Federal employee retirement news: news about retirement-related topics as it pertains to employees of the federal government. Topics include FERS, CSRS, the latest TSP performance, annual COLA updates, and more.
The author says that the chained CPI which the president recently dropped from his budget proposal would actually have been a good thing because of its potential to help with reducing the national debt. He notes that the actual cost to federal retirees from the chained CPI would have been less than the cost of a pizza each month and illustrates its financial impact for federal pensioners.
The president’s budget proposal that is due out next month will not include the chained CPI that was included in his budget blueprint from last year.
Some lawmakers want the president to exclude the chained CPI from his 2015 budget proposal.
As a general rule, your military service in the Armed Forces of the United States is creditable for federal Civil Service Retirement purposes as long as certain conditions are met. There is an exception, however, which the author explains.
The author discusses a strategy for maximizing Social Security benefits known as “file and suspend.” In addition to detailing who can use this strategy, he outlines some examples of how it might work.
The Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) means if you are getting a Social Security benefit as well as a pension where you did not pay into Social Security, your Social Security benefit is reduced. The author provides examples of the financial impact this can have on your earnings.
Thanks to a tremendous influx of new claims, the size of OPM’s retirement backlog nearly doubled last month.
The debt ceiling limit will again be reached on February 7th so the government will take “extraordinary measures” to fund the government. This means that retirement assets of federal employees, including the TSP G fund, will again be used to help fund government expenses.
Would you like to get a 32% higher Social Security benefit? How about being able to collect ½ of your spouse’s Social Security benefit while you are still working; with no earnings test? The author explains a technique called “restricting your benefits” that can work for many FERS or CSRS employees to boost Social Security benefits.
A new report from the Government Accountability Office warns of a wave of new retirements, saying that as much as one third of federal employees will be able to eligible to retire by September 2017. The report also notes that federal spending on total government-wide compensation has increased 10% over 8 years.
