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.
Living Will and Durable Power of Attorney
Living Will and the Power of Attorney
A Living Will is an advanced directive giving doctors and hospitals expressed instructions regarding how you want your health care treatment handled. In the event of incapacitation or an irreversible coma and you are unable to articulate your desires, a Durable Power of Attorney can act on your behalf, while you are still alive, ensuring your wishes are carried out. These types of documents are an incredibly important part of your financial plan. The Living Will is generally focused on whether or not an individual wishes to have his or her life sustained by life support systems. Hospitals and physicians are more and more supportive of patients having a ‘living will.’
Whether to sustain life or not by artificial means is such a personal and highly emotional encounter that doctors and hospitals are not eager to bare that responsibility or to have to make such a crucial decision. It is very important that we put plans in place when our capacity to do so is fully intact not leaving painstakingly difficult decisions to be sorted out between family members and loved ones.
For clarity, let’s distinguish between the roles of ‘Power of Attorney’ and ‘Durable Power of Attorney’. Power of Attorney is a fairly well-known concept which is generally invoked for carrying out financial matters when the principal cannot be present. However, when the principal dies the power of attorney also terminates.
Durable Power of Attorney may be a more useful tool when dealing with the elderly and the informed. It allows individuals who can no longer conduct their own financial affairs and affairs otherwise, to continue doing so through the Durable Power of Attorney arrangement. There are no hearings or court proceedings to appoint someone Durable Power of Attorney. It is a simple matter of signing a legal document.
Once again, doing your homework is the key ingredient to success. If you are considering moving in this direction in your planning process, be as certain as humanly possible, that you choose someone you can trust who will always have your best interest at heart.
You may also find it necessary to have both a Medical and Financial Durable Power of Attorney. The Medical Durable Power of Attorney would only be able to handle and speak for your medical treatment and care; while the Financial Durable Power of Attorney would only be able to handle your financial concerns and matters.
In planning your estate, one of the best approaches is to talk to your family about what you plan to do. Open communication with family members and those involved in your life’s achievements concerning how you want to divide your assets is part of implementing an action plan that will help you retire in comfort and security.
P. S. Always Remember to Share What You Know.
For information on your retirement plan and your investments – check your TSP.gov Account regularly.
For postal employees – your PostalEase LiteBlue account is your portal to much more than just your earnings statement
Estate Plan: Living Trusts
Living Trusts in an Estate Plan
Until about 20-30 years ago Living Trusts were thought of as planning tool strictly for the wealthy. Today that is no longer true as the Living Trust is becoming more popular with the because of the tax and privacy advantages offered.
Living Trusts are generally set up by an Estate Plan Attorney while you are alive. Testamentary trusts are created after death. The choices you make in your financial planning and life planning decisions are highly personal and you are in charge of the course you decide to take.
• Living trusts involve the individual (or a couple if you are married) who secures the Trust and is designated the Grantor or Trustor.
• The Trustee is the individual named by the Trust as the manager or the Trust’s assets and property. The Trustee and Grantor may be the same individual or individuals.
• The third party is the Beneficiary(s). The beneficiaries are the heirs that will receive the fruits of the Trust once the Grantors are deceased.
• Living Trusts are not subject to the laws and regulations of probate. Therefore your wishes can be kept completely private and away from public scrutiny.
• A Trust is defined as a separate legal entity where distributions can be made from the Trustee without any involvement from the courts.
• With a Living Trust, the lengthy wait and cost of probate are avoided.
• As long as the assets have been placed in the Trust, distributions can be made to beneficiaries.
• There are few limitations, if any, once a Trust has been established as to what can become a part of the trust. i.e. stocks and bonds, savings accounts, real estate, personal property, life insurance. Once the assets are placed In Trust, they are changed from your name to the name of the Trust.
It is important to invest some of your time in finding out more about Living Trusts and any other tools that might become a part of your planning process. Doing your homework and learning as much about any tools and strategies you might be considering in the planning process are the best practices to see how they fit into your plan to Retire and Live Well.
P.S. Always Remember to Share What You Know.
There are tax implications to your loved ones if you name your Trust as your beneficiary on your TSP.gov account. Check on your beneficiary designations through TSP.gov or Liteblue.
