Liteblue
Liteblue is an online forum for federal employees to get their hands on any information that they might be needing. It can be visited via this link.
Records To Check Before Retirement
It is best to make certain all of your records are in place when anticipating retirement. Tips to get in shape for retirement.
-Review your designation of beneficiary for the lump sum payment of retirement contributions when no one is eligible for monthly payments.
– If a copy is not in your folder, file a new designation. The designation is made on
Standard Form 2808 for CSRS and Standard Form 3102 for FERS. Make sure
the form shows very clearly the person(s) you want designated.
– FERS transfers and any prior designation made for CSRS is cancelled. You may want
to file a FERS designation. Automatic transfers to FERS from CSRS,- the designation
will remain in force.
If there is no designation of beneficiary, benefits will be paid as follows:
- Your widow or widower.
- Your children in equal shares.
- Your parents in equal shares.
- Your appointed executor or administrator of your estate.
- Your next of kin under the laws of the state you reside in when you die.
- What records are needed for my health benefits?
Inside of your OPF should be a record of all of your health benefit registration forms (Standard Form 2809) and where appropriate Standard Form 2810, Notice of Change in Health Benefits. When you retire be absolutely certain that your official records show a complete history of your health insurance enrollment for the last five years. Your records should include your current Federal life insurance coverage on a Standard Form 2817, “Life Insurance election”, and where appropriate, a current life insurance designation of beneficiary (Standard Form 2823).
P. S. Always Remember to Share What You Know.
TSP ARTICLES
For Postal Employees – LiteBlue and the TSP
Federal and Postal Employees – Choosing a Financial Professional
Is All ‘Your’ TSP Money Actually Yours?
Federal Retirement Benefit Analysis
Is Your Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) Working For You?
For Federal Employees – Tips To Creating A Retirement Budget
Federal Employees and Retirement Budgets
You don’t have to follow any particular format for creating a budget except to measure income against expenses. The tips below might help you get started.
- Determine a time horizon for tracking your income and expenses.
- Outline all of your sources of income and then total the sources.
- Outline all of your expenses, everything you spend money on. Break down your expenses into variable and fixed income so that you can really see where there is room to make adjustments if needed. Total all of your expenses. Remember “savings” are a fixed expense; therefore you must pay yourself first (PYF).
- Subtract your expenses from your income. If expenses outweigh income, you have some work to do in the ‘adjustments’ arena. If income outweighs expenses, then you should consider paying yourself a little more so that your financial goals might be achieved earlier than planned. Plans are made to be flexible and this is good flexibility.
- Now that you have the tools necessary to develop both a financial plan and a budget, take sometime to compare one to the other and see how they mesh and if any refurbishing needs to be done. Your spending plan should be in harmony with your financial goals. Do this often throughout your life.
P. S. Always Remember to Share What You Know.
LiteBlue and TSP RELATED ARTICLES
Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) Withdrawal Options
For Postal Employees – LiteBlue and the TSP
Federal and Postal Employees – Choosing a Financial Professional
Is All ‘Your’ TSP Money Actually Yours?
Budgeting And Federal Employee Financial Plans
For Federal and Postal Employees, building a budget carries equal weight to building a financial plan.
Envision constructing a house – The financial plan is the front door to your dwelling and the budget is the back door, both are necessary if you expect to be safe and secure.
Having a sound financial plan and a budget are paramount to a successful retirement future. Having a budget allows us to direct money towards goals we establish in our financial plan. The budget acts like a navigation system, it directs our course, but only if we stick to it. Sounds familiar, a financial plan only works if you follow it and a budget is only a good navigator if you heed the directions given. A budget, like a financial plan is not etched in stone, but is meant to be flexible and SMART.
Primary Elements of a Federal Employee Retirement Budget
There are two primary elements to a Federal Employee retirement budget – income and expenses. Income may be derived from various sources: employment, interests from savings and investments. Expenses are summed up in our wants and needs. There must always be a very careful balancing act between income and expenses. When expenses become more than income, we run the risk of running out of money and that is exactly what we don’t want to do in retirement or at any other time for that matter. The budget helps us to rein in spending and make wise choices that will keep our income and expenses in harmony.
