How COLA affects Social Security benefits

SSA increases your benefit beginning with the year you reach 62

Title: How COLA affects Social Security benefits

Article Snip: "...“You are eligible for annual cost-of-living benefits increases starting with the year you turn 62,” according to the Social Security Administration publication Your Retirement Benefit: How It’s Figured. “This is true even if you don’t file for benefits until your full retirement age or even age 70.” SSA increases your benefit beginning with the year you reach 62, and benefits are increased yearly to reflect the increase..."

Reference: www.investmentnews.com

The SSA Has an Online Portal for Social Security — Here’s Why You Should Use It

Title: The SSA Has an Online Portal for Social Security — Here’s Why You Should Use It

Article Snip: "...The Social Security Administration”my Social Security” portal allows you to apply for and manage all of your Social Security benefits online..."

Reference: yahoo.com

Government to pilot online retirement application

Title: Government to pilot online retirement application

Article Snip: "...Office of Personnel Management Director Kiran Ahuja told reporters on an Aug. 4 call that the agency will pilot an online retirement application system to address some short-term problems with the federal retirement system, namely slow processing times..."

Reference: www.armytimes.com

Veterns can get special extra earnings for Social Security: Are you getting yours?

NOTE: Most veterans claim the amount only adds about six dollars per month. But you need to make sure you are getting this added benefit

Title: Veterns can get special extra earnings for Social Security: Are you getting yours?

Article Snip: "...Social Security doesn't add these extra earnings to your record until you file for benefits. Here's How It Works The information that follows applies only to active duty military service earnings from 1940 through 2001. This program adds to your overall income factor and may have little effect on your actual monthly Social Security benefit, because the increased earnings do not automatically mean an equal increase in monthly benefits. Here's how the special extra earnings are credited..."

Reference: www.military.com
Veterans and Social Security, Veterans Special EXTRA earnings for Social Security,

Veterans Who Join the Civil Service Are Eligible for Valuable Service Credits

Title: Veterans Who Join the Civil Service Are Eligible for Valuable Service Credits

Article Snip: "...Let's take a look at how you can apply your military service toward FERS, see how the military service credit buyback program works, and discuss why this makes sense for many veterans..."

Reference: www.military.com
Veterans and FERS, CSRS and Veterans,

How much does Social Security increase each year after 62?

Title: How much does Social Security increase each year after 62?

Article Snip: "...If you claim Social Security at age 62, rather than wait until your full retirement age (FRA), you can expect up to a 30% reduction in monthly benefits. For every year you delay claiming Social Security past your FRA up to age 70, you get an 8% increase in your benefit..."

Reference: www.fidelity.com
How much does Social Security increase each year after 62?

What taxes can federal employees expect to pay after they retire from federal service?

Title: What taxes can federal employees expect to pay after they retire from federal service?

Article Snip: "...The only taxes that do not follow federal employees into retirement are payroll taxes. Payroll taxes are taxes you pay out of earnings in order to fund future benefits. Social Security tax (6.2%) and Medicare tax (1.45%) are only taken out of gross wages and net self-employment income (with a few exceptions, most notably for farmers). In addition, a retiree will not be making contributions for their pension. FERS pension contributions are 0.8%..."

Reference: www.fedsmith.com
What taxes can federal employees expect to pay after they retire from federal service?

Avoiding A Tax Bite When Receiving A Pension Distribution

Title: Avoiding A Tax Bite When Receiving A Pension Distribution

Article Snip: "...Employers of most pension plans are required to withhold a mandatory 20% of your lump sum retirement distribution when you leave their company. However, you can avoid this tax hit if you make a direct rollover of those funds to an IRA rollover account or another similar qualified plan. Failure to rollover the entire amount of your lump sum distribution may result in your paying unnecessary taxes on all or a portion of your retirement payout. The 20% withheld from your lump sum retirement distribution is a federal income tax prepayment similar to the federal income taxes withheld from your pay check..."

Reference: benefitslink.com

Qualified Longevity Annuity Contract (QLAC)

Title: Qualified Longevity Annuity Contract (QLAC)

Article Snip: "... What Is a Qualified Longevity Annuity Contract (QLAC)? A qualified longevity annuity contract (QLAC) is a type of deferred annuity funded with an investment from a qualified retirement plan or an individual retirement account (IRA)..."

Reference: www.investopedia.com
Qualified Longevity Annuity Contract (QLAC)

Provisional Income and Calculating Taxable Social Security Benefits

Title: Social Security and Taxes

Article Snip: "...Most retirees do not have to pay federal income taxes on their Social Security benefits, but for those who receive substantial income in addition to Social Security, up to 85 percent of the benefits may be taxable. According to the Social Security Administration, about one third of benefit recipients pay federal taxes on their Social Security benefits. The Social Security benefits may become taxable when retirees’ “provisional income” exceeds certain limits...combined income is greater than $44,000, then up to 85 percent of your benefit may be taxable...U.S. citizens who live in Canada and certain other countries (Egypt, Germany, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Romania or the United Kingdom) are exempt from U.S. tax on Social Security benefits regardless of their income. A lump sum death benefit is not subject to tax either..."

