Articles
All the latest articles covering the information that you will be craving to devour will be available via this category. From getting to know how indebted our company is to reading about the presidential elections; from knowing about new retirement plans to finding out how security breaches can affect your life; you can browse it all!
For more articles, visit our articles’ section.
Public Sector Retirement, LLC (‘PSR,’ ‘PSRetirement.com’ or the ‘Site’) is a news channel focusing on federal and postal retirement information. Although PSR publishes information believed to be accurate and from authors that have proclaimed themselves as experts in their given field of endeavor but PSR cannot guarantee the accuracy of any such information not can PSR independently verify such professional claims for accuracy. Expressly, PSR disclaims any liability for any inaccuracies written by authors on the Site, makes no claims to the validity of such information. By reading any information provided by June Kirby or other Authors you acknowledge that you have read and agree to be bound by the Terms of Use
Looking to start your savings or retirement accounts?
A recent study that was conducted by the ORC international and the Federal Credit Union of the Navy revealed that the military youngsters are incredibly and remarkably more inclined towards taking up the savings and/or the retirement funds than the youngsters from the general population. Saving money is something everybody wants to do but not many are able to do it because it’s definitely easier said than done. Everybody is aware of the importance but not many are able to get started without facing challenges. For those who have just joined the military or have been there for some time now, there are enough retirement accounts opening facilities for them to be able to be satisfied:
An emergency fund is one of the best avenues to take upon in this regard. Emergencies can never really be avoided because of their sudden transpiring nature. What we can do however is to be prepared once we are faced with any predicament. For people that can have retirement accounts or savings’ ones for that matter, an emergency fund can go a long way. You can just get it opened without any hassle and don’t touch it unless you absolutely have to. Make small additions to it every month and you should be able to have money when your car needs a sudden repair or any other such out of the blue emergence of something.
The best way to make your retirement accounts filled with money all the time is to take small steps. Don’t try to be extravagant and put all of your month’s salary in there. Another thing to remember in this regard is to start as early as you can. Often officers start late in their service tenure and when they reach their retirement they don’t have much in their accounts to look forward to. There are many avenues to take upon like the IRAs, 403(b)s and the 401(k)s etc. in this regard.
New Employee Stock Plans to Be Produced by CST
CST Brands has been a great and credible vendor for the past few years and they are the owner of the excellent venture Corner store which is a massive chain of convenience stores. They are expected to up the ante a bit more and issue some nice little (Well not so little) employee stock plans for officers and employees. This will allow the employees to get a chance to buy their stock and will in turn help the company in building up their customer service a notch or two too.
CST announces employee stock plans
Beginning January the 1st, the employees of the chain are going to have a great option under their sleeves. They will be able to part with a small portion of their salaries to be able to get shares of some of the stock in discounted prices. These employee stock plans are only applicable to those of the employees that have stayed with the company for a period of 6 months or more.
This cycle will continue every 6 months and the employees will have a choice to buy some stocks after this time period. The discounted price will amount to around 85 percent of the actual prices and they can make the purchases on either the 1st or the ending day of the six month enrolment tenure; they can make the choice which suits them best.
The CEO Kim Lubel has stressed on the fact that he was always in the mood to make stock offerings to his employees and since CST made the spin-off from Valero 2 years ago, he had this in the back of his mind. He believes that this is going to allow the employees to find more job satisfaction and eventually the customers will benefit from this venture too when they will be treated with better services.
Details about the new military retirement system
Soon we will be hearing from the Defense Department regarding the new military retirement system that’s set to be put in to effect from January the 1st of 2018. There are some intricate details regarding the system that are to be shared and everybody is looking forward to hearing something that they would like to hear.
Details about the new military retirement system:
During 2016, the armed personnel can expect the implementation of the financial education programs that are going to be spread across the whole force and will allow the service members that are eligible to get help regarding making decisions of selecting retirement packages. They can either get enrolled in a new retirement plan or just go with the rudimentary benefit that is given under the grandfather clause. Even though, as mentioned the plan will not be put in to practice before 2018, all the already in service troopers will be offered the traditional grandfather clause that is part of the basic 20 year retirement system.
If you entered the troops after January 1st 2006, then you will have the liberty to choose between the 401 (k) system and the offered one. This would definitely create an ambience of uncertainty as 2018 approaches near for the people that are in the middle of their services.