LiteBlue: What Postal employees should do on LiteBlue Before Retirement
What Postal employees should do on
LiteBlue.usps.gov
Before Retirement and Separation
Your information that is currently available on LiteBlue will be gone after your separation. Once you leave service LiteBlue will no longer be available to you, so be sure to download the following list from LiteBlue so you can maintain your own records.
Before You Retire Access LiteBlue and Retain the Following Records
- Your entire eOPF,
- earnings statements in ePayroll,
- W-2s in PostalEASE and
- anything else you may want in the future
Periodically, postal employees will face challenges with OPM after retirement and will need these documents. All of this can be found through your LiteBlue Account and should be downloaded and saved before your retirement.
To download your entire eOPF;
- Click on “Access Personnel Folder Now!” and
- Choose “Print Entire eOPF.”
- On the LiteBlue account, (Once the .PDF is generated you will be able to find it in a small box at the lower left corner of your LiteBlue screen. You will want to save the .PDF to your computer and possibly save a printed copy for your records.
If eligible for an incentive payment;
Download PS Form 3077
- Give your employing office the address where you want your incentive payment to be sent.
- The incentive agreement stipulates that eligible employees will complete PS Form 3077, Request to Forward Salary Check, and submit it to their employing office.
- In the absence of a PS Form 3077, incentive payments will be mailed to the location where you last worked.
o Download the PS Form 3077 Here
Update your address through LiteBlue. In the event you have difficulty with your LiteBlue account access, as some have, this would be another reason to submit PS Form 3077.
Other LiteBlue Related Pages
What Is LiteBlue?
PostalEase
What Postal Employees Should Do Before Retirement
Changing Your LiteBlue / PostalEase Password Through ssp.USPS.gov
eRetire for Postal Employees – Retirement Applications
Use LiteBlue to Manage your FEHB
You can use LiteBlue and PostalEase to manage your Allotments
Postal and Open Season
Phased Retirement Plan – Other Provisions
Phased Retirement Plan
Currently both CSRS and FERS employees may use unused sick leave to add to their years of service, but not towards eligibility for their Phased Retirement plan.
Unused sick leave cannot be used in computing the Phased Retirement annuity. Upon full retirement, however, unused sick leave will be considered and its value will be the same as individuals retiring from full-time employment in the federal service.
Employees who opt to participate in Phased Retirement plan may return to full-time employment upon agency approval. When returning to full-time employment, the Phased Retirement plan annuity will cease.
When the individual retires, the retirement will be calculated under the current law in effect at the time and the phased period of retirement will be treated as part-time. Individuals returning to full-time employment may not re-enter the Phased Retirement Program.
P. S. Always Remember to Share What You Know.
OTHER PHASED RETIREMENT RELATED ARTICLES
Mandatory Retirement vs. Phased Retirement Classification
Phased Retirement vs. Mandatory Retirement
Individuals under special retirement conditions such as mandatory retirement may not participate in the Phased Retirement program.
The classification of employees not eligible for participation are Law Enforcement Officers (LEOs), Air Traffic Controllers, Firefighters, Nuclear Materials Couriers, Customs and Border Protection Officers and members of the Capitol Police or Supreme Court Police.
NOTE: Those Customs and Borders Protection Officers who were ‘grandfathered’ are not bound by mandatory retirement provisions, and therefore may participate in Phased Retirement.
SPECIAL NOTE: Persons who have mandatory retirement ages must retire from their classification. That does not mean those individual are ineligible to work outside of their classification.
P. S. Always Remember to Share What You Know.
OTHER PHASED RETIREMENT RELATED ARTICLES
Explanation of Phased Retirement
Phased Retirement – Survivors Benefit
Phased Retirement
The Phased Retirement program as it stands provides no survivor benefit based on the proposed Phased Retirement annuity.
However, if the employee dies prior to full retirement, survivor benefits will be the same as an employee who dies in service. Some minor adjustments will be made as the special structure of the Phased Retirement program dictates.
Although the Phased Retirement period will be treated as part-time when computing the survivor annuity, the basic Employee Death Benefit will be based on the full-time earnings of the employee’s position. Remember to stay up to date on the current information to ensure your retirement is comfortable and secure. There is no such thing as ‘over-preparation’ when concerning your retirement. Be sure to utilize the links at the bottom of this article to ensure you have a solid understanding of the topic. Individuals under special retirement conditions such as mandatory retirement may not participate in the Phased Retirement program.
