Republicans offer a big slap in the face to future and present federal retirees, FERS to take biggest hit

Title: Trump’s budget calls for hits on federal employee retirement programs

Article Snip: "...Increase Federal Employee Retirement System (FERS) contributions from workers by 1 percentage point each year until they equal the government’s contribution. This would take five to six years and would result in increased out-of-pocket payments of about 6 percent over that period...Eliminate supplement payments for FERS employees who retire beginning in 2018. The supplement approximates the value of Social Security benefits for those who retire before age 62..."

Reference: www.washingtonpost.com

Presidential Pensions and Other Income: Obama’s Speaking Fees Call Presidential Pension into Question

Title: Obama’s Speaking Fees Call Presidential Pension into Question

Article Snip: "...The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee chairman says he will re-introduce legislation to limit how much former presidents receive from the federal government..."

Reference: www.snopes.com
Presidential Pension

How to Cut Your Tax Bill on Your Federal Retirement Income

Title: How to Cut Your Tax Bill on Your Federal Retirement Income

Article Snip: "...This article will be of more interest to retirees than it will to current federal employees, however, if you’re close to retirement, you will pick up some helpful information if you read it..."

Reference:www.fedsmith.com

Almost 33% of American Workers Have Saved Nothing for Retirement

Title: The Top 7 Reasons Almost 33% of American Workers Have Saved Nothing for Retirement

Article Snip: "...There are many reasons people do (or don’t do) the things they should. According to GoBankingRates.com, almost 33% of American workers have saved nothing for retirement. That is an astounding statistic and spells trouble for the entire economy down the road..."

Reference: forextv.com

A federal employee retirement plan is a good model for better retirement saving

Title: A federal employee retirement plan is a good model for better retirement saving

Article Snip: "...The TSP offers a “target date” investing approach in which the plan automatically shifts federal employees’ savings from stock to bond funds as they approach retirement. And at retirement, the TSP offers annuities that let workers convert their lump sum savings into a monthly benefit that last for life. What’s not to like? A lot, according to Joanne Butler, a former House Ways and Means Committee staff ..."

Reference: www.aei.org

Social Security: Get your special extra earnings for periods of military active duty from 1957 through 2001

Title: Military Service and Social Security

Article Snip: "...Under certain circumstances, special extra earnings for periods of active duty from 1957 through 2001 can also be credited to your Social Security earnings record.
• From 1957 through 1967, we will add the extra credits to your record when you apply for Social Security benefits.
• From 1968 through 2001, you don’t need to do anything to receive these extra credits. The credits were automatically added to your record.
• After 2001, there are no special extra earnings credits for military service.
The information that follows explains how you can get credit for special extra earnings and applies only to active duty military service earnings from 1957 through 2001..."

Reference: www.ssa.gov
extra earnings for periods of military active duty (Social Security),

Warren Buffett says investors should stick with index funds

Title: Warren Buffett says investors should stick with index funds

Article Snip: "...Buffett, widely considered one of the world's best investors, said in his annual letter to shareholders. 'Both large and small investors should stick with low-cost index funds.'..."

Reference: www.reuters.com
Warren Buffett

More Reading: Warren Buffett says The Intelligent Investor: The Definitive Book on Value Investing, is “By far the best book on investing ever written.”. Get your copy from Amazon by clicking the link.

15 Social Security Stats That Will Blow You Away

Title: 15 Social Security Stats That Will Blow You Away

Article Snip: "...Social Security pays close to 61 million Americans about $918 billion in benefits annually. If that sounds like a heck of a lot, it is. But it's only about $15,000, on average, per person. 10: In order to qualify for Social Security benefits based on your earnings, you need to collect 40 credits, where a credit is represented by your earning of at least $1,260 (as of 2016) within a year, with up to four credits that can be earned per year. Thus, most of us can qualify simply by working for a decade. Even if you only worked half of each year, 20 years of working could qualify you..."

Reference: www.fool.com
social security,

Planning for a Delayed Retirement

Title: Planning for a Delayed Retirement

Article Snip: "...According to the Office of Personnel Management, the average retirement age for a federal employee between 2005 and 2014 was 60.2 years and average length of service was 27.8 years; 54 percent of those were age 60 or older; and half of retirees had 30 or more years of service..."