The troopers who came before 2006 and have served for over 12 years, will be given the chance to opt for a waiver but because this ensures few financial fruits, not many would like to make the switch.
There have been cases where the Pentagon has forcefully asked some of the troops to take upon retirement plans but with the new military retirement system and its launch, it’s expected that things are going to get a lot more open to choice of the military.
WHAT YOU DON’T KNOW COULD TAKE A BIG BITE OUT OF YOUR WALLET
There are approximately 2,700,000 members of the federal workforce and of those members only about 42,000 are members of Worldwide Assurance for Employees of Public Agencies (WAEPA). The organization was founded by federal employees for federal employees as a nonprofit in 1943 during World War II. Membership in the organization was limited to those personnel serving overseas assignments. Then in 1973, membership was opened to federal personnel irrespective of their duty station.
The organization is committed to informing and servicing the federal workforce by providing access to life insurance and other services for civilian employees of the Federal Government. Federal employees are wise to explore how they might optimize their benefits and save money at the same time. For example, if a federal employee has not purchased Long Term Care Insurance (LTC) by age 50 the cost goes up dramatically. This is coverage that many people need, including federal employees, but often wonder if all is lost if they don’t take action by age 50.
The good news is that there are often opportunities on the open market that should be explored and by knowing the benefits offered via WAEPA as members, some of those benefits might be just what is needed to give federal employees the added protection needed in retirement for a safe and secure future. WAEPA offers college scholarships to eligible children of its members who attend four year colleges or vocational schools. What a great benefit to members considering the high cost of college. We all know the importance of a college education and understand what a disadvantage it is to pursue opportunities in the job market without a college degree.
The opportunities and advantages offered to WAEPA members may not be reaching the core of federal employees who would benefit from knowing what WAEPA offers. What you don’t know could take a big bite out of your wallet.
P. S. Always Remember to Share What You Know.
Dianna Tafazoli
How TSP Funds Can Be The Financial Benefit You Need
How TSP funds can be the financial benefit you need
Urban pointed out that one of the best motivations to leave your cash in the TSP funds, is the low managerial costs, which depend on the extent of your record equalization. For instance, the G Fund’s cost proportion for 2014 was .029 percent. In this manner, on the off chance that you put resources into the TSP in 2014, your profits were lessened by 29 cents for each $1,000 of your TSP funds. This is much lower than most private plans.
In the event that you apply for a TSP funds before you resign (or separate) and pick not to reimburse the advance equalization after you leave benefit, this does not count as a detriment to the one-time post-partition halfway dispersion. In any case, you ought to likewise realize this will postpone the time that it takes to choose a post-partition withdrawal. The TSP will hold up 90 days after partition to check whether you are going to pay back the advance. At the end of the day, a retiree can’t choose another TSP conveyance for 90 to 120 days (the time it takes the organization to send the detachment notification to the Thrift and the 90 day window for reimbursing the advance with an individual check).Although this methodology may postpone your next post-division withdrawal, it can be an approach to get the utilization of some of your TSP funds preceding your retirement; in spite of the fact that this will be an asses sable dispersion if you pick not to reimburse the advance.
Know about duty punishments on the off chance that you isolate before the year in which you achieve age 55 or on the off chance that you isolate before the year in which you came to age 50 on the off chance that you resigned under extraordinary procurement for open security officers (law requirement officers, fire contenders or air movement controllers). Isolating in the year you turn age 55 or later is a special case to the 10 percent punishment charge in the event that you choose regularly scheduled installments or a halfway appropriation specifically from the TSP.
On June 29, President Obama marked the Defending Public Safety Employees’ Retirement Act. This corrects the Internal Revenue Code to permit determined government law implementation officers, traditions and fringe assurance officers, elected firefighters, and air movement controllers who separate from administration in or after the year they turn age 50 to make a withdrawal from the TSP funds without bringing about a 10 percent early withdrawal punishment. The TSP is right now checking on the law and how it applies to the TSP records of open well being officers. They hope to distribute data on www.tsp.gov ahead of time of the law’s viable date of Dec. 31, 2015.
To make sure that you are qualified to pull back cash from the TSP funds after you have left government administration, it is suggested that you contact the Thrift Line to see whether the TSP has gotten your “partition notice” from your organization (and that any unpaid advance equalization have been finished). At the point when calling the Thrift Line (1-877-968-3778), press #3 to identify with the operator directly.