P. S. Always Remember to Share What You Know.
OTHER RELATED ARTICLES
Phased Retirement – Who Can Participate
Who can Participate in Phased Retirement?
Phased retirement is a voluntary program where both employee and employer must mutually agree to be a part of the program. There are some conditions that exist both for CSRS and FERS employees. Each group must have had full-time work status for three years prior to participation.
CSRS employees must be eligible for an immediate retirement annuity. The years of creditable service must be at a minimum of 30 years and an age of 55 or 20 years of service with an age of 60.
Under FERS similar conditions must exist. The individual must be eligible for an immediate annuity with 30 years of creditable service and a MRA of 55-57 based on the year of birth or 20 years of creditable service and 60 years of age.
As with any program or service impacting your retirement future, it is very important to clearly understand all provisions, rules and regulations. Further it is your responsibility to analyze each situation to see if it is a good fit for you and your family.
P. S. Always Remember to Share What You Know.
RELATED ARTICLES
Phased Retirement – The Process
The Phased Retirement Process
Should Phased Retirement be implemented, instead of a retiree entering into full-time retirement, the retiree opts to work a part-time basis while actually being retired on a part-time basis. The potential, however, with the existing backlog of retirement applications and ‘brain drain’ that could hinder some Agencies from doing their job, this ‘opt-in’ basis may not be as voluntary as we all would like.
As it stands, the amount of the retiree’s annuity would be calculated as if a full-time annuity, then it would be divided by 2 or split in half giving the part-time retiree virtually half of their retirement. Let’s remember OPM’s Phased Retirement remains at the moment a work in progress.
The Phased Retirement annuity is paid as half given the current scenario, while the individual also receives pay for a half-time schedule. When the individual participating in the Phased Retirement fully retires there will be a recalculation done. The computation will be as if the individual had been employed full-time divided by two before adjusting for survivor benefits if applicable.
After arriving at that amount, it would then be added to the original phased annuity with the combined amount providing the basis for the survivor annuity adjustments and benefits. During the period worked in phased retirement, OPM proposes that the lifetime retirement income will increase as a result of the impact on length of service.
Phased retirement considers a full-time and part-time work scenario that would increase the benefit more than what would have been realized if the individual had retired fully without the benefit of phased retirement. However, that scenario is less than if the individual had simply continued working full-time during the Phased retirement period.
P. S. Always Remember to Share What You Know.
OTHER PHASED RETIREMENT RELATED ARTICLES
Explanation of Phased Retirement
Deferred Retirement – Early Separation
Deferred Retirement
When you separated from Federal Service under FERS, but did not retire, what steps did you take? Are you still eligible to receive an annuity?
Employees covered under FERS with 5 years of creditable service may be eligible for deferred retirement at age 62 or if the employee completed 10 years of service, 5 years of civilian service, with eligibility upon reaching the Minimum Retirement Age (MRA).
When an employee reaches the MRA he or she may choose to postpone the date they receive their annuity so as to avoid the age reduction provision. MRA depends on the year of your birth. Persons born between 1953 and 1964 have a MRA of 56. Those born after 1969, which represent a significant portion of the federal service, have a MRA of 57 years.
FERS employees are eligible for an immediate annuity the first day of the month after the MRA is reached given the creditable service requirements have been met. When federal employees separate from service without retiring and with no plans to return to service, it is a good idea to contact the Retirement Division at OPM and speak with a specialist about your options.
Your situation is very much as if you had retired as far as who has jurisdiction over you as a separated federal employee. You separated from your agency and the agency is no longer responsible for you, but OPM is. As a separated employee, you do not have a CSA number because you have not retired. Nonetheless, all of your questions should be forward to OPM.
P. S. Always Remember to Share What You Know.
RELATED ARTICLES
What Postal employees should do on LiteBlue before Retirement
More TSP Tips
Additional TSP tips
Each year the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announces changes that might impact pension plans and other retirement accounts based on the change in the Consumer Price Index (CPI). Because the CPI did not warrant or meet the statutory criteria for the adjustment, the Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) limitation remains at $17,500 for 2014. For individuals over age 50, the catch-up contribution remains at $5,500.