As we approach retirement it will become even more critical that we recognize what our spending habits are and employ definite strategies to ensure they fit into our financial plan and are guided by a sound budget.
When we spend money it is generally for expenses that are either fixed, variable or occasional. Most of us spend money and then think about saving what ever is left over. When we mentioned earlier the concept of PYF or pay yourself first, it is meant to do exactly that. Pay yourself first in the form of savings right off the top of your income. It need not be a particularly large amount, but it must be defined and consistent. Savings must be entered in the budget as a part of “fixed” expenses. If we treat “savings” as a variable or occasional expense, it is very clear that we will be met with significant challenges in meeting our financial goals in the future.
Federal Employee Retirement Budget
Creating a budget is easy enough. We need only list all income against all expenses to see where we stand. If expenses outweigh income, then we need to make some immediate adjustments. Most of us simply run out of money or find that we don’t have enough, without outlining everything in a budget so that we can actually see how we are spending our money. SMART budgets must be updated regulary throughout our lives. Remember as events change in our lives, we will very necessarily have to adjust our budget, our financial goals and the way we spend money.
There are many software programs that will allow you to monitor your budget and to stay on track by keeping your expenses and income in a spreadsheet. A budget is your spending plan about what you can do with your money. Warren Buffet knows exactly how much money is coming in, how much will be spent on bills and day-to-day expenses and how much to set aside for meeting large financial goals. People who are SMART with their money, no matter how much or how little, know where their money goes because they have a plan.
Once you build a budget you will know that you have mastered the objective of creating a budget when your budget is balanced to show that total income equals total expenses and that your budget supports each of your financial goals. It’s your money. You have worked hard for it and now you must make it work SMART for you!
P. S. Always Remember to Share What You Know,
LiteBlue Related Pages
LiteBlue; Online Access to More Than Just Your USPS Earnings Statement
What Postal Employees Should Do On LiteBlue Before Retirement
Changing Your LiteBlue / PostalEase Password Through ssp.USPS.gov
eRetire for Postal Employees – Retirement Applications on LiteBlue
Once Your Federal & Postal Retirement Plan Is In Place
Federal and Postal Retirement Planning
After you put your federal retirement plan in place, the biggest challenge is implemnting it. It takes discipline to stick to your retirement plan. It is not a bad idea to find a person you trust to encourage you to stay the course. Handling money responsibly and respectfully can be a challenge. However, it is a lot easier when you do. When money is involved, you have a choice. Staying on track to meet your financial retirement goals can be achieved by following these tips:
Federal / Postal Retirement Plan Tips
- Write down your goals and place your written reminder where you can see it everyday.
- Tell somebody you trust about your retirement goals and who understands what you are doing. Ask them to check in with you about your progress. Knowing that someone will be inquiring about your progress can be a good source of motivation.
- Review your financial plan regularly so that you can gauge where and when you need to make adjustments. Keep working to stay on track.
Monitor Your Federal / Postal Retirement Plan
After putting your federal retirement plan in place then you must be ready to monitor and modify the plan. This is a very critical step in the financial planning process. Once you have developed a retirement plan, you will need to monitor it closely at regular intervals to stay on track. A financial plan is meant to be a living document that evolves over time with changes in our lives. You will inevitably run into unexpected obstacles and roadblocks, but the strategies you employ to over come those hurdles will help you to stay the course.
Your goals may change and your resources may deviate. You might have to spend money you didn’t expect to spend. Conversely, you may receive money you did not expect to receive. Life is a work in progress and unexpected changes are a part of life. Because of this very dynamic, it is always prudent to closely monitor and review your plan whenever there are major changes in your life.
When you reach a goal, applaud yourself and cross it off your list. Now is the time to revisit your list of goals and query yourself:
- Is it still valuable to achieve my existing goals?
- Are there any new goals to be added to the list?
- Do I need to delete or amend an existing goal?