Robert B. Hayling Dies
Dr. Robert B. Hayling who was a dentist born in Tallahassee was also known as a civil rights leader in the majority of St. Augustine died last Sunday at his home in Fort Lauderdale. Aged 86, Robert was a real country man and there weren’t many people who didn’t love him.
Robert B. Hayling dies:
Robert B. Hayling led a life of dignity and service throughout. He was initially the head of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference that was initiated by the great Martin Luther King Jr. The conference used to take place within the city and is said to have a pivotal rule in Lyndon Johnson’s steps towards passing the Civil Rights act in 1964. This is not the only reason for his increased recognition amongst the African Americans; he was also the first African American dentist to have been elected in state, national and local components of the ADA in Florida.
During 1963, Robert asked the contemporary president Johnson to not go to the 400th commemoration conference of the anniversary of St. Augustine just because the separated celebrations were just white.
Throughout his life, Robert left no stone unturned in his efforts of uplifting of the African American community. His death marks a tragic end to the insightful and experienced inputs that he usually made. Hayling also played a pivotal rule in the creation of “Civil Rights in the Sunshine” state exhibit that took place in the Museum of Florida in 2014. There have been nothing but good words said by many different dignified figures of the community and everybody has lauded him for his services and expressed great grief on his departure. The people of St. Augustine consider him as a local legend. Here’s hoping that he finds the same sanctitude after his death that he found during his life. Amen.
Substantial Time Improvements Seen In Retirement Processing
OPM speeds up Retirement processing:
Retirement processing has always been a tedious task but since October there have been some good changes made. On average, it took 37 days to get a case approved during the month of November and it’s a stark improvement compared to the 60 days it took in the earlier months.
Office of Personnel management managed to receive around 6,019 claims and it managed to get around 6100 claims during the month and that’s a great update.
The agency also made some serious changes to retirement claims and have now added a lot of data about the time it might take federal officers to get their retirement benefits. Retirement processing is now expected to take lesser time and this will also be indicated in the reports that are going to be presented to the retirees.
Advancements like these always fail to catch substantial media attention whereas critics are always ready to take the toll on OPM whenever something bad occurs. It’s only fair to appreciate when some good quality work is done too.
THE PRESIDENT IS NOT IMMUNE FROM CYBER ATTACKS
There was such an uproar about the cyber attack at the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) that impacted so many current and retired federal employees and their families and also government contractors a few months back. We heard a lot about the security of records at OPM. The security breach caused the Director of the agency’s head to roll – Katherine Archuleta. The security breach of the President’s email account didn’t get as much traction since it did not involve a compromise to over 4 million federal employees.
Technology has increased efficiency globally. The downside of technology is that it can be used to commit acts counter to the safety and security of the nation. The country’s need for skilled and talented Information Technology (IT) personnel ranks at the top of the list for government recruitment offices. The Federal Government is having a hard time keeping pace with the private sector. I can see the lure of Silicon Valley –Microsoft-Facebook and other luminaries in the computer industry. However, the real problem with recruitment for the Federal Government is that the Government is selling itself short. They say they can’t pay as much money as the private sector and therefore find themselves out of the game. The truth is the Federal Government has an entire menu of things the private sector could never offer.
If we merely concentrate on big names like those Silicon Valley guys then we are not going to cut mustard. Not everybody wants to pack up and move to Silicon Valley but a whole lot of people want to live in the city or somewhere near the seat of power-Washington, DC. The second attraction is that your chances of getting a great job in IT as a full-time employee or a contractor are much better if you have some Government experience on your resume. After all, huge private companies (Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman) are huge because they exist off of Government money. Private industry does not exist without the Government because it does not have the resources of the Government. The Government is the largest employer in the country. Private industry could not begin to create and offer the number of jobs Government can. Government recruiters need to bring their A game to colleges and universities and high schools to begin the marketing lure early. Government has a lot of ammunition if they only knew how to use it.
There is a semantics game that is played in our society – private is better than public. Is private better than public because of the mere name or is it because of some other unknown feature? You probably get more holidays working in the Government than otherwise. You probably earn more leave –vacation and sick and you have the opportunity to get a raise most years with the Cost of Living Increases and by other means. A layoff in private industry is real. A Government shutdown is simply political wrangling. Bottom line is the Government does not know how to sell itself.
