Annual Leave Payout: Plan Your Federal Retirement Date
Review annual leave carryover, lump-sum payout calculations, withholding, and payment timing before choosing your federal retirement date.
Retirement
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Social Security: Fit Claiming Into Your FERS Plan
Compare Social Security claiming ages alongside your FERS pension, supplement cutoff, TSP withdrawals, taxes, and household survivor needs.
Deferred Resignation: Build Your Bridge Income Budget
Build a practical income timeline before accepting deferred resignation, covering final pay, leave payouts, pension timing, insurance, and reserves.
A GS Promotion Offer: Compare Pay and Retirement Dates
Use a practical checklist to compare a GS promotion offer with your current retirement plan, including pay, high-3 timing, costs, and next steps.
TSP Roll-Ins: What to Check Before Consolidating
Compare TSP roll-in eligibility, withdrawal rules, beneficiary options, fees, and early-distribution taxes before consolidating retirement accounts.
MRA+10 Retirement: Compare Your Pension Start Dates
Compare immediate and postponed FERS MRA+10 retirement, including age reductions, FEHB coverage, the supplement, and the age-62 multiplier.
TSP L Funds: Fit the Mix to Your Retirement
Review how TSP Lifecycle Funds work, their stock and bond exposure, and how withdrawal timing and household income shape retirement risk.
GS Promotion Changes: Plan Your Retirement
Understand the GS time-in-grade rule change and review how promotion timing, high-3 pay, locality, and TSP contributions affect retirement plans.
Deferred Resignation: Plan Your Federal Exit
Review deferred resignation rules, pension timing, leave payouts, and FEHB eligibility before committing to your federal separation date.
OPM Retirement Processing: Plan for Interim Pay
Understand OPM's digital and paper retirement processing figures, interim pay, insurance deductions, and steps to prepare a transition budget.
January 2027 COLA: Review Your Retirement Budget
Review the 2027 CSRS and FERS COLAs, age and proration rules, and how health premiums and other expenses affect your retirement income.
2027 FEHB and PSHB: Review Your Coverage Changes
Review 2027 FEHB and PSHB coverage changes, prescription requirements, and premium increases before making your Open Season health plan election.
Telework Bill: Compare Working and Retirement Costs
Understand the proposed federal telework bill and compare commuting costs, pension estimates, and household spending before choosing retirement.
Your FERS MRA: When Is Your Pension Unreduced?
Understand FERS MRA eligibility, MRA+10 reductions, postponed retirement, and the age-62 multiplier before choosing your federal retirement date.
TSP Withdrawal Math: Proportions and Sequence Risk
See how proportional TSP withdrawals work during a market decline, what rebalancing can change, and which questions to ask before an IRA rollover.
USPS Workforce Audit: Prepare Your Retirement Plan
Understand the USPS workforce audit, rising labor costs, and practical steps to review retirement income, TSP decisions, and PSHB coverage.
FEHB and PSHB: Fraud Oversight and Your Benefits
Understand FEHB and PSHB fraud oversight, family eligibility checks, and health-data privacy as you review your federal benefits.
TSP Withdrawals: Plan for Market Downturns
Understand proportional TSP withdrawals, rebalancing limits, and IRA rollover tradeoffs when planning retirement income through market downturns.
New RIF Rules: Check Your Records Before a Notice
Review performance ratings, service records, appeal deadlines, and retirement questions before a federal RIF notice changes your next steps.
DRP, RIF, and Disability: Plan Your Federal Exit
Compare resignation, RIF, and disability retirement considerations before a federal job change, with practical records and income planning steps.
2027 FEHB Premiums: Prepare for Open Season
Prepare for 2027 FEHB costs with an Open Season checklist covering premiums, prescriptions, family eligibility, and retirement cash flow.
Shutdown RIF Settlement: Plan for Pay and Benefits
Understand the shutdown RIF settlement and prepare for paycheck gaps, benefits questions, and retirement decisions with a practical household plan.
From Saving to Spending: Your TSP Retirement Income Plan
Build a TSP retirement income plan around your pension, spending needs, withdrawal options, and market risk so each payment has a clear purpose.
Federal Retirement: How Your Decisions Connect
See how federal pension choices, Social Security, TSP withdrawals, Medicare costs, and survivor needs fit into one retirement income plan.
FERS Supplement: Retire Now or Work Longer?
Compare the FERS supplement with working longer, including eligibility, earnings limits, inflation, the age-62 multiplier, and household income.
FEGLI in Retirement: Compare Coverage and Costs
Review FEGLI retirement eligibility, Basic reduction choices, Option B premiums, and postponed-annuity rules before choosing your coverage.
2026 TSP Contributions: Keep Your Year-End Match
Check 2026 TSP limits, catch-up eligibility, and remaining payroll dates to pace contributions and keep receiving your available agency match.
TSP Roth Conversions: Plan the Tax Year
Review TSP Roth conversion taxes, five-year rules, Medicare premiums, and cash needs before choosing how much to convert for retirement.
Excepted Service Changes: Your Retirement Planning
Review OPM's proposed excepted service changes and prepare questions about your appointment, reemployment rights, and federal retirement options.
RIF Assignment Offer: Your Retirement Checklist
Use this RIF assignment offer checklist to review pay protection, high-3 estimates, insurance, and household income before making a decision.
Deferred vs. Postponed Retirement: Know the Difference
Compare deferred and postponed federal retirement, including MRA+10 reductions, FEHB and FEGLI eligibility, and planning for the income gap.
Equity Indexed Annuity: A Federal Retirement Checklist
Compare equity indexed annuity fees, income guarantees, and withdrawal limits with your federal benefits before committing retirement savings.
