Tuesday, May 9, 2017

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

Friday, May 5, 2017

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

Friday, March 10, 2017

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

Wednesday, March 8, 2017

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),

Saturday, February 25, 2017

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.

Friday, February 24, 2017

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,

Saturday, February 18, 2017

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,

Tuesday, January 31, 2017

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

Thursday, January 19, 2017

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,

Tuesday, October 18, 2016

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,

Monday, October 17, 2016

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,

Thursday, September 29, 2016

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,

Monday, September 26, 2016

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?

Wednesday, August 17, 2016

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,

Wednesday, August 10, 2016

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"

Wednesday, July 20, 2016

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

Wednesday, June 22, 2016

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

Wednesday, May 25, 2016

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),

Tuesday, May 24, 2016

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