P. S. Always Remember to Share What You Know.
Dianna Tafazoli
Some Teamsters Fuming Over Retirement Funding Usage
A recent town hall meeting that took place in the major gathering hall of Toledo led to the inception or probably the disclosure of a political controversy and this has garnered some fame and attention from the critics and also the general population. What became news/knowledge for some of the teamsters (retired and current) was that their retirement funding that come from the union have been wrongly made use of by some of the interest bodies in their urge to make deductions to the pension plans of these teamsters. A staggering amount of around 6 million was being wrongly snatched away from the union funds and what was the motive behind it? To try to incline the law formulating personnel to make cuts to the pension and social security plans. A trustee from the Central Pension Fund plan, Bill Litchenwald was given the duty to address the fuming trustees in this regard:
Trustees fuming over retirement funding usage:
There were allegations and loads of them being made by Bill in this regard. “Allegations” is a keyword in the preceding sentence because there was no credibility in the way he uttered his words. A worth mentioning point is that Bill is himself allegedly involved in this misappropriation of funds. This was the reason why the crowd was upon him as soon as he came centre stage. Bill tried to apologize and tell sad things to the crowd assuming a defensive role but that card too was turned down.
Almost all the teamsters that were part of the event will now have to face around 50 percent decrease in their retirement funding schemes and rates. Bill put the whole weight of the situation on the Congress saying that it is going to be their word that is going to be taken in this regard and there is nothing he could do about it. His blame game further continued when he said that the federal government is not supporting the state and the funding schemes in any way.
This issue is unlikely to see an end soon and here’s hoping that whatever ends up transpiring is better for the majority.
.
Mailing Letters Finished by OPM
Recently all of the victims of the recent OPM data breach started to get letters from the organization which at first appeared to be spams but later discoveries revealed that those were in fact sent by the organization. All of the current federal employees and the retirees who got their personal data (Social security numbers and other sensitive information) compromised in the breach have been sent notifications.
All OPM data breach notified:
Six months after the breach was told about to the public, the office of personnel management made the announcement that that it has now sent letters comprising of notifications to around 94 percent of the 21 million American officers that had got their information compromised by the OPM data breach.
There were in fact two big data breaches that occurred at almost the same time and there was an incomparable loss suffered. Now that all of the employees have been informed that they need to stop worrying, the whole picture looks a little better overall.
There have been some significant changes made in the online infrastructure of the OPM system as indicated by their cyber security expert. If we keep some of the technical information out of the text, we can say that it’s less vulnerable to outsider attacks than it was when the breaches took place. These letters were intended to ensure the officers of the improvements that OPM is continually making as an organization and now that everybody has been notified, it’s expected that the tension that was building up in offices and in homes where retirement funds are an absolute necessity is going to catch a cool. Here’s hoping that these claims of rejuvenated security by OPM actually mean something and that no further data breaches can occur now that they have improved their security.
Robert Egan’s retirement announced
Robert Egan has always been a highlight of the excellence of the Federal-Mogul Motor parts; which is a division of the major Federal Mogul Holdings Corporation. The company’s motor parts’ division’s board of members have recently asked Robert, who was the senior VP of the company in the sales and strategy division to retire. Robert managed the division for the whole of North America and he had joined the company in 1979 as a junior executive. He went on to take all sorts of high positions by receiving promotions pertaining to his excellent calibre and performance. He was a part of the journey of the company throughout and saw them become a respectable supplier that they are today. He is all set to retire on December 31st.
Robert Egan retires:
The CEO Dan Ninivaggi had nothing but praise for the soon to be retiring Robert. He said that Bob has always been the man to ask whenever there is something that needs attention. He said that he has played a pivotal rule in transforming the company from a small enterprise in to the giant that it is today. Dan further added that there are hardly better people that can understand customer satisfaction, retention and relationships like Robert and that his strategy building insight is something that he will miss for the years that lie ahead. Apart from this, he also was always there to guide the repairing professionals and our end customers. He concluded by saying that he is ever grateful to Bob and feels proud that he got the chance to work alongside him.
Robert Egan, started off his career with Chrysler Corporation where he worked 12 years in the sale management division before joining Federal-Mogul. He has been a chairman of the board of the Auto Care Association as well and there are many other feathers in his cap as well. Here’s hoping that he lives a prosperous life ahead as well.
