Friday, December 16, 2011

Attack on Federal Retirement Benefits: H.R. 3630

Title: House Republicans Attack Postal and Federal Retirement Benefits

Article Snip: "...The House of Representatives voted 243-193 on Dec. 13 to pass the so-called “Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2011,” which would cut take-home pay for postal and federal workers by increasing their contributions to the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) and the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS). The bill also would slash unemployment benefits, place unreasonable burdens on unemployed workers, and cut vital healthcare programs...."

Reference: www.apwu.org
H.R. 3630, Federal Retirement Benefits, Postal Retirement,

Friday, December 9, 2011

Reducing Federal Pensions

Title: New House Republican bill takes aim at fed pensions, pay

Article Snip: "...increasing the contribution federal employees pay toward their retirement, and reducing pensions for new employees...."

Reference: www.federaltimes.com
Federal Pension cuts,

Saturday, November 26, 2011

Lawmakers seek more oversight over Social Security Disability Checks

Title: Lawmakers seek Social Security check protections

Article Snip: "...Fourteen Republicans on the House Ways and Means Committee want more scrutiny of how the Social Security Administration oversees benefit checks..."

Reference: Social Security Newsgroup

Postal Employee Retirement Community

Title: Neither rain nor heat nor gloom of night stops folks from living large at the unofficial retirement community of the National Association of Letter Carriers.

Article Snip: "...With an efficiency renting for under $75 in 1964, Nalcrest [Florida] was nirvana for postal retirees. It remains a bargain: A one-bedroom rents for only $305, and dinners at Jay Bee's II, the town's only restaurant, average $6. ..."

Reference: nationalgeographic.com

Friday, November 25, 2011

Federal retirement Policy changes on the way?

Title: How the supercommittee’s failure will impact federal employees

Article Snip: "...Newly hired employees after the transition point would get only the defined contribution plan. That would be a very major change in federal retirement policy …..."

Reference: www.washingtonpost.com
Rep. Issa, Federal Retirement Changes,

Saturday, November 19, 2011

Federal Employment Opportunities in Michigan

Title: 11 tips for landing one of the more than 200 federal jobs advertised in Michigan

Article Snip: "...Even with the U.S. government laying off thousands nationally every week, the federal jobs website is still advertising 204 federal jobs in Michigan. ..."

Reference: www.mlive.com
federal employment

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Federal Employee Retirement Processing Backlog Grows

Title: OPM: Problem of late pension payments getting worse

Article Snip: "...The Office of Personnel Management's backlog of pending retirement cases has grown 58 percent since Director John Berry first pledged to solve the problem more than a year ago...."

Reference: www.federaltimes.com
Federal Employee Retirement Processing,

Friday, November 11, 2011

USPS Retirement Funding Issue

Title: Bishop signs letter saying post office faces big pension burden

Article Snip: "..."No other public or private business in America" except for the U.S. Postal Service must fund 100 percent of employee retirement and retirement health costs in advance. ..."

Reference: www.politifact.com
usps retirement

TSP Summary

Title: U.S. Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Aug. Summary

Article Snip: "...the federal employee retirement thrift investment plan summary for Aug., according to the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board. ..."

Reference: www.bloomberg.com

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Report says Federal Employees way underpaid

Title: Federal government says its employees are 25 percent UNDERPAID compared to private sector workers

Article Snip: "...federal employees 26.3 percent underpaid compared to private sector workers in similar jobs. The gap has grown 2 percentage points since last year..."

Reference: www.dailymail.co.uk
Federal employee pay,

Saturday, November 5, 2011

Chained CPI offers more cuts to the working class

Title: Debt panel likes ‘chain' COLA; ‘Tricare Prime' cut offered

Read more: http://www.thenewstribune.com/2011/11/05/1893461/debt-panel-likes-chain-cola-tricare.html#ixzz1csX2LZk5

Article Snip: "...If that CPI were already in use, military retirees, disabled veterans and social security recipients would be getting a 3.4 percent COLA in January rather than the planned 3.6 percent hike, government price data show...."

Reference: www.thenewstribune.com

Monday, October 31, 2011

Federal Employee: Best day to retire

Title: The Best Day to Retire From Now Until 2020

Article Snip: "...One of the biggest reasons that employees choose to retire around the end of the year is to cash in a large amount of use or lose leave. Assume we have an employee..."

Reference: www.fedsmith.com
best day to retire,

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Federal Employee Buyouts Galore

Title: Everybody's got a price. What's yours?

Article Snip: "...Currently buyouts are available at Agriculture, Air Force, ATF, U.S. Courts, Education, FTC, GAO, GPO, Housing and Urban Development, Justice, Library of Congress, the USPS, SBA, Smithsonian and the TSA. ..."

Reference: www.federalnewsradio.com
Federal Buyouts, Early Retirements,

Federal employee retirement systems cumulatively face $5.7 trillion in unfunded liability

Title: The Worst Pension Gap

Article Snip: "...The Federal Employees Retirement System was created in 1986 to take the place of the old Civil Service Retirement System. Civilian federal employees hired prior to 1984 remained in the old system, while..."

Reference: www.governing.com
Federal employee retirement systems

Monday, October 24, 2011

Federal Health Care Tip

Title: Playing Russian roulette with your health plan

Article Snip: "...If you are a federal or postal worker who is close to retirement, thinking about taking a buyout, likely to be laid off or are involved in a shaky marriage, listen up: Your lifetime health insurance benefits may be in danger. ..."

Reference: www.federalnewsradio.com
Federal employees health care

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Federal retirees to get 3.6 percent COLA increase

Title: Federal retirees to get COLA increase

Article Snip: "...an increase of 3.6 percent for most, following the announcement Wednesday of Consumer Price Index figures through September...."

Reference: www.washingtonpost.com
2012 COLA, Federal Retirees, Federal Retirement COLA,

2012 COLA for Social Security will be 3.6 percent

Title: Social Security benefits to rise 3.6 percent

Article Snip: "...Social Security retirement benefits for about 55 million people will go up by 3.6 percent next year, the first cost-of-living increase since 2009, the U.S. Social Security Administration said on Wednesday...."

Reference: www.reuters.com

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

2012 Social Security COLA

Title: Social Security: seniors to see COLA increase in 2012

Article Snip: "...The exact size of the COLA is yet to be determined, but it should be somewhere between ..."

Reference: www.csmonitor.com
2012 COLA amount,

Saturday, October 15, 2011

Lawmaker wants to extend Federal worker retirement age

Title: Lawmaker urges end to early federal retirement

Article Snip: "...Federal workers, including members of Congress and congressional employees, would not be able to receive their pensions until age 62 under Duncan's proposal...."

Reference: www.govexec.com
Federeal Retirement