Reference: www.govexec.com
Data Sources, Retirement Data, Retirement, Average Retirement Age, Delayed Retirement,

White House Throws Weight Behind Cutting Feds’ Retirement, Health Benefits

Title: White House Throws Weight Behind Cutting Feds’ Retirement, Health Benefits

Article Snip: "...Chaffetz said he would protect employees already vested in their pensions, saying he did not want to “unduly scare” an employee already on the job for seven years and it would be “difficult” to go after existing workers’ retirements. Chaffetz also said his committee is considering ways to shrink the size of the federal workforce..."

Reference: www.govexec.com

When can I expect my 1099-R?

Title: Know when to expect your 1099R

Article Snip: "...You need a Form W-2 to file with your return. Not so with Forms 1099. In contrast to Forms W-2, you don’t file Forms 1099 with your return. Forms 1099 remind you that you earned interest, received a consulting fee, or were paid some other kind of income. There are many varieties, including 1099-INT for interest, 1099-DIV for dividends, 1099-G for tax refunds, 1099-R for pensions and 1099-MISC for miscellaneous income. These forms are sent by payors to you and the IRS..."

Reference: www.forbes.com
1099-R, 1099, 1099-MISC,

2017 Social Security COLA to be nearly wiped out by out-of-control Medicare Part B premiums

Title: Social Security Recipients Will Get Less than a $4 Increase next Year

Article Snip: "...The average monthly Social Security payment is $1,238. That translates into a monthly increase of less than $4 a month. More bad news for seniors: Medicare Part B premiums, which are usually deducted from Social Security payments, are expected to increase next year to the point in which they will probably wipe out the entire COLA..."

Reference: fortune.com
COLA (2017), Social Security, average monthly Social Security payment is $1,238 (as reported in 2016 article), Obama Legacy, Medicare Part B premiums, destruction of the American working class,

Best day to retire, when’s your magic moment?

Title: Best day to retire, when’s your magic moment?

Article Snip: "...Benefits expert Tammy Flanagan says that although many tend to concentrate on the December-January magic dates, there are other best dates too. She is with the National Institute of Transition Planning , and a regular columnist for Government Executive. She points out that there are different “best dates” depending on which retirement system you are under. ..."

Reference: federalnewsradio.com
best day to retire, Best Date to Retire,

Another Excuse To Take Away Your Social Security

Title: Another Excuse To Take Away Your Social Security

Article Snip: "...Bad enough that various left-wingers want to make Social Security “means-tested,” meaning that frugal workers who have saved for retirement get their government pensions clipped. Now we’ve got the Wall Street Journal offering up a case for short-changing retirees. At issue: The 8% boost you get..."

Reference: www.forbes.com
Social Security means testing,

How do i apply for Social Security?

Title: How to apply for Social Security Retirement Benefits

Article Snip: "...What is the easiest way to apply for my Social Security retirement benefits, and how far in advance do I need to apply before I start collecting? ..."

Reference: www.thespectrum.com
How do i apply for Social Security?

Social Security rolls back two-factor mandate

Title: Social Security rolls back two-factor mandate

Article Snip: "...Merkley cited Pew data that indicated that just 35 percent of Americans over the age of 65 use text messaging. "With the majority of individuals at or above Social Security retirement benefit age not equipped to text, developing alternative multi-factor authentication methods is crucial to ensuring that all recipients have equal access to their My Social Security accounts," Merkley wrote. SSA has not come up with a new two-factor verification method..."

Reference: fcw.com
multi-factor authentication,

FERS Application for Immediate Retirement and Information

Title: FERS Application for Immediate Retirement

Article Snip: "...This application is for you if you are a Federal employee covered by the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) and you wish to apply for retirement with an immediate annuity. You should use this application if you want to apply for an annuity which will begin within 30 days of your separation from Federal service ..."

Reference: OPM
"pamphlet SF 3113, Applying for Immediate Retirement Under the Federal Employees Retirement System"

Why You Should Try to Tape Conversations With Social Security

Title: Why You Should Try to Tape Conversations With Social Security

Article Snip: "...First, Social Security may be the most complex government policy yet designed by man. It has 12 different benefits, but is chock full of hidden secrets and gotchas that make collecting what you’re owed a user’s nightmare. Second, most people don’t do their homework before approaching Social Security’s 40,000 poorly trained and totally overwhelmed staff, over the phone or in the local office. Third, in my opinion, Social Security staff bats only 50%. Half of their answers are misleading, incomplete or dead wrong..."

Reference: www.forbes.com

Benefits of owning a Medicare supplement insurance policy

Title: Benefits of owning a Medicare supplement insurance policy

Article Snip: "...Medicare pays a portion of your health care costs for hospitalization, skilled nursing facility care and physician’s services and supplies. However, it does not pay all of your expenses and requires you to pay deductibles and coinsurance for many services. A Medicare supplement insurance policy can help pay some of the charges Medicare doesn’t cover..."