The Minimum Wage Could Spread
Minimum wage is something that all of us look forward to being high; it doesn’t matter the amount we might be earning. There mere knowledge that people are compensated a substantial amount of money for their services is somewhat comforting to know. A minimum wage of 15 dollars per hour appeared to be a mountain to climb for the government but it did eventually become a reality in 2015 and the attempts to make it a common norm throughout the country are going on.
15 dollar minimum wage expected to spread:
It’s expected that around 5 major states and around 10 cities are going to consider making the 15 dollars/hour bill a law as soon as the start of the next year. This will firstly have to get approved by the legislating bodies followed by a ballot that would eventually end up determining whether the people want it or not.
Apart from this, around 14 states are trying their best to make the minimum wages go up on the 1st of January and where the amounts are still a little under 15 dollars, it’s expected to create a wave of assurance among the expecting federal employees which is going to be a good sign.
All in all, steps like these are not only eyed by people that aren’t compensated enough, but it’s also somewhat satisfying for the normal population to know that everybody is getting enough to make both ends meet. Here’s hoping that things continue being on the right track and that this setting of minimum wage extends to the whole country so that prosperity and happiness can prevail regardless of demographic and financial differences. The government is to be lauded in this regard and the importance of the efforts of the Congressional members can also not be undermined.
Do You Know About Federal Government’s Pension Heist?
When banks reach the stage where they can sense a collateral collapse, Congress usually gets them out of their predicament. On the other hand, if the union pension funds approach death, Congress alters the law to let them hurt the retirees. What?
Federal government and the pension heist:
Nothing you knew? Well it’s not just you. Around 410 thousand teamsters who were mainly ex-federal government truck drivers who were told in October whether or not their pension will receive cuts or not. It’s tragic that around 65 percent of all these ex-employees got the red signal. The CSP fund has claimed that it will be making some serious reductions to the amount that goes on the pay checks of these employees by a staggering amount that is close to 23%. Some Union members and activists are claiming that this figure is not authentic and the rates can go as high as 60 percent.
What does this decision entail? More troubles for people who have served the federal government all their lives and received depleted compensations in the hope that they will be getting pensions when they retire. Bills will remain unpaid, collaterals will be lost and what’s the worst part? It’s not their fault and the government is getting greedy.
Another interesting fact in this regard is that it was completely illegal for the government to even think about making pension cuts. It stayed that way until around December 2014 when Congress made some alterations and some exceptions were added. There was no debate in this regard. This law was passed and allowed all the pension plans that are constituted by multiple employers to send their applications to the Treasury department in the hope of reducing benefits. Guess what, that is exactly what the Central states decided to do and their requests got approved.
While the dynamics of this matter still remain unknown and could be diverse, it can but only mean harm to the majority of the truck drivers that already find it hard to make ends meet.
Hits at OPM for Poor Data Breach Followup
OPM has always been at a place where they can’t evade the criticism. Some say that such is the nature of their work that they can’t afford any minor slip-ups and when unfortunately some predicaments come their way, they can’t manage to keep on both feet all the time. The same organization that compromised over 21 million American’s sensitive information including social security numbers and what not is once again in congressional scrutiny. This time they have been allegedly held responsible for not being able to protect the affected Americans by giving away taxpayer dollars without following the protocol.
Poor OPM Data breach follow-up:
The report that was released by the inspector general of OPM this month indicated the findings made that depicted that they have been improperly handing the contract that were awarded to a company that was employed to keep the records of the identities of the Americans safe. These were the same Americans whose data got compromised in the OPM data breach, the blame of which was given to hackers based in China.
This was a very strange revelation to say the least and it forced the Congress to take some actions and they called a committee to sit and argue to discover the intricacies of this matter. Ultimately Ms Donna Seymour who is the CIO for OPM was declared incapable for performing the important duties for organization by Mr. Chaffetz. He further mentioned that because yet another report has highlighted her incompetence, it was high time she was dismissed.
The director of OPM had resigned a month after the announcement was made but is it best for the organization that Donna resigned soon as well? That’s what most of the lawmakers have to say on this matter and pertaining to the recent revelations of her ineptness, we would like to think so too.