Reference: www.aarp.org
Provisional Income,Calculating Taxable Social Security Benefits, tax

Is a retirement pension considered income?

Title: Is a retirement pension considered income?

Article Snip: "...Pension payments, annuities, and the interest or dividends from your savings and investments are not earnings for Social Security purposes. You may need to pay income tax, but you do not pay Social Security taxes..."

Reference:
Pension Payments,social security,earned income,Taxes in Retirement,

What Is the Savers Credit?

Title: What Is the Savers Credit?

Article Snip: "...Depending on your adjusted gross income and tax filing status, you can claim the credit for 50%, 20% or 10% of the first $2,000 you contribute during the year to a retirement account. Therefore, the maximum credit amounts that can be claimed are $1,000, $400 or $200..."

Reference: intuit.com
Savers Credit

Retirement claims backlog continues to rise, exceeding January’s 8-year record

Title: Retirement claims backlog continues to rise, exceeding January’s 8-year record

Article Snip: "...Lackluster processing numbers and longer average processing times in the second half of 2020 helped set the stage for this loss of ground in early 2021. OPM said its “steady state” inventory of retirement claims is 13,000. Processing times rose significantly during the early months of COVID-19, and still haven’t returned to their pre-pandemic lows..."

Reference: federalnewsnetwork.com
OPM Retirement Processing,

How Unpaid Leave Impacts Your Benefits

Title: How Unpaid Leave Impacts Your Benefits

Article Snip: "...You won’t earn any annual or sick leave for a pay period in which you reach a total of 80 hours of LWOP. However, you will earn annual and sick leave during the following pay periods until you once more accumulate 80 hours of LWOP. Then your ability to earn sick or annual leave will end. If you are a part-time employee, the amount of leave you earn will be proportionately less..."

Reference: www.fedweek.com
How Unpaid Leave Impacts Your Benefits,Retirement benefits and LWOP, Retirement,

How to Navigate Taxation When Retiring From Your Government Job

Title: How to Navigate Taxation When Retiring From Your Government Job

Article Snip: "...High-three average salaries are used for the first basic annuity when considering retirement. If you are under the age of 62 at the time of retirement, you will get 1% of your high-3 average salary. If you’re older than 62 or have more than 20 years of service, you will get 1.1% of your high-3 average salary. There are exceptions to these general guidelines. For example..."

Reference: www.kake.com

Nalcrest Florida and The Former Fedhaven Florida (Retirment Communities for Feds and Postals)

Title: Nalcrest Florida and The Former Fedhaven Florida

Article Snip: "...All residents of this community have to be retired members of the National Association of Letter Carriers. A funny thing about NALCREST is that mail is not delivered to individual apartments; residents have to walk to the local post office to get their mail. Nearby Lakeshore was called FEDHAVEN for most of the years since it was built. It is about one mile east of NALCREST and was developed as a retirement community for retired federal employees..."

Reference: www.florida-backroads-travel.com
Nalcrest Florida, Fedhaven Florida, Postal Retirement Community, Federal Employee Retirement Community,

Lessons Learned Growing a TSP Balance Beyond $1M

Title: Lessons Learned Growing a TSP Balance Beyond $1M

Article Snip: "...FERS retiree and one of those TSP investors who have accumulated at least $1,000,000 in their TSP account while working as a federal civilian employee. In his article published February 28, 2020 in FEDweek (Becoming a TSP Millionaire: Don’t Try to Time the Market) Dallen Haws noted that “becoming a TSP millionaire is simple” and that at the end of 2019 there were nearly 50,000 federal employees with at least $1,000,000 in their TSP. I’d like to share with you..."

Reference: www.fedweek.com
TSP Millionaire Tips

5 Benefits of Serving in the Civil Service After Your Military Career

Title: 5 Benefits of Serving in the Civil Service After Your Military Career

Article Snip: "...Joining the federal civil service is a great way to continue serving your country while earning a respectable living and valuable retirement benefits. And if you formerly served on active duty, your military service can provide you with additional benefits..."

Reference: www.military.com

Pandemic prompts some feds to delay or reconsider retirement plans

Title: Pandemic prompts some feds to delay or reconsider retirement plans

Article Snip: "...A total of 92,008 federal employees retired in 2020, the fewest in nearly 10 years, according to a Federal News Network analysis of monthly data from the Office of Personnel Management. By contrast, OPM processed 101,580 retirements in 2019 and 107,612 in 2018..."

Reference:

Cash flexibility in retirement: Pros and cons of the TSP

Title: Cash flexibility in retirement: Pros and cons of the TSP

Article Snip: "...many federal and postal workers pull their retirement nest egg money out of the Thrift Savings Plan. So is that wise? Short answer..."

Reference: federalnewsnetwork.com