P. S. Always Remember to Share What You Know.
LiteBlue; Online Access to More Than Just Your USPS Earnings Statement
Postal LiteBlue and Open Season
What Postal Employees Should Do On LiteBlue Before Retirement
Changing Your LiteBlue / PostalEase Password Through ssp.USPS.gov
eRetire for Postal Employees – Retirement Applications on LiteBlue
Create A Spending Log
Use the spending log example to see how you are spending your money. You just might be surprised. As you begin to prepare for Federal retirement, it is important to make certain you are eliminating as much waste as possible. Your spending log might show you where you can cut back and perhaps add a bit more to savings.
Without a lot of thinking, use the table below and quickly jot down how much money you think you spend daily in any given week. You may also itemize the things you spend your money on. Then revisit your personal spending log and examine in detail how you are spending your money.
Personal Spending Log
|
Weekly |
Income + $ (A) |
Spending – $ (B) |
| Sunday | ||
| Monday | ||
| Tuesday | ||
| Wednesday | ||
| Thursday | ||
| Friday | ||
| Saturday |
A minus B gives you a guestimation of how you are spending your money on a weekly basis. Part of your retirement readiness checklist requires you to look at how much money you spend daily and if you can redirect some of the spending to create greater money management efficiency.
Try logging your income and purchases on a daily basis for a month. Analyze the results and decide what you can do differently with your spending.
P. S. Always Remember to Share What You Know.
RELATED TSP ARTICLES
Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) Withdrawal Options
For Postal Employees – LiteBlue and the TSP
Federal and Postal Employees – Choosing a Financial Professional
Is All ‘Your’ TSP Money Actually Yours?
Royal Post Office vs U.S. Postal Service
Post Offices in the United States are cutting staff through offering voluntary early retirement and other means of attrition. The Post Office is also considering closing many facilities and cutting back on the hours and days facilities are open. For Postal Employees, early retirement was offered to managers and supervisors initially with no monetary incentive to leave the service. The next round of early out offers to supervisors and managers came with a $10,000 monetary incentive.
The Post Office’s 500,000 employees have already been cut by 200,000 with plans to trim another 100,000. There are many changes slated to take place in the Post Office to create efficiency by incorporating technology that will answer the growing needs of customers.
The United Kingdom’s Royal Mail services will open up about 100 facilities on Sunday afternoons. The program will initially start off as a pilot to evaluate its effectiveness. Most of the Royal Post Offices are open six days a week. The Royal Mail service is also anticipating a Sunday delivery for online shoppers. The Royal Post will begin Monday delivery for online purchases made on Saturday and Sunday.
The Service is also experimenting with a number of new ideas to increase efficiency and services to its customers. While U. S. Post Offices are scaling back the United Kingdom is revving up.
P. S. Always Remember to Share What You Know.
Other LiteBlue Related Pages
LiteBlue; Online Access to More Than Just Your USPS Earnings Statement
What Postal Employees Should Do On LiteBlue Before Retirement
Changing Your LiteBlue / PostalEase Password Through ssp.USPS.gov
eRetire for Postal Employees – Retirement Applications on LiteBlue
LiteBlue Honors Its Own
I want to share something else humane the Post Office did recently. As a matter of fact, it is done annually. The Richmond, Virginia District Office, not far from where I live, honors postal employees who served in the military. They also pay homage to active duty employees and deceased civilian coworkers who recently passed away.
The Richmond District Office has an annual celebration where employees and family members attend. The Richmond office adds bricks to a memorial walkway around the flag pole at the District’s entrance each year to honor members who pass away.
The walkway honors the mail carriers and the important work they do to carry out the mission of the Post Office. They move the mail. I recently found out about a pretty special mail carrier during a ceremony honoring women. The woman’s name was Mary Fields, the first African American female mail carrier. Ms. Fields did not become a mail carrier until age 61. She drove a covered wagon carrying the mail in the old West. During inclement weather she walked. She never missed a day carrying mail. She was respectfully called “Stage Coach Mary” because if the stage coach was there so was Mary and the mail.
The Post Office has a long history of serving the nation. Carrying the mail has not always been easy. Many carriers had to carry rifles and pistols to ward off stage coach robbers. Mary Fields knew how to handle a gun. Fortunately laws have been made to protect Mail Carriers and the mail. There are more than 200 Federal Laws that have been enacted to protect and secure the safety of the U.S. Mail.