PREPAYMENT OF A Thrift Savings Plan Loan
You can prepay your TSP loan without incurring a prepayment penalty. You can find out about the amount of your loan (principal and Interest) by going on to the Thrift Savings Plan website or by calling the ThriftLine.
Once your loan has been paid in full, the TSP will notify you and your payroll office. If payments continue to be deducted from your paycheck after you have been notified that the loan has been paid off, contact your payroll office immediately.
THRIFT SAVINGS PLAN LOANS AND WHEN PAYMENTS START
When you take out a Thrift Savings Plan loan, deductions for the monthly loan amount must start within 60 days of the funds being disbursed. Once the funds have been disbursed the Thrift Savings Plan will notify your payroll office to begin deducting the loan amount immediately.
POSTAL EMPLOYEES AND THE THRIFT SAVINGS PLAN
Postal employees can access their Thrift Savings Plan through LiteBlue.usps.gov (liteblue). Through LiteBlue postal employees can change, enroll or cancel their Thrift Savings Plan contributiosn. However, if a postal employee would like to make a Thrift Savings Plan fund transfer they will need to access their Thrift Savings Plan directly through TSP.gov or by phone.
P. S. Always Remember to Share What You Know.
FEHB Is Catching Up – Self Plus One
FEHB – Self Plus One
For a number of years as the Director of Human Capital for a private concern, I was constantly working with my Benefits Manager to save our employees money while designing a highly competitive benefits package. One year we decided to overhaul most of the FEHB benefits program because it was not answering the call and concerns of a majority of our workforce.
Many insurance carriers were invited to showcase their menu of insurance services and the best fee offer for the organization. We had a relatively young, highly educated workforce. Many were thinking about beginning families and of course, another population already had growing families. The one item I was looking for that would seal the deal was a carrier who could offer something other than a ‘self’ and ‘family’ option. I wanted a plan that could cover self and spouse, but most importantly, parent and child or parent and X number of children that did not necessarily rise to the high cost of covering a family.
Household structures have been changing for a long time and most of the insurance industry has not made the adjustment to accommodate the change, most notably in the federal government.
Good news is here. The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) announced that beginning in 2016 federal employees and retirees will have the option of self-plus one coverage through the FEHB. Bringing this additional option choice to the federal workforce will save money for employees and the government. The move also underscores how OPM continues to seek out the best benefits for the largest workforce in the world.
P. S. Always Remember to Share What You Know.
Postal Retirement – Preparing the Workforce
Preparing for Postal Retirement
The Postal Service has several programs designed to secure upward mobility for its workforce. There is an Advanced Leadership Program, an Associate Supervision Program, a National Center for Employee Development and a Managerial Leadership Program and an online platform to access your benefit information and make certain elections, LiteBlue.usps.gov. All of these programs are designed to help the Postal Employees grow in their career and prepare for retirement.
Each program, from LiteBlue to the Thrift Savings Plan, is designed to help and to develop a workforce of excellence, equipped with the knowledge, skills and abilities to implement operations required by high-tech equipment and practices necessary to carry-out the complex work of the Postal Service and to retire comfortably.
In order to reach the Postal Service’s large and multi-jurisdictional workforce, the service uses a plethora of e-learning tools and other technology to train its employees. The Postal Service’s training profile is designed to recruit and train program leaders and managers up to the executive level of operations.
An unfortunate reality, however, is the fact that the USPS has chosen to remove most HR functions from local Post Office with the creation of the Shared Services. The need for direction, therefore, on HR and Retirement related questions often falls to potentially untrained individuals at your Station and word of mouth recommendations. The need for financial professionals has never been more important to the Postal employees and soon to be retirees because of the demographic shift and the aging of the workforce, along with the ever increasing complexity in TSP funds and recommendations, FEGLI comparisons and ways for these employees to protect their lifestyle and financial well-being in retirement.
If you’re a Postal employee and have questions on your benefits and postal retirement, PSRetirement.com can provide you with introductions to local FERS, CSRS, TSP and FEGLI experts and may be able to facilitate a free Benefit Analysis for you and members of your office or Local Union looking for direction or help. Regardless of where you turn, make sure that you are getting the information you rely upon from a competent expert in your complex benefit and retirement options.
