Tap Dancing Your Way into Federal Retirement

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 rarely a reflection of reality, especially when we are forced to wrap our minds around things like annuities, Thrift Savings Plan, Social Security, pensions and health insurance policies, and making sure all of those investment instruments work in concert when you decide to retire.

Fortunately, as a federal government worker, you have plenty of options that can, if properly managed, ensure you won’t be counting pennies when you should be playing a care-free round of golf.

Our mission is to help make your retirement planning process as easy as singing in the rain. It’s a hard road to travel alone, requiring a delicate balance of proper investments and management of your federal benefits. Managing your money, especially when you are no longer working full-time, can be difficult, and of course the government doesn’t make it straightforward.

For example, here’s how you calculate your pension payout:

According to the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, “Your ‘high-3’ average pay is the highest average basic pay you earned during any (three) consecutive years of service. These three years are usually your final three years of service, but can be an earlier period, if your basic pay was higher during that period. Your basic pay is the basic salary you earn for your position. It includes increases to your salary for which retirement deductions are withheld, such as shift rates.”
Our job is to break down this bureaucratese into plain English that we can understand. Your retirement plan should not be stopped in its tracks or poorly managed because of a paragraph that will no doubt give you a headache and make you waste time better spent elsewhere.

During our free one-on-one consultations, we will ask you a series of questions to help us understand your retirement goals. Knowing these will help us work with you to take the most advantage of your federal benefits.

On our website, you will find a few questions to get you started thinking about this process:

• Is your retirement income enough to maintain your standard of living?
• Have you considered the increased cost of health insurance in retirement?
• Have you considered the new credit FERS employees receive for unused sick leave?

Plus, we offer an assortment financial products and tools to guide you toward a more secure retirement future, like rolling over the funds in your Thrift Saving Plan into an annuity. Contact us today with any questions.