P. S. Always Remember to Share What You Know.
LiteBlue Heroes
I read something recently that made me rethink how important Letter Carriers are. We always think about them delivering the mail just like a habit that will never stop. We absolutely never think about the possibility that the mail will not be delivered. Mail Carriers are a constant in the lives of most Americans. We know our carriers and we depend on them to deliver the mail.
A customer in New York can add something else to her list of what we depend on Mail Carriers for – SAVING HER LIFE. Yes, saving her life. The carrier in Yorktown Heights, NY noticed that his customer had not collected her mail for several days. The carrier knew that was not her usual behavior. He got very concerned and contacted Emergency Responders (ERs). The ERs went to the woman’s home and found she needed medical attention. The woman was transported to the local hospital where she was able to get additional care and as a result, fully recovered.
What a story. The carrier didn’t simply determine that the mail pile-up was not his business but acted in a most humanitarian manner. The Good Samaritan’s name is Robert Womascko. The ERs credited Mr. Womascko for saving the woman’s life. I think Mr. Womascko needs more than a thank you from the ERs and the woman, he needs a hero thank you from the Postal Service and from the Commander-in-Chief. Mr. Womascko did something that was more than humane, he did something that was honorable to the highest degree. Mr. Womascko cared about another human being’s life. He didn’t just look at a condition and walk away. He cared about the life of a woman who could have died had he not thought quickly to get help.
Letter carriers don’t just deliver mail, they save lives. So if you read this post join in a letter writing campaign to the Commander-in-Chief-the President of the United States, the Post Master General and see that something of noteworthiness is done to recognize this Good Samaritan, this Honorable Man.
P. S. Always Remember to Share What You Know.
LITEBLUE’S July 17th
July 17th is an important day for the Postal Service. July 17th is the last day to submit ideas about what the next generation of Post Office vehicles will look like and how they will need to function. Let’s give the Post Office a big round of applause for including the people in the process who know it best.
Many organizations make decisions in a vacuum and use individuals in the organization who have absolutely no hands-on knowledge about the process. The best folks to tell a baker whether his cake is good is not the baker, but those who eat the cake. The best individuals to give input about Postal Delivery vehicles are the ones who drive them, repair and maintain them. They are by far the very best authority to assist in designing the next generation of mail service delivery trucks.
The Post Office has an aging fleet of vehicles and are by all estimates not getting the efficiency of more modern vehicles. Postal carriers and Vehicle Maintenance personnel have been asked by their supervisors and managers to submit ideas and thoughts about what is needed in the Post Office’s next generation of service vehicles. Postal carriers and Vehicle Maintenance personnel will submit their best suggestions in a number of categories by July 17, 2014.
The Post Office got it right – by including its people in the strategic planning process.
P. S. Always Remember to Share What You Know.
Other LiteBlue Related Pages
LITEBLUE, Shared Services and You
Who can you trust to get your retirement documentation right? Recently that question was posed to Postal Workers about their retirement. The Postal Service uses HR Shared Services as their pre-retirement, all things human resources information and advice arm. Upon retirement the go-to-gurus will be the Office of Personnel Management?
The question posed is one of those rare life-line questions. OPM handles the business of all Federal employees when they are active and inactive (retirement). The mere premise is mind boggling and sometimes things get mixed up and you might have to wait longer than you’d like to get your benefits or at least your correct benefits. In a past article, we talked about getting your house in order, taking care of the things necessary to make your transition to retirement smooth and complete.
The question posed simply reiterates and underscores the need to do just that. It is recommended that Postal Employees download a copy of their eOPF (Electronic Official Personnel Folder). You can print out the information or save it to your computer. Once you separate from the Post Office you will no longer have access to your information on LiteBlue. Pay a visit to the LiteBlue website and follow the download and print instructions so that you will have all the information that is in your folder at your fingertips when you need it.
Downloading your folder and setting it aside is not enough. Prior to OPFs becoming electronic, they were paper. Hopefully your agency passed on your paper folder to you. Further, over the years you might have kept copies of your information in your at-home file. Always as a rule of thumb, keep your end of the year W-2s. Each time you choose or switch health insurance carriers, keep a copy of your records. Make certain that the service computation date (SCD) shown in your folder matches what you have. Most of us remember the exact date when we started to work. Agencies, even OPM, make mistakes or are subject to an oversight.