Reference: www.myeasternshoremd.com

CSRS and FERS Retirement Application Process

Title: CSRS and FERS Retirement Application Process

FERS Retirement Application

Article Snip: "...It’s never too early to start planning for retirement in order to ensure it goes smoothly. Here you will find information to help ensure your retirement starts well..."
Reference: www.opm.gov
SF-3107 (FERS), SF-2801 (CSRS),

OPM retirement processing: Another Glitch. Will you starve before benefits begin?

Title: Another Glitch in Processing Federal Retirement Applications?

Article Snip: "...As a consequence, you may experience an increase in contact from the Retirement Services for documents that we may need to complete a retirement case. EHRI has informed us that they are in the process of contracting for the resumption of this scanning service, and we will notify you when it restarts.”..."

Reference: blogs.fedsmith.com

Obama Claims Power to Make Illegal Immigrants Eligible for Social Security, Disability

Title: Obama Claims Power to Make Illegal Immigrants Eligible for Social Security, Disability

Article Snip: "...millions of individuals who are violating federal law that he will not enforce that law against them now, that they may continue to violate that law in the future and that he will take action that makes them eligible for federal benefit programs for which they are not currently eligible due to their unlawful status..."

Reference: cnsnews.com
DAPA

Donald Trump on Social Security

Title: Donald Trump on Social Security

Article Snip: "...Cannot change Medicare or Soc.Sec. and still win elections, Social Security isn't an "entitlement"; it's honoring a deal, Pay off debt; put $3T interest savings into Trust Fund, Let people invest their own retirement funds, ..."

Reference: www.ontheissues.org

Strongest Candidate on Social Security Protection: Bernie Sanders on Social Security

Title: Bernie Sanders on Social Security

Article Snip: "...Criminal to not have COLA increases for seniors, Defend against chained CPI, and expand Social Security, No cuts; no privatization; even to deal with deficit , Raise the Social Security cap on taxable income. Despite GOP rhetoric, Social Security is NOT going bankrupt ..."

Reference: www.ontheissues.org

Hillary Clinton on Social Security

Title: Hillary Clinton on Social Security

Article Snip: "...During her 2008 presidential bid, Clinton was relatively non-committal about reforms to the Social Security program. She said in 2007 that certain reforms such as cutting benefits, privatizing the program or raising the retirement age were "off the table." There were some articles at the time that gave mixed signals on whether she would be willing to increase payroll taxes..."

Reference: www.ontheissues.org

Ted Cruz on Social Security

Title: Ted Cruz on Social Security

Article Snip: "...Q: How would you protect Social Security for today's seniors and strengthen it for future generations?

A: On Social Security, I am campaigning on a series of very specific reforms. For seniors receiving Social Security or near Social Security, there should be no changes in benefits whatsoever. For younger workers, we need to do three fundamental reforms.
1. Gradually increase the retirement age.
2. Social Security benefits right now grow about 1% greater than inflation; we should have those benefits grow at the rate of inflation, not 1% more.
3. Third change that I think is absolutely critical is to allow taxpayers to have a portion of the Social Security funds go to a personal account that they own and control.

Source: Texas Tribune Interview in 2012 AARP Senate Voter Guide , Aug 24, 2012 ..."

Reference: www.ontheissues.org
Ted Cruz on Social Security, supports privatization,

Figuring Out Your FERS Annuity

Title: Figuring Out Your FERS Annuity

Article Snip: "...Under FERS, you can retire on an immediate, unreduced annuity if you meet one of the following age and service requirements..."

Reference: www.fedweek.com
FERS annuity

Retirement Calculator: Federal Ballpark E$timate® from OPM site

Title: Retirement Calculator: Federal Ballpark E$timate® from OPM site

Article Snip: "... Federal Ballpark E$timate® was developed by the Employee Benefit Research Institute® and its American Savings Education Council® (ASEC®) program ..."

Reference: the-best-calculator.blogspot.com
Federal Ballpark E$timate®

10 Things that Will Improve Your USAJOBS Resume

Title: 10 Things that Will Improve Your USAJOBS Resume

Article Snip: "...what the DIY person can do to their resume to make it better. Here are 10 easy-to-implement suggestions: Create a Skills Summary or Professional Profile. This is great way ..."

