Berry to Congress: OPM Retirement Backlog is Bad, Will Get Worse
Reports have been in the news about OPM’s poor performance regarding processing annuity payments for new retirees. What is the real cause of this problem?
Selecting a Survivor Annuity: What Should You Do?
Married employees considering retirement have choices regarding the survivor annuity. Do they want/need it? If they do opt for the survivor annuity, how much do they want it to be? How much will it cost?
Thirteen Years of Increases for Employees vs. FERS and CSRS
Employees and retirees live in the same environments and are subject to the same increases in the cost of living, but the general, annual raise they get is different. The author outlines sample annual raises for three hypothetical employees.
Annuity Retirement Processing Time will get Worse
Many FedSmith readers have commented on the excessive time it takes OPM to process the paperwork for full annuity payments. It is likely to get worse instead of better. Here’s why.
CSRS Is Better Than FERS. Are You Sure?
The author walks the reader through some examples to illustrate that the CSRS retirement system may not be better than the FERS retirement system, despite popular belief to the contrary.
When a Federal Employee May Want to Retire Just a Little Later
When are you planning to retire? There are situations where your timing in selecting a retirement date can make a difference in your retirement income.
The High-Five Average Salary
There is a great deal of interest in the high-5 calculation for federal retirement. Is it really going to happen? When will it take effect? How will it work? Is there some way I can estimate “right now” how much difference it will make?
FERS, Pension Contributions and Returning to Federal Service
For most of the 25 years or so of the existence of the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS), if a FERS employee resigned and accepted a refund of his pension contributions, it was final and absolute. That is, if the employee returned to Federal service, and wanted to repay the refund, the answer was “no.” The time was lost forever. About two years ago, this changed.
The Earnings Test for Your FERS Annuity Supplement
The only thing 100% clear about the FERS annuity supplement is that it ends at age 62.
Improper Annuity Payments for Federal Employees Who are Retiring?
OPM should pay new retirees 100% of the retirement estimate provided by the employing agency. In those few cases where this turns out to be too much, OPM can easily make deductions from future payments. And when the estimate is too low, they can pay more, to catch up. Either way, equity will be served.