Take care of your business. Be in charge of the business of your life because no one cares about your business as much as you do. Many Postal Workers will be eligible for incentive payments. Make sure you submit PS Form 3077 to your employing agency so where you want your incentive payment mailed will be on record. If you are attempting to use any electronic means to transmit information to HR Shared Services or your employing office and the mechanics are not responding, pick up the telephone and notify the appropriate entity right away.
Stay in charge of your business now so that you can relax, enjoy and retire well.
P. S. Always Remember to Share What You Know.
Congress, You’ve Got Mail – From The Post Office
I have been doing some research trying to make sense of why the Congress requires the United States Postal Service to pre-fund health benefits for future retirees. The strategy causes the Post Office to struggle to make a profit. According to USPS Chief Financial Officer, Joe Corbett, the Post Office has about $22 billion in assets and a $113 billion in liabilities, including liabilities related to the “pre-funding” law imposed by Congress.
The United States Supreme Court sort of side-tracked the original intent of the Americans with Disabilities Act, preventing many disabled individuals from meeting the definition of “disabled”. The Congress saw the inequity in that move and enacted the ADA Amendment Act of 2008 to rectify a ruling by the court that was not to the benefit of the disabled and abrogated the intent of the original Act.
What about a little role reversal? Now that the Congress has it all confused over the “pre-fund” law, perhaps the Court needs to step in and say that the pre-fund law is unconstitutional and serves as a deterrent to the Post Office’s primary mission to deliver the mail. Perhaps, that means electronically, by stamp, or some other fancy piece of technology, but the Congress is about to bankrupt an organization for reasons the public does not understand. I don’t understand, but I am still researching. I will let you know what I find.
Join in in asking the Congress – What is the purpose of the “pre-fund” law? It is a notion that has outlived its time because it should have never existed if it does not benefit and support the organization and that means the people.
P. S. Always Remember to Share What You Know.
Other LiteBlue & ADA Related Pages
Schedule A – What is Reasonable Accomodation
LiteBlue; Online Access to More Than Just Your USPS Earnings Statement
What Postal Employees Should Do On LiteBlue Before Retirement
Use LiteBlue to Manage your FEHB
Requesting Duplicate Postal Employee W-2 Forms Using LiteBlue
LiteBlue Trims Again
The United States Postal Service is being hammered by the Congress and its stakeholders to do something highly innovative with its Financial Management System. Is it the financial management system that needs fixing or is the Post Office being killed off by technology? As more and more eTechnology takes over every single aspect of our lives, things will change and what we used to know as the “norm” will be outdated and extinct.
The Postal Service offered voluntary early retirement (VERA) last year to about 15,000 employees. They are again offering 3,000 postmasters the opportunity to retire early, this time with an financial incentive of $10,000. Post Offices are cutting back on hours across the country thereby needing fewer workers to cover the one-time around the clock effort. Postmasters and high-level supervisors have until August 18, 2014, to accept the offer. If the offer is accepted, the employee must separate from service by the end of September. The employees who are eligible for retirement can decline the offer and seek reassignment somewhere else in the system.
If the voluntary early retirement does not achieve the numbers intended by the Postal Service, they might move to a Reduction-in-Force by mid-October and separate employees by January 9, 2015. A USPS spokeswoman stated that if the postmasters do not accept the early retirement, take another postal job or resign, they would be laid off. I am drawn by that statement to a lesson from the late poet, Maya Angelou. She said, “When you learn teach and when you get give.”
Before I continue with the post I want to help the USPS spokeswoman restate her statement and I do that with the greatest amount of respect. That is what HR Leaders do, massage statements so they engender respectability. Often when people are under pressure to achieve a goal in a fishbowl, they may speak without their otherwise diplomacy. This is how the statement might have been said, “The Postal Service has been very fortunate to have a significant number of dedicated men and women to carry the mail and the many other duties we gladly accept. The Post Office is not exempt from the economic turbulence the nation has faced and is still facing. We are hoping that our employees who are eligible for retirement will seriously consider taking early retirement so that we will not have to entertain a Reduction-in-Force or a possible layoff. The Post Office is a family and we have always worked together to provide one of the best services to the nation I know. I am confident that our Voluntary Early Retirement efforts will be successful. Thank you.”
