The author tells a true story of a federal employee and friend who suffered some serious health problems and had to contend with leave without pay and retirement annuity considerations to cover his medical bills.
The author outlines ten common mistakes federal retirees should strive to avoid to get the most out of their retirement benefits.
The author illustrates a hypothetical scenario of two FERS employees with identical salary histories to show the dramatic impact the recently proposed pension reduction bill, as currently written, would have on future federal retirees.
Republicans in the House have introduced legislation that would extend the pay freeze on federal employees as well as increase employee retirement contributions under both CSRS and FERS.
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.
In preparing, and filing a Federal Disability Retirement application under FERS or CSRS, a Federal or Postal worker who is contemplating filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits must make the connection between “the forms,” “the evidence”, and “the law.”
Many FedSmith readers have commented on the excessive time it takes OPM to process the paperwork for full annuity payments. It is likely to get worse instead of better. Here’s why.
The author walks the reader through some examples to illustrate that the CSRS retirement system may not be better than the FERS retirement system, despite popular belief to the contrary.
FERS is now the retirement plan for most federal employees. It is now 25 years old and the plan significantly changed the federal retirement system. Here are the changes it wrought and how the plan looks after having been in operation since 1987.
