Which FERS pension option is best? When we ask that question, we’re talking about survivor benefit. For those of you who are married, the question is, what survivor benefit will you get for your spouse? There are three choices. There’s 0%, there’s 25%, and there’s 50%. Now, zero is not…

Why would I want a Flex Spending Account, an FSA? Well, if you’re going to spend money on any kind of healthcare costs, it’s a great idea. Any money that you set aside, let’s say you set aside $2,500, and you spend $3,500 for sure this year, well, that $2,500…

The three biggest FERS retirement mistakes, what are they? Number one, you should keep in mind that if you have at least 20 years of service, and yes that includes your bought back military time, 20 years of service at age 62 or beyond, you’ll get a 10% bonus in…

Do I have to withdraw my TSP? It’s an excellent question. One that many wonder about. In fact it used to be that if you took one withdrawal from your TSP, the second time you would go to withdraw, they’d make you take the balance out, and transfer it. But…

Beneficiary forms, why update them? Man, oh man. You don’t want to get caught in this pickle. I’ve seen federal employees with their FEGLI group life insurance, Federal Employees’ Group Life Insurance, they’ve divorced, remarried, they pass away, and guess who gets their life insurance proceeds. Their ex-spouse, because they…

High 3 and How it Affects Your Pension You hear a lot of talk about the high three. What is it and what’s the significance? Well, let’s say you make 98,000 one year. The following year you make a 100,000, and the next year you make 102,000. The total’s 300,000…

TSP three biggest mistakes. The three biggest mistakes that you could make with your TSP. Number 1, if you’re young and you’re excessively allocated in the G Fund, it’s not going to serve you well. In fact, there’s a letter from July 2014 stating just that from the TSP Board…

Annual leave. How much can you carry out with you, and why is that so useful? Well, when you’re going into retirement, especially the last day of the year, you all know that you can have 240 hours carry over. If you work for an entire year, 26 pay periods…

How much? How much will your monthly pension be? Your FERS, Federal Employee Retirement System, monthly pension be? It’s important to know this way ahead of time, because many federal employees are expecting this really big pension check. Guess what? It might not be as big as you think it…