The Post Office has reduced the number of employees at facilities across the country significantly via attrition absent of a layoff since initiating the Postal Plan in 2012. I am sure they will continue the effort with much success and diplomacy. The nation appreciates the Postal Service.
P.S. Always Remember to Share What You Know.
Other LiteBlue Related Pages
What Postal Employees Should Do On LiteBlue Before Retirement
eRetire for Postal Employees – Retirement Applications on LiteBlue
Use LiteBlue to Manage your FEHB
You can use LiteBlue and PostalEase to manage your Allotments
Requesting Duplicate Postal Employee W-2 Forms Using LiteBlue
Retirement Cannot Be A Secret
Your plans for retirement should include your family. Retirement is a family decision where communication is most important. There are so many benefits with provisions that can be complicated in the federal retirement systems. The federal employee as well as family members need to understand the fundamental concepts of all federal retirement and health benefits available.
Take time to discuss with your family how you feel about retirement. If you are experiencing some emotional separation about your impending retirement, discuss it with your family members or someone you can trust. Talking about your concerns and issues will make the transition from work to retirement much easier.
Don’t go through the challenges of retirement alone. If you don’t feel comfortable talking to your family about your fears and anxieties, you can always get counseling from a career coach or some other professional familiar with the highs and lows people experience about retirement.
If you know other people who have retired try talking to them. Let them share their experiences with you and I am sure what they describe will resonate with what you are feeling. Retirement for many is like saying goodbye to an old friend and that is always painful, even causing some tears to fall. There is absolutely nothing wrong about missing what has been such a significant part of your life for such a long time. There is nothing wrong with being afraid or feeling that you are no longer valued. Allow yourself a time to grieve, maybe 30 minutes, okay an hour and then shake it off and say – Look out world, I am ready for the next new adventure and this time I am doing on my own terms.
You can find the rainbow in retirement if you see all the years you worked as preparation for the best years of your life.
P. S. Always Remember to Share What You Know.
RELATED TSP ARTICLES
Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) Withdrawal Options
For Postal Employees – LiteBlue and the TSP
Federal and Postal Employees – Choosing a Financial Professional
Is All ‘Your’ TSP Money Actually Yours?
The Inevitable
Some of our posts have focused on postal employees in general. We have not dedicated any of our posts specifically to those men and women who actually carry the mail through towns, cities, states and rural areas across the United States. These fine men and women are called Letter Carriers.
We call them our post men and women and we know them personally because we have gotten used to seeing them on a regular basis. My carrier’s name is June just like the month and she is as pleasant as a Summer day. We all stop to chat with her just long enough not to interfere with her work and then we move on knowing we will see her tomorrow.
But what happens when an Active Letter Carrier Dies is the name of a pamphlet put out by the National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC). It is a neatly compacted pamphlet filled with information to assist family members through a most trying time.
Individuals who have lost loved ones in service know all too well the pain of having to fill out forms and notify the appropriate personnel of a family member’s death during an absolutely traumatic period in any family’s life. Becoming familiar with the information in the pamphlet will help to lessen the pain of dealing with the death of a loved one.
Planning for the business of the end of our lives is inevitable. Talk to your family members about your end of life plans. Read and become familiar with information made available to you through your employer or member organization. Also make sure the information you are reading is current as laws, policies and regulations change that might impact the way your family members and survivors handle the business of the end of your life.
P. S. Always Remember to Share What You Know.
Other LiteBlue Related Pages
What Postal Employees Should Do On LiteBlue Before Retirement
eRetire for Postal Employees – Retirement Applications on LiteBlue
Use LiteBlue to Manage your FEHB
You can use LiteBlue and PostalEase to manage your Allotments
Requesting Duplicate Postal Employee W-2 Forms Using LiteBlue
LiteBlue and Other Tools For Planning
The question of having enough money to live in retirement always looms over our heads. Is over-planning equivalent to under-planning? I am not sure if the degree of planning is what is at issue. Rather, it is the act of planning period that should come into play.