TSP Set to Provide Military with 401k Plans
Thrift savings plan
The Thrift savings plan has always been prone to modifications as it affects so many people from all over the country. It has seen many expansions been made to it over the years and recently the congress has proposed to expand TSP even further and now the military servants of the nation would be able to give their applications and apply for the retirement plans that they have always wanted to get their hands on. It’s expected that this would mean that the TSP database will see over hundred thousand new members to the least and could cost millions of dollars. That being said, the TSP board believes that they are pretty much up to the task and they think that they can inculcate the army without having to do any paradigm shifts.
The recommendation of the military compensation and modernization of retirement committee back in the start of 2015 to make the move for all the military officers from the obsolete pension system (that accounts for people who have served for at-least 20 years) to a more concrete one that would include the TSP and a pension has finally gotten some recognition. The Congress has moved in and made some legislative announcements in heed of this matter.
This new plan could be exactly the thing that the service members might have been after; this would allow them to make their contributions to the retirement funds go up to at-least 5 percent of their current pay. This may also include a 1 percent (give or take) base without regard of the levels of contribution.
This plan is definitely a step in the right direction and it should mean that around 800 thousand service officers would be introduced to the new system in the first year of its inception and from then on in, there could be an inflow of over a 100 thousand member every year.
Energy Consumption of federal Government Decreases
Federal Energy Management Program or FEMP is the main program that governs and analyses the energy consumption and usage by major players in the country these days. Recently they have reported that the energy consumption by the federal government of the country has fallen down to 0.94 quadrillion Btu during the fiscal year of 2014. This is the lowest the rate has ever gone since this scheme started, way back in 1975. While there were other factors, the decrease in the US department of defence’s jet fuel consumption can be considered the biggest catalyst in the decline.
Federal government sees energy consumption decline:
78 percent of the total energy used by the federal government was comprising of the energy consumed by the department of defence during the 2014 fiscal year. The US postal, service, the US department of Veterans’ affairs, the US department of energy among other civilian agencies were responsible for the rest of the energy consumption. They accounted for 5 percent, 3 percent and 3 percent respectively.
According to Energy independence act that was passed in 2007, the energy reduction goals for federal agencies included targets for the reduction of energy intensity and the consumption of fossil fuels during the construction of buildings. The reduction of petroleum usage in the transportation of fleets and in the rise of alternative fuels’ usage was also included in the act. During March of this year, a few more goals were added in the urge of reducing the energy consumption.
News like these can only bring smiles on the faces of fellow Americans because with the ever increasing global warming and pollution, the lesser there is waste in the air, the better it’s for the atmosphere. Here’s hoping that these reductions don’t cease to rise and soon we reach the limits that are desirable.
POLITICS TAKE CONTROL OF THE NATION by Dianna Tafazoli
Politics Take Over
This is the time of the year when we are usually rushing around to see how to make Christmas happy for the ones we love. There are also deadlines to meet like signing up for Medicare and making the best out of your benefits by using your flexible spending account (FSA) and for many putting in your paper work for retirement.
Those subjects are effectively erased from the media blitz to make room for the next polling data. This time NBC News and the Wall Street Journal conducted a poll from December 6 – 9 to see how the presidential hopefuls would fair if an election was held. The poll had a 3.36 percent plus or minus error rate and had participation from 1000 adults.
The poll revealed that Hillary Clinton was surely the front runner on the Democratic side more than edging out Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders. However, although she would send Donald Trump packing she might lose to Marco Rubio and Ben Carson. Former Governor of Maryland – Martin O’Malley is barely registering in the polls. There was no mention of Jeb Bush and a blurb about Cruz. What does it all mean? A good guess would be that Christmas is only about week and a half away so if you haven’t found something wonderful to make the people you love happy, chances are your poll numbers won’t be very high.
P.S. Always Remember to Share What You Know.
Dianna Tafazoli
Construction Spending Beats 8 Year Records
The amount of money spent by the government on matters that require immediate initiatives has always been strikingly huge but this year, the spending made by the country on construction has seen stark increases. The construction spending that got instigated by some handsome gains in home building has reached new heights. This year, we also saw the largest rise in the federal construction expenditures from the past 9 years.
Construction spending reaches new heights:
The construction spending, as reported by the Commerce department took a 1 percent rise during the month of October and has since then gotten raised to a gigantic sum of over 1.1 trillion dollars. It was in December 2007 when last we saw such a huge figure. It’s also worth noting that the country was dealing with the great recession at that time.