2027 COLA: What FERS and CSRS Retirees Should Know
Review the interim 2027 COLA count, FERS and CSRS adjustment rules, and how insurance costs can affect your federal retirement income.
VA Staffing Shortages: Review Your Retirement Options
Understand VA staffing shortage findings and review leave, FERS eligibility, insurance, and retirement planning options for federal employees.
Deferred Resignation Costs: Your Retirement Planning
Explore GAO's deferred resignation cost findings and what federal employees can review now about retirement timing, benefits records, and TSP.
Federal Job Security: Plan Your Retirement Options
Review federal job security changes and prepare for a career transition with clearer FERS, high-3, insurance, and TSP planning decisions.
RIF Assignment Rights: What They Mean for Retirement
Learn how RIF assignment rights affect federal employees, what a lower grade means for high-3 pay, and which retirement options to review.
Federal Workforce Cuts: Plan Your Retirement Options
Understand the deferred resignation debate and how federal employees can review retirement options, TSP decisions, and finances during staffing cuts.
Strategic Retirement Timing: Maximizing Your Federal Benefits Through Optimal Exit Dates
Your federal retirement date is a formula, not a feeling. How the exact day you leave changes your annuity, your leave payout and your first year of i
Bridging the Bureaucratic Gap: How OPM’s New eOPF Portal Impacts Your Retirement Strategy
OPM's new eOPF Document Request Service lets separated employees retrieve their records without a PIV card. How it fits into your retirement planning.
The Illusion of Immediate Access: Navigating OPM’s New eOPF Portal Amidst Processing Delays
OPM's new document portal promises instant access to your records, but processing delays tell another story. What separated federal employees should e
A 250-Year Legacy of Service: Securing the Futures of the Federal Workers Who Keep America Running
America's 250th year is a moment to look at the civil servants who keep it running, and at whether their own retirements are as secure as the work the
Securing the Line of Duty: OPM Proposes Rules to Protect Enhanced Retirement Benefits
OPM has proposed rules protecting enhanced retirement for law enforcement officers, firefighters and controllers injured in the line of duty. What cha
The Digital Illusion: Why OPM Retirement Processing Times Are Surging
OPM's move to digital retirement applications was meant to speed things up. Processing times are rising instead. What that means for your interim paym
The 2027 COLA Count Dips to 3.1 Percent: Protecting Your Purchasing Power in Retirement
The 2027 COLA count has dipped to 3.1 percent. What the figure means for your annuity's purchasing power, and why FERS retirees see less of it than CS
American Ingenuity That Reshaped the World: Building Your Own Legacy of Security
American innovation reshaped the world. A look at building your own legacy of security, and why retirement planning is the part most often left too la
Strategic Realignment: How Defense Spending Bills and DWCF Staffing Caps Impact Your Civil Service Benefits
Defense authorization bills and DWCF staffing caps are reshaping the DOD civilian workforce. What the changes mean for your benefits and retirement ti
Breaking the Logjam: How Expedited Court Action on Federal Appeal Rights Impacts Your Civil Service Protections and Retirement
Courts are moving faster on cases affecting federal appeal rights. What expedited action could mean for your job protections and your retirement plann
Closing the Leave Gap: Inside the Push for Comprehensive Paid Medical and Family Leave for Civil Servants
FEPLA gave federal employees 12 weeks of paid parental leave and left every other reason uncovered. Inside the push to close the paid medical leave ga
The 2027 COLA Count Surges to 3.6 Percent: Navigating the FERS “Diet COLA” Gap
The 2027 COLA count has risen to 3.6 percent. Why FERS retirees will not receive the full figure, and what the diet COLA gap costs you over a retireme
Maximizing Market Momentum: Aligning Core TSP Growth with Long-Term Retirement Security
TSP funds posted a strong run in the latest FRTIB reporting. Why a period of growth is the right moment to review your allocation rather than coast on
Maximizing the Roth In-Plan Conversion: Strategic Wealth Building Within the Thrift Savings Plan
The TSP now allows Roth in-plan conversions. How the option works, when converting makes sense, and the tax bill you need to plan for before you use i
Mitigating Career Volatility: Analyzing the Pentagon’s Civilian Workforce Reductions and Your Federal Benefits
A GAO report criticizes how the Pentagon has executed civilian workforce reductions. What the findings mean for your benefits if your position is affe
Shifting Foundations: Understanding the Realities of Schedule F Realignment and Federal Career Protections
A new executive order recalibrates civil service protections. What Schedule F style realignment changes about tenure, appeals and your retirement plan
The Shift to Skills-Based Promotions: Navigating OPM’s Proposal to Eliminate Time-in-Grade
OPM has proposed scrapping the time-in-grade rule for GS promotions. What skills-based advancement would change about your pay progression and your pe
The Hidden Cost of IRS Staffing Cuts: How Increased Overtime Impacts Federal Careers and Pensions
IRS staffing cuts are being absorbed through overtime. How that changes your high-3, your pension and the career math for those still in post.
Navigating the Shift: What Changing OPM Layoff Rules Mean for Your Federal Career and Benefits
OPM's proposed rule rewrites how federal layoffs are decided. What changes for retention standing, appeal rights and the benefits you would keep.
Balancing the Scales: How Federal Workforce Reductions Impact Employee Well-Being and Retirement Readiness
A TIGTA evaluation links federal workforce reductions to falling well-being and retirement readiness. What the findings mean if you are still deciding
The AI Era in the Federal Workforce: Embracing Education to Future-Proof Your Career
AI is changing federal roles faster than agencies can retrain. Why education and a clear retirement plan are the two hedges available to you now.
Navigating the 3 Percent COLA Count: What the Latest Inflation Jump Means for Your Federal Retirement
The COLA count has reached 3 percent after the latest inflation reading. What the figure means for your federal annuity and your purchasing power.