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.
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.
Over the years, OPM (Office of Personnel Management) processing time for calculating annuities for new retirees has gotten progressively worse. Is it the increasing workload that is causing the problem? Here are the statistics.
Former Director of OPM Linda Springer predicted a “retirement tsunami” that never materialized. It hasn’t happened. But the reason it didn’t happen is that she did not predict the financial meltdown that occurred. Her prediction was probably accurate–her timing was just off.
There’s an important factor most people overlook when they choose monthly TSP payments in retirement. You can choose how much you take out each month – but you don’t get to choose HOW the money comes out. Don’t let this catch you by surprise.
A number of readers have asked about the backlog in processing retirement applications. OPM is making progress. The time it takes to process a retirement action has improved by about 15%. The agency’s goal is to get the processing time down to 45 days.
The latest budget proposal from the administration does not adopt many of the recommendations from the deficit reduction commission and does not propose substantial changes to the federal retirement system. Here are some of the changes proposed to save money by the federal government that will impact some in the federal community–including one agency where the agency would initiate a buyout of jobs no longer needed.
Recent recommendations in Congress could have a negative impact on the cost of living adjustment (COLA) for federal employee retirees.
On average, Americans think the federal government spent 10 percent of its 2010 budget on pensions and retiree benefits; the OMB figures indicate the real number is about 3.5 percent. Another area that is not often talked about is the big difference for federal workers and state workers is that federal employees pay significant premiums for their health insurance.
OPM said in a statement that checks and direct deposits for federal retirees will still be distributed as usual on the first business day of the month.
A change to the contribution to be made by federal employees to their defined benefit pension has been proposed in a new budget proposal unveiled this week. What would this change mean for most federal employees?
