Marriage, divorce, remarriage and federal retirement benefits are a volatile mix. The money available is finite, there is often considerable emotion involved, and someone is going to get more money while another person may get less. In this case, wife number one thought she should get the maximum survivor annuity from her former husband. And, in this case, wife number one is the winner.

CSRS employees often ask themselves the following two questions about civilian service as they get close to retirement. “Should I deposit money to cover temporary time early in my career?” The answer may vary depending on your circumstances. Here is an explanation.

The Social Security Board of Trustees today released its annual report on the financial health of the Social Security Trust Funds. While the key dates for program costs exceeding tax revenues and Trust Fund exhaustion remain unchanged, the 2008 Trustees Report shows improvement in the projected long-term financial status of the Social Security program.