said. There is one note of caution however. Stocks and Long term Bonds can go Down in value As Well As up. While the tried and True g funds annual returns have held steady Between 8 and 9 percent in recent years the c and f funds Are Likely to be More volatile and can even turn in annual losses. The a amp a 500 Stock Index for example dropped 3.2 percent last year As the . Economy struggled through recession. Federal employees who want to put Money into the c or f funds Are required to sign a statement acknowledging that they understand the risks. Washington financial expert Sammet thinks the risks Are easily out weighed by the potential benefits especially when it comes to investing in stocks. A during the last 10 years despite Many  and Downs a Dollar Cost averaging strategy in stocks equivalent to those in the c fund would have produced an average annual return of almost 15 percent a she said. Under Dollar Cost averaging people invest fixed amounts of Money regularly such As once a month. Sammet said she is pleased to see recent growth in the Thrift plans Stock fund. Federal investors seem to be overcoming their natural inclination to take the most conservative least risky path with their Bucks. A was Peoples awareness of the c fund goes up so will contributions a Sammet said. She added that Young investors who have Many years until retirement should be More willing to Roll the Dice she said