OPM Makes Progress on Retirement Claims, but Backlog Persists
August 5, 2014
Despite making some progress, the Office of Personnel Management has a long way to go before catching up on processing retirement claims. As of May, OPM had a backlog of 14,551 retirement papers from federal workers that still had not yet been processed. This, however, marks an improvement from February of this year when the […]
Who’s The Boss?
August 5, 2014
The federal government has inadequate systems in place to track vacancies of top positions at executive branch agencies, according to a recent Brookings Institution report. Released in June, the report determined that vacancies of top brass at the Department of Homeland Security “reached crisis proportions” in 2013, in part because several key posts remained unfilled, […]
Retirement Does Not Have to be Bleak If We Get to Work Today
August 4, 2014
Today, Americans are contending with the most uncertain financial prospects since the Great Depression. More than half of U.S. households will not have the ability to maintain their standard of living in retirement, according to the National Retirement Risk Index. Today’s cost of living is not tomorrow’s cost of living. The price of a decent […]
New Laws Can Cut Into Your Bottom Line
August 4, 2014
We once thought your federal job benefits were relatively set in stone. You knew exactly how much you were obligated to contribute to your pension. You got a raise every year. And you figured if you put in just the right number of years, you could walk away from your career fulfilled, and most importantly, […]
Tap Dancing Your Way into Federal Retirement
July 9, 2014
Don’t you wish retirement planning could be as carefree as Gene Kelly’s iconic performance of “Singin’ in the Rain”? If only we could have that extraordinary feeling of levity, twirling around lampposts after kissing a Hollywood starlet, while hunkered down with our calculator and sharpened No. 2 pencil. Unfortunately, life on the big screen is […]
Combat Uncertain Times with Confidence
July 3, 2014
Budget cuts, sequestration, government shutdowns — no wonder morale in the federal workforce has taken such a huge blow. Gleaned from interviews with human resource leaders at 43 federal agencies, a report released in May revealed what many federal workers already know: Years of pay freezes, furloughs and government shutdowns have cast a cloud of […]
Capitol Hill curveball? Let’s knock it out of the park.
June 27, 2014
U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio made many headlines recently when he unveiled a plan that will likely have an impact on federal government workers. The senator from Florida proposed opening up the Thrift Savings Plan – federal workers’ 401(k)-style retirement investment fund – to all Americans whose employers do not offer similar defined-contribution plans. The proposal […]
Congress Revives Tax Law that Could Jeopardize Federal Workers’ Employment
June 16, 2014
U.S. government workers may be placing their jobs in jeopardy if they fall behind on their federal taxes. Following previously failed attempts, legislation is being revived again in Washington that would prevent “seriously delinquent” taxpayers from federal employment. In May, a Senate committee approved a bill – introduced by Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Oklahoma) and cosponsored […]
U.S. Government Workers: How to Avoid the Headache of Retirement Planning
June 11, 2014
When many of us start thinking about planning for retirement, we often believe we have ample time to get to it later in life, or the thought alone fills us with dread. Sometimes, we just don’t want to deal with it. If you’re a U.S. government worker, it’s a topic rife with just as many […]
U.S. Postal Service workers may see drastic changes to their benefits
June 6, 2014
U.S. Postal Service workers and retirees are facing an uncertain future when it comes to their health care and pension benefits. In May, the Postal Service’s Office of Inspector General released a report that took a look at the agency’s long-term labor expenses. As of the 2013 fiscal year, the Postal Service had approximately $47 […]