Reference: www.fedweek.com
USAJOBS Resume Tips

Social Security in the crosshairs: replacement rates again

Title: Social Security in the crosshairs: replacement rates again

Article Snip: "...The stage is being set for cuts in Social Security, and the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has become a major player in this effort..."

Reference:
www.marketwatch.com social security,

The Best Financial Tips Fit On An Index Card

Title: Can The Best Financial Tips Fit On An Index Card?

The Index Card

Article Snip: "...The ideas on the index card weren't new pay off your credit cards, invest in low-fee index funds, etc. but there clearly was an appetite for this simple, good financial advice. So Pollack and Olen have now written a book (The Index Card: Why Personal Finance Doesn’t Have to Be Complicated) about it. Which if the whole point is that this stuff is so simple you can fit it on an index card might seem counterintuitive ..."
Reference: www.gpb.org
Best Financial Tips, The Index Card,

Title: Paying Income Tax on Social Security Benefits

Article Snip: "...Whether or not you'll be required to pay federal income tax on your Social Security benefits will depend on your income and filing status. About 35 percent of Social Security recipients have total incomes high enough to trigger federal income tax on their benefits ..."

Reference: www.huffingtonpost.com
Social Security and taxes,

Social Security options for single seniors

Title: Social Security options for single seniors

Article Snip: "...Widows, widowers and divorcees approaching retirement and about to file for Social Security, though, need to recognize filing options that can significantly increase monthly benefits. While rules are different for surviving spouses and divorcees..."

Reference: www.usatoday.com
Social Security

Maybe we need more Social Security, not less

Title: Maybe we need more Social Security, not less

Article Snip: "...The bill enables our government to borrow yet more billions of dollars. At the same time, it eliminates the ability of some to use the many rules of Social Security to squeeze out a few more bucks in benefits..."

Reference: www.mystatesman.com

S. 2251: Sen. Elizabeth Warren Introduces Bill Providing One-time Payment of $581 to Social Security Beneficiaries, Veterans

Title: Sen. Elizabeth Warren Introduces Bill Providing One-time Payment of $581 to Social Security Beneficiaries, Veterans

Article Snip: "...On Thursday, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) introduced S. 2251, the Seniors and Veterans Emergency Benefits Act. The bill would provide a one-time payment in 2016 to Social Security beneficiaries, veterans, and others of $581, or 3.9% of the average Social Security retirement benefit. The legislation would not only help current retirees, but also make an important statement about fairness. Last year the average CEO pay increase was 3.9%, while retirees and people with disabilities will be going without any cost-of-living adjustment in 2016..."

Reference: www.apwu.org
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), S. 2251,

Don’t Forget to ‘Turn On’ Your Benefits

Title: Don’t Forget to ‘Turn On’ Your Benefits

Article Snip: "...what steps federal employees need to take to receive their benefits after retirement. As with most questions in life, the answer can be complex. Once an employee determines they are eligible for retirement..."

Reference: www.govexec.com

FEHB and FEGLI Benefits on Retirement

Title: FEHB and FEGLI Benefits on Retirement

Article Snip: "...a larger question that readers keep asking me. “If I leave government on an immediate, postponed, deferred or disability annuity, will I be able to continue my Federal Employees Health Benefits coverage? And while you’re at it, I have the same question about my Federal Employees’ Group Life Insurance coverage.”..."

Reference: www.fedweek.com
FEHB in retirement, FEGLI in retirement,

FAQ on Social Security COLAs: AARP shares what, when, how, why

Title: FAQ on Social Security COLAs: AARP shares what, when, how, why

Article Snip: "...COLAs currently understate the cost of living for the elderly, because they are based on increases in the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W), which only measures the spending of families who make most of their income from wage earners or clerical workers. It excludes families whose main sources of income are pensions and Social Security..."

Reference: www.usatoday.com
2016 COLA (Social Security),

Mike Huckabee Speaks Out on Social Security

Title: Mike Huckabee Speaks Out on Social Security

Article Snip: "...Huckabee continued: And the government has squandered what they paid in, and there are some that think the answer to that is to just break the promises to Americans. I think that’s the wrong answer, because it isn’t workers’ faults that their money has been squandered..."

Reference: www.breitbart.com
Social Security

‘Where Can We Find Retirement Income Facts?’

Title: Feds Ask, ‘Where Can We Find Retirement Income Facts?’

Article Snip: "...Where can you find information about federal pensions? ...Where can I find info I need about my Social Security retirement income benefits?...How much should be put into the TSP?..."

Reference: www.fedsmith.com