Information on the unique benefits for Postal Employees is also important to understand
Other Postal Retirement and LiteBlue Related Pages
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
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 Retirement and Benefits – Postal Employees
Postal Retirement
There are some slight differences between the benefits of Postal employees and Federal employees. We would like to explain a few of them here and potentially give you reason to seek out additional informtion from a qualified benefit expert to help you with your own specific circumstance and questions about postal retirement. Employees in the federal service, not including the Senior Executive Services (SES), earn about 26 days of annual leave per year after 15 years. After the same period Postal Workers, earn a maximum of 20 days.
The leave structure is 10 days per year up to 5 years of service for the Postal Service as compared to 13 days for the first 3 years of service as a regular federal employee. From 4-14 years of service, regular federal employees receive 19 days of annual leave while postal workers receive 15 days after 5 years.
Federal employees also earn 4 hours of sick leave per pay period, while postal employees earn 3 hours per pay period to safeguard against illness and accidents. Because of the structure and the mission of the Postal Service the compensation profile is different from the regular federal service.
Postal employees regularly get pay raises and are compensated for overtime, night shift differential and Sunday premium pay. There are also minor differences in how FEGLI is paid. Therefore, when postal employees work on their own financial plan and postal retirement future, it is valuable to understand the structure of the postal employees’ total compensation and benefits plan.
P. S. Always Remember to Share What You Know.
For Postal employees; learn about LiteBlue
Learn about your FEGLI benefits and how you are covered.
Financial Advisors and Federal Employees
I was recently asked if my trainer of financial advisors and planners interested in the federal workforce differed from training federal workers? Without missing a beat, I said most emphatically “It certainly does.” It is more intense because financial advisors for federal employees need to know more about the Federal Retirement Systems than the federal workforce themselves.
The Federal Retirement Systems probably have some of the best benefits you will find all things being equal. It, too, is a system of immense rules and regulations that can be undeniably complex, even for someone who has spent a career absorbing all of the nooks and crannies.
The Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) often referred to as the old retirement system was enacted in 1920. The world has changed a number of times since then and many amendments have been made to the system. One must be constantly updated on the changes so as to be an excellent source of information dissemination. I find that many financial advisors and planners I work with who wish to begin helping the federal workforce think of simply helping the workers manage their money. There is nothing wrong with that premise only that would leave the federal employee missing out on a great number of potential benefits
Federal Employees Partnering with Financial Advisors
Financial Advisors and Financial Planners (really the same thing) are important pieces of the partnership needed to guide the federal employee workforce to safe harbor so that their sails can withstand the uncertainty of storms that will surely come in their lives. To strategize such a journey requires acquiring a very sound knowledge of the Federal Retirement Systems (FERS, CSRS, FEGLI, FSAFEDS, etc.).
We are not talking about becoming Federal Retirement Specialists, but we are talking about partnerships that will equip these professionals to help manage the financial resources of a very unique group of employees. When you cast your net to work with the federal workforce in helping to plan their retirement, it needs to be cast wide because federal employees are as diverse as their many duties and responsibilities.
Although there are two retirement systems technically, there are a number of aspects that apply to special categories of employees as well, like firefighters, air traffic controllers and law enforcement officials.
Yes, my approach to conversational training with financial professionals is much more intense and absolutely focused on ensuring they know the language of the federal retirement systems and its workforce so that they can give them the tools necessary to retire in comfort and security.
If the federal workforce gets a course in the basics of the Federal Retirement Systems, then the professionals they entrust to handle their hard earned money – get the ADVANCED-ZERO TOLERANCE version with lots of hand-holding collaboration. I learn as much from Financial Advisors and Planners as they learn from me. We are all invested in making life in retirement and before a little easier to maneuver for federal workforce.
Financial Advisors who are knowledgable in federal and postal benefits need to be able to help you with your TSP account and Thrift Savings Plan fund choices, your Federal Employees Group Life Insurance (FEGLI) selection (both while employed and any potential reduction elections that you might want) and also possibly help you with your FSAFEDS and FEHB elections.
P. S. Always Remember to Share What You Know.
Recommended Articles
For Postal Employees – LiteBlue and the TSP
Federal Retirement Benefit Analysis
Is The Pension Survivor Benefit Best For You? by Todd Carmack
A Little-Known Opportunity Can Increase Your Retirement Income. by Mark Sprague
Learning About Your Thrift Savings Plan
Thrift Savings Plan
The Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) is a retirement account and Federal Retirement benefit and Postal Benefit similar to 401(k) plans offered to employees of private corporations. Your TSP.gov account can be a great savings vehicle, which offers a contribution ‘matching’ by the government, which, along with the employee’s savings can create a significant retirement nest egg for Federal and Postal employees as well as other eligible participants.
