Stay informed with the latest federal employee retirement news, including updates on FERS and CSRS, retirement eligibility rules, OPM retirement processing, and TSP performance as it relates to long‑term retirement planning. This category covers annual COLA updates, TSP news, survivor benefits, military service credit, retirement application guidance, and major OPM policy changes or federal legislation that could affect federal retirement benefits. Find clear, timely information to help current and former federal employees navigate retirement planning, benefit calculations, and post‑retirement considerations.
OPM has not yet released official numbers for costs in benefits changes for 2012 that would be affected by the recent COLA. The author offers his best estimates as to how the cost of the FERS basic death benefit and children’s survivor benefits are likely to change next year.
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?
Are you a current or retired federal employee who will be turning 65 soon along with millions of other baby boomers? If so, how will you answer this question: “Should I sign up for Medicare, Part B?”
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?
What is the best day for a federal employee to retire? Here are suggested retirement dates through 2020 from a federal retirement expert.
The author says that he was surprised to find that members of Congress and the media have been mostly silent on sharing information about what he refers to as “the looting of Social Security.”
Not everyone understands how the Social Security earnings test works and how it may impact your retirement income. Here is an explanation.
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.
The COLA percentage amount for both FERS and CSRS was announced on October 19. OPM has issued official guidelines on how to calculate your COLA increase.
Lost in the interest over the 3.6% COLA announced by Social Security (and reported in FedSmith) on Wednesday, October 19th, are several other Social Security changes for 2012.
