As the Market Drops, Expect Doomsday Scenarios and Transferring to Safety of the G Fund
Federal employees are fleeing to the G Fund amidst the ongoing historic bear market.
Federal employee pay news: If it impacts pay and benefits for federal employees, you’ll find it here. Topics include TSP, FEHB, or 2023 federal pay raise, 2023 GS locality pay, 2023 GS pay scale, OPM and GS pay news.
Federal employees are fleeing to the G Fund amidst the ongoing historic bear market.
COLA’s and pay raises are of interest to virtually all of our readers. There is also confusion about who gets what increase. Here is a brief explanation of the 2009 COLA and the 2009 federal employee pay raise–and why you do not get both a pay raise and a COLA.
The average federal pay raise under the GS schedule in 2009 will be 3.9%. Some federal employees will get a much smaller increase–or none at all.
An argument that risk can and should be avoided with retirement funds by removing money from the private sector and investing in government bonds (similar to the G fund) may gain popularity in the next Congress.
The ideal time to transfer money from the G fund and back into the TSP stock funds is when the market reaches a bottom and is about to start heading back up. Have we reached that point with the current stock market?
You may know that the “average” rate increase for the Federal Employees Health Benefits Plan is going up 8%. That may not be relevant to your plan. Here is more information on how much of a change there may be in your health benefits costs next year.
Your TSP funds have probably taken a dramatic hit. Put the situation in perspective before hitting the panic button and making decisions you may regret later.
A temporary government spending bill will fund the federal government into March of next year. It also contains an average pay raise for federal employees of 3.9% that will be effective in January.
It seems no one is happy with the federal pay system. Many employees and federal unions argue that federal employees are significantly underpaid. But not everyone agrees. The average federal employee in 2007 received a pay and benefits package of $116,450–more than twice as much as the average private sector employee.
New legislation passed the House this week to protect public health by providing the Food and Drug Administration with authority to regulate tobacco products. The bill will cost about $300 million. An influential Congressman says not to worry–the money to fund this legislation will come from changing the federal Thrift Savings Plan. No doubt, these changes reassure TSP investors that Congress is looking out for their financial future.