The Thrift Savings Plan is a defined contribution plan. Which means that the amount of benefit that you derive from the plan depends on how much you put into the account during your working years. The Thrift Savings Plan is one part of a three-part retirement package for those employees covered under the Federal Employee Retirement System (FERS). In addition to your TSP.gov account, this includes your social security and FERS basic annuity.
For CSRS eligible retirees, the Thrift Savings Plan is a supplement to the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) annuity.
Features
The federal retirement plan: thrift savings plan provides the following benefits:
• Five basic investment options
• Professionally designed life cycle funds is one feature of the diversified investment options it provides
• It gives a choice of tax treatment options (Roth TSP, and Traditional)
• Tax-deferred investment earnings
Traditional versus Roth Thrift Savings Plan
Employees are eligible to contribute to either plan given total contributions to both do not exceed the deferral limit set by IRS. This limit changes from year to year.
Contributions are deducted from an employee’s gross salary in a traditional Thrift Savings Plan and this deduction results in current-year tax savings. Federal and income taxes are paid when funds are withdrawn at retirement, and the earnings grow on a tax-deferred basis until those withdrawals are made.
Contributions are deducted from an employee’s after tax income in the Roth TSP but there are no taxes to be paid upon withdrawal and earnings grow tax-free as long as the funds remain in the Roth TSP.
When is a Roth Thrift Savings Plan Suitable?
As a general rule, the lower your current tax bracket is today, the more suitable the Roth TSP is for you. This is because of the growth on your Roth TSP will be tax free assuming you take it out after 59 1/2 and if you don’t need to current tax-deduction then the tax-free compounding of your growth can be a real advantage.
Establishing an Account
The earlier you start contributing to your Thrift Savings Plan in your career the greater you will benefit through compounding. This could increase your retirement income substantially.
Your first contribution to the account will establish it, whether it is individually or through your agency (more information can be found at TSP.gov). You are automatically enrolled in this account if you a FERS employee who was hired after July 31, 2010. Every pay period, 3% from your basic pay is deducted and deposited in the account. You can also elect to stop or change the deductions by visiting www.TSP.gov. You will need your TSP.gov login to access the information available to you through the site.
Click HERE for information on Thrift Savings Plan
Click HERE for information on FERS
Click HERE for login information on TSP.gov
Click HERE for access to LiteBlue
Good Health Is Wealth
Good Health is Wealth
In a previous post we were challenged to a Retirement Readiness Quiz. One of the questions asked, “Are you taking care of your health”. That question is one of the most important aspects of your plan to Retire Well. Obviously you should be taking advantage of your FEHB and Flexible Spending Account options, but no matter how much money you have saved and how well you are prepared, whether your eligible for Social Security, whether your eligible for the TSP or a Corporate sponsored 401(k), whether you use LiteBlue or TSP.gov, plan the enjoyment of your hard work goes out of the window if your health is not good.
Let’s talk about a very eye opening project that has been getting quite a bit of press over the last few years. Dan Buettner, co-director of the AARP/Blue Zones Vitality Project launched the Blue Zone Quests in 2005 to study and research these rare regions and to share what they can tell the rest of us about taking care of our health so that we live longer and better lives.
The term ‘Blue Zone’ is really an accident of history. Demographer, Michael Poulain, during a meeting in 2001 highlighted the region of Sardinia with a blue marker on the map. The region of Sardinia was home to an exceptionally large concentration of centenarians and thus the first Blue Zone was born.
Buettner and his team have identified other Blue Zone areas: Okinawa, Japan, Nicoya Peninsula in Costa Rica, the remote Greek Island of Ikaria, the Barbagia region of Sardinia, Italy and Loma Linda, California. You will note that only one Blue Zone has been identified in the United States. People in these regions live to reach 100 years of age at a rate significantly higher than the rest of the population. They live longer and healthier lives and suffer about one-fifth the rate of heart disease and cancer found in the general population in the United States.