The Postal Service, along with LiteBlue, provides many tools to its workforce to begin the process of moving into retirement with confidence. The Postal Service has structured a National Retirement Counseling System (NRCS) that enables all employees eligible for retirement to receive in-depth training on retirement benefits, how they work in retirement and what to expect. NRCS wants every employee to receive all the information necessary to make the best decisions possible to turn the years they have worked into a satisfying retirement future.
The NRCS allows persons eligible for retirement to ask all the questions necessary to assist them in the process of transitioning from work to retirement. Twice a year an annuity estimate is mailed to the homes of those persons currently eligible for retirement. The computer-generated estimate allows postal workers to assess and evaluate their financial picture and to make changes where needed in their plans for retirement.
Most organizations begin to counsel employees within a fews years years of retirement. These employees are able to get annuity estimates that will assist them in the planning process. Organizations tend to concentrate on retirement during this period because the likelihood of things changing significantly in the work profile of these employees is fairly remote. Generally, in calculating an annuity estimate, the high-three average salary is key. Therefore, if you are about to retire in 3 – 5 years, your salary may not change significantly.
Remember these are only your annuity estimates and what your numbers will really look like depend solely on when you submit your application for retirement and the actual process begins.
Start planning early so that when the actual time comes, both you and your spouse will have more than a basic understanding of how your benefits work in retirement.
P. S. Always Remember to Share What You Know.
Other LiteBlue Related Pages
What Postal Employees Should Do On LiteBlue Before Retirement
eRetire for Postal Employees – Retirement Applications on LiteBlue
Use LiteBlue to Manage your FEHB
You can use LiteBlue and PostalEase to manage your Allotments
Requesting Duplicate Postal Employee W-2 Forms Using LiteBlue
LiteBlue and Counseling
Many federal workers don’t have the benefit of including their family members in counseling sessions about retirement. Retirement impacts both the federal worker and the spouse of the federal or postal worker. In Affiliation with LiteBlue – Local Postal Service personnel offices used to provide counseling services for active letter carriers.
Although individual counseling services are no longer provided in local postal service personnel offices for active letter carriers, the Human Resources Shared Services Center provides Group and Individual counseling sessions in many offices. Spouses and postal workers are invited to attend both individual and group retirement sessions.
These sessions are important for worker and spouse because together the understanding of all the intricacies involved in retirement may be better realized. There are many aspects of the retirement benefit that directly impact the spouse or family members of the postal workers. Being involved and learning about the benefits offered to postal employees and how they work in retirement is critical.
Involving your spouse in information and counseling sessions is one of the most important steps you can take towards getting ready to retire in comfort and security.
P. S. Always Remember to Share What You Know.
Other LiteBlue Related Pages
What Postal Employees Should Do On LiteBlue Before Retirement
eRetire for Postal Employees – Retirement Applications on LiteBlue
Use LiteBlue to Manage your FEHB
You can use LiteBlue and PostalEase to manage your Allotments
Requesting Duplicate Postal Employee W-2 Forms Using LiteBlue
Postal Employee – STAPLES® Survey
Postal Employee – YOUR OPINION MATTERS
The USPS has opened over 50 ‘Test’ USPS locations inside of STAPLES® locations throughout the Country. Your opinion about this event matters – Our results will be published and we will be forwarding our findings to the USPS for review and consideration.
www.PSRetirement.com is conducting a Survey of USPS employees.
PSRetirement.com, through the ‘Postal Employee – STAPLES®‘ survey is requesting feedback from Postal employees about the USPS’s decision to open USPS locations in over 50 ‘test market’ STAPLES® stores.
If you were selected to participate in this survey please do so –
If you have NOT received your survey and would like to participate please request your survey by submitting your email address in the comment section below – we will promptly send one to you.
Your opinion matters – Make it count.
* To say ‘Thank You’ for the time you spend filling out the survey PSRetirement.com is offering survey participants a Retirement Benefit Analysis free of charge.
Postal and LiteBlue Related Pages
What Is LiteBlue?