This rise can boil down to be caused by a lot of things. The single family apartments and homes’ construction saw a 1 percent rise (Which is once again the highest since December of 2007). The federal government construction expenditure also saw around 19 percent rise, which is in fact the heaviest rate of increase seen since October 2006. Apart from this, the manufacturing construction costs also saw a 3 percent rise.
All in all, during the past 12 months, overall the construction spending has seen around 13 percent rise from last year which is something really startling to say the least. Many citizens have started building newer homes and apartments to better their standard of living and this can be credited with making the increase be so gigantic as well.
A Lunch for Veterans intended to Arouse Awareness
A veteran-for-veteran run counseling place offered all of its clients a warm thank you by giving away all of its clients a free lunch. This lunch was intended to make the veterans aware and bring all of them together in the urge of creating a sense of friendship that’s already found in abundance amongst all of the veterans of the country.
Veterans given free lunch:
The counseling center is a funded place that is run by the department of VA of the country. Here, a lot of services including counseling are offered free of cost to the veterans in need. Other services include the help that they might require while dealing with stress they might have taken back home from the fields, help to adjust to civilian life all over again etc. Some veterans also get help in the attainment of their benefits via some of the proactive staff members of the center.
There is a vehicle that’s operated by staffers of the center and it provides mobile counseling services to all the servers of the nation that might not be able to make it to the center.
The lunch was really appreciated by all the army, marine and air-force servers of the nations. A Vietnam War veteran, Ed Toenyes urged that the center did a remarkable job. Ed has been receiving help with his post-traumatic stress disorder from the center since 1980. He said that events like these help him to talk to people who have underwent what he had to endure in the service of his nation.
Lunches like these allow the veterans suffering from war stress among other issues to meet with each other and talk about stuff with other people who have had firsthand war experience. The counseling center should be lauded for its services in this regard.
Military Retirement Plan Changes in 2016
The military retirement program has remained mostly the same over the years, despite changes to most other government retirement programs. The current retirement system is largely the same as it was during World War II. However, that is about to change.
In Fiscal Year 2014, the current retirement system will receive a major overhaul, authorized by the National Defense Authorization Act.
Changes to the military retirement program first surfaced in early 2011, according to Michael Meese, a retired Brigadier General for the U. S. Army and COO of the American Armed Forces Mutual Aid Association.
Proposed Military Retirement Plan Changes
Following proposals in 2011, The Military Compensation and Retirement Modernization Commission reviewed the program and come up with proposals to modernize the current retirement program. The research provided by the Commission showed that many service members did not have retirement funds following their service because only those who served for 20+ years qualified.
Approximately 83 percent of service members left before fulfilling 20 years of duty, leaving them without any retirement funds. The Commission proposed changes that would allow better access to retirement and includes retention bonuses and defined contributions that allow military employees to contribute (similar to a 401k).
The new plan will modernize the outdated military retirement plan and provide benefits to all service members. Meese told reporters that the new plan is fair and provides better service for everyone. Individuals who serve in the military for at least two years will now be able to contribute to a retirement plan. The previous plan only offered retirement benefits to about 17 percent of all service members.
Currently, service members who have served 20 years get 2.5 percent towards retirement. The new plan allots 2 percent times the number of years served. Additionally, the military will now match contributions to help boost retirement funds for their federal employees.
TSP Contributions for Service Members
In addition, in the new plan, the military will contribute 1 percent of basic pay to service members’ Thrift Savings Plan and match up to 5 percent of their contribution between years 3 and 26 of service. Service members will also receive a pay bonus after 12 years if they commit to serving another four years.
This new plan is a boost for military members who serve shorter terms because they still earn a 5 percent 401k match that they can take with them when they leave for new employment. This is a huge improvement over the lack of any retirement funds in the past.
Federal employees will have to learn about various financial topics including investment, retirement and savings to maximize their plan, according to Meese.
“It requires financial education so that individuals understand what a 401k is, how different investment options matter, and how overall financial planning is critically important.”
The Department of Defense has the authority to change some of the contribution levels before January 1.
The National Defense Authorization Act approved the changes and the Department of Defense has until the end of the month to iron out the details before the plan is implanted on January 1.