We are learning more and more that genetics play a monumental role in the longevity of our lives, but life style may play an even greater role. Diet, exercise, spiritual values, and mentally stimulating activities are important factors in creating good healthy living habits. The Blue Zone centenarians seem to always be busy doing something physical. It is reported that their muscle tone is much different than the average one of us. They keep busy. We can learn pretty valuable information from the Vitality Project. They are obviously doing something the rest of us must learn to do.
It also appears they have found a way to manage stress, live long and healthy. To live long and healthy is surely a goal we would all like to reach. Good health is wealth. In order to achieve that wealth that has a greater rate of return than any financial instrument imaginable, we must have a plan for staying healthy and active. If you don’t start the engine to a car for long periods of time, when you do attempt to start the engine, it just might stall or not start at all. Reeve up your engines and let’s get started preserving our wealth. CHEERS!!! To Your Good Health.
P. S. Always Remember to Share What You Know.
Federal / Postal Retirement Planning Report Card
Retirement Planning Report Card
From your Thrift Savings Plan to FEHB to FEGLI, each of us will be ‘graded’ on our Planning Report Card. Much like when we were kids in school how well prepare ourselves on these topics, will have an impact on how well we do. If you got good grades in school, your parents often rewarded you with something special, sometimes even money to show the value and significance of getting good grades. Your Retirement Planning Report Card, however, is far more important than if you got an ‘A’ in your Social Studies class. This Report Card will truly impact the rest of your life.
You have reached another milestone in our lives where once again a report card is important. The difference is if you get a good report card by planning ahead for retirement (such as using your Thrift Savings Plan fully), your reward is to live in comfort and security. Proper planning allows you to retire on your own terms and take the worry out of how you are going to survive now that your income is much lower than it was as an active employee.
Your planning report card should include estimates of your pension income which will resemble reality the closer you get to retirement. Your Retirement Planning Report Card should also include information on your TSP.gov account any Social Security Benefits you might be eligible for and even your life expectancy. If you are postal employee you will need to access your LiteBlue account and gather any forms that you would like to maintain in retirement. Look to include your total estimated monthly retirement income and your estimated monthly expenses. Do not forget to include any additional savings and IRA’s that you have along with your spouse’s savings too. Other items you think are relevant will help you paint the best picture possible of your retirement future. It is always a good idea to consider talking with a financial professional who focuses on Federal and Postal retirees (Liteblue information can be found HERE). They are tough to come by and the average ‘Advisor’ probably doesn’t know much about your benefit package, but if you can find a FERS, CSRS and FEGLI expert – you should do yourself the favor and sitting down with them to discuss your needs.
There is quite a bit of work to do to get ready for retirement, but the sooner you get started the closer you are to reaching your retirement goals.
P. S. Always Remember to Share What You Know.
Quiz for Federal and Postal Retirement
Retirement Readiness Quiz
If you took a retirement readiness quiz how ready do you think you would be? If you find that you have already completed a task, then you are a STAR. If you need to still get busy accomplishing the task, then simply make it a part of your Individual Action Plan (IAP) for implementation. This is not actually a quiz where you get graded but more of a global positioning system to help you navigate successfully to where you want to go. Beside each item indicate if it is COMPLETE OR PENDING. If the item is pending estimate a date when the item will be complete and the action you will take to make it happen.
• Have you quantified your financial objectives? In other words, have you estimated how much money you will need to live the life you desire in retirement?
• Have you set goals for retirement?
• Do you have doable strategies to achieve those goals?
• Can you itemize the strategies to achieve the goals you have set for retirement?
• Do you know where all your important records are?
• Have you informed someone you trust about your important records?
• Do you know how to reduce your FEGLI expenses and who to work with to make that happen?
• Do you know how you spend every single dollar and cent?
• Do you know how to access the TSP.gov website
• Are you saving enough money in your Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) and is your current mix of funds right for your needs?
• Have you prepared an estimated retirement budget and devised steps to help you operate within your budget?
• Do you intend to leave a big inheritance to your children, other family members, or a charity? If so, have you set aside money or made provisions to accomplish that goal?
• Have you thought about where you will live in retirement and the cost involved?
• What would you do in the event of an unexpected and extended disability before you retire?
• Do you have an emergency fund?
• If you are a couple, are both parties completely aware of the status of the financial situation?