PostalEase / LiteBlue
What Postal Employees Should Do On LiteBlue Before Retirement
eRetire for Postal Employees – Retirement Applications on LiteBlue
Use LiteBlue to Manage your FEHB
You can use LiteBlue and PostalEase to manage your Allotments
Requesting Duplicate Postal Employee W-2 Forms Using LiteBlue
Changing Your LiteBlue / PostalEase Password
Changing Your PostalEase Password
By now, you will almost certainly have received your new LiteBlue / PostalEase password and have thought about visiting ssp.usps.gov to make the change (ssp www.usps.gov).
The letter you have received contains a temporary password in the upper right hand corner of the letter. You may have to search for the password as it is not clearly identified, but it is there if you look.
To effect the change, you will need to visit https://ssp.usps.gov/ssp-web/login.xhtml. As you go to the website you will need to enter your LiteBlue (employee) ID and the temporary LiteBlue password.
Once you are logged in, you will need to set up and then save your new LiteBlue password. Please remember, however, that LiteBlue / PostalEase will be accepting your new (ssp www.usps.gov) passwords after April 28th, 2014.
Other LiteBlue Related Pages
What Postal Employees Should Do On LiteBlue Before Retirement
eRetire for Postal Employees – Retirement Applications on LiteBlue
Use LiteBlue to Manage your FEHB
You can use LiteBlue and PostalEase to manage your Allotments
Requesting Duplicate Postal Employee W-2 Forms Using LiteBlue
Contact us for more information
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Weekly Newsletter: U.S. Postal Service and LiteBlue
Weekly Newsletter: USPS and LiteBlue
Weekly Newsletter: Women’s History Month technically ended on March 31, 2014, but since the United States Postal Service has been the forerunner of placing women in the upper chambers of operations, we thought it noteworthy to dedicate our Newsletter Weekly to the United States Postal Service’s progressive and forward movement of honoring diversity and gender in the workplace.
The Postal Service or the Post Office as it is called is the third largest employer in the United States and one of the few government agencies specifically authorized by the United States Constitution. Benjamin Franklin was appointed the first Postmaster General in 1775. As early as that time women were a part of the Postal Service as Postmasters: Sarah Updike Goddard, Lydia Hill, Katherine Goddard, Elizabeth Creswell, Sarah DeCrow, Mary Dickson, Rose Wright, Anna M. Dumas, Mary Summer Long, Kathryn S. Wilson, Elizabeth D. Barnard and Lucy S. Miller to name just a few of the women who helped to make the Post Office what it is today.
Women make up a significant portion of the Postal Service’s more than 626,000 employees representing jobs from mail carriers to law enforcement. The U.S. Postal Service has played a monumental role in how we are able to communicate with each other from city-to-city, town-to-town, state-to-state and points beyond our borders. The Department of Defense partners with the U.S. Postal Service to deliver mail for the military both on land and sea called the Army Post Office and the Fleet Post Office respectively.
As the Postal Service has created ways for the world to communicate and stay connected, it has also created several systems for its workers to stay connected. The LiteBlue page is the Postal Service’s intranet communication and information system. LiteBlue and PostalEase allows Postal Workers to participate in Open Season, check their TSP.gov account balances online with added security, along with make changes to their Thrift Savings Plan contributions or even stop or cancel participation.
LiteBlue also allows workers to choose Flexible Spending Accounts, participate in leave sharing and leave exchange programs. Most significantly Postal Employees can review nearly every aspect of their benefits demographics to determine career growth and evaluate their retirement profile. LiteBlue is a convenient, fast and easy way for Postal Employees to stay connected so that they can make plans for their future and the future of their families.
Statistically, women outlive men by more than 5 to 10 years. As we dedicate this Newsletter Weekly to the United States Postal Service and salute the women who help to make sure the world stays in touch, we also remind them that planning for their retirement future, ensuring the safety and security of their families is just another one of the many contributions they make to advance the greatness of our nation. This concludes our weekly newsletter.
P. S. Always Remember to Share What You Know.
Changing Your LiteBlue / PostalEase Password through ssp.USPS.Gov
Retirement Planning – Thinking Forward
Buying Back Leave – Postal Employees