• If something happens to either of the parties, is each member capable of managing the family’s finances independently?
• Are you taking full and total advantage of any tax-deferred savings options offered by your employer?
• If you have dependents that rely on your income for survival, what plans have you put in place in the event of your death?
• Are you taking care of your health so that you can have a good quality of life in your retirement years?
There are many more retirement readiness questions we could pose, but I think we have sufficient fuel to allow us to take a good look at our readiness for retirement. Remember if you have not done any of the things listed, it’s ok, you need only make them a part of your individual action plan and get started activating that plan as part of your goal to Retire Well.
P. S. Always Remember to Share What You Know.
Click HERE for information on CSRS
Federal and Postal Retirees – YOU HAVE SO MUCH MONEY
Federal and Postal Retirees
Well you just retired a few weeks back and your final pay check has just arrived along with your annual leave check. You were smart and ran a benefit analysis long ago. You know how much you have, how much your TSP.gov account can generate and when the best time to start accessing those savings is – you’ve even done a social security analysis to determine what your and what your spouses eligibility is.
The wheels are turning in your head as to what you are going to do with all that money. You saved up your annual leave to the maximum so that you could get that big check to fill the gap until your full annuity begins to roll in. What to do? What to do? Remember your plan for retiring well. That plan with the flexibility built into it will not work if you don’t stick to it.
When we speak of things happening, the unexpected, it doesn’t always have to be something horrible that happens. It could be so good that it sort of makes you giddy until you realize you have sabotaged your plans to retire well.
Although retirement should be looked upon as a gift you well deserve because you have worked hard to earn it, you must as retirees bear in mind that the gift needs to be one that keeps on giving, like for the rest of your life.
If we have ever outlined a time to be cautious about our resources, financial and otherwise, it should be as retirees. Exercising caution might mean the difference between working because you want to and working because you have to. That’s a huge difference and one that could challenge your emotional happiness in retirement.
Whether a little or a lot, plan well with what you have worked for and protect it by always reviewing your plan, monitoring it and making adjustments as circumstances and conditions in your life change.
P. S. Always Remember to Share What You Know.
For Postal employees, Click HERE for more information on LiteBlue
Plan for Pre-Retirement Debt Reduction
Debt Reduction Plan
By now your laundry list of things to do as you prepare to Retire Well should be growing. There are a lot of things we want to take into retirement with us, but one thing we want to leave behind is HEAVY DEBT. Since most of us will be living off of an income that is decidedly less than what we earned as active employees, reducing our debt is a key laundry list item.
Unlike our parents and grandparents, our mortgage obligations may not be retired when we retire. Therefore, taking that debt into retirement may be unavoidable. The good news is that you might be able to trim the cost of your mortgage. One way of doing that might be to downsize, since the nest might be empty and the space you once needed while raising your family may no longer be needed. There are also other choices and options concerning your mortgage liabilities that you may want to research and examine to see if they fit your lifestyle and budget. Some of those options will be discussed in subsequent posts.
As for now there are many steps we can take to reduce our debt. First step, identify and categorize your debt as small, medium or large in terms of the balance owed. Second, we are going to evaluate the interest owed on all debts. Third, we should analyze how long we have been carrying the debt. The fourth step is to assess what percentage of your debt is comprised of NEED and what percentage is comprised of WANT.
Once you have taken the suggested steps, then begin to pay down little, small, nagging debts no matter the interest rate. After you have taken care of that, begin to pay down the debt that has the highest interest rate first because the more interest you have to pay out, the more of your hard earned money you are handing off to someone else. Then follow through by paying the remaining debts with lower interest rates. The key to making your debt reduction plan work is once you begin to pay down the debt take care not to accumulate additional debt. Dividing your debts into things you purchased because you needed them versus things you wanted, will help you avoid impulse spending.
Regardless of whether you are eligible for CSRS or FERS, part of your Retirement Plan should be to make sure you have as little debt as possible (and hopefully one at all) as you enter retirement. Think about establishing a debt reduction plan at least five years before you retire so that you can get a handle on how to use your restructured income to enjoy some of the things you wanted to do that were otherwise restricted by your commitment and obligation to work.
P. S. Always Remember to Share What You Know.
Click HERE for information on TSP.gov
Click HERE for information on LiteBlue
Click HERE for information on Retirement Planning
