Windfall elimination
Planning for Retirement in Five Years by Ron Raffino
Tips from Ron Raffino for Those Planning on Retiring in Five Years
You must have heard that it’s never too late to start planning, but have you heard it’s never too early to start planning? In fact, the earlier you start your retirement planning, the better it will be for you. Retirement planning is no joke as a lot of factors need to be considered carefully. We will advise you take some assistance from your local personnel service center. Since they have your employment records, they are in a position to provide you with personalized assistance.
We all know and understand that health and life insurance are of top most priorities but still, we see a lot of retired personnel without proper coverage. This usually happens because of lack of awareness and lack of knowledge. It must be noted here that in order to carry the coverage forward, one must be covered continuously for five years before retirement.
Help from your employer
You can get all the information you need on the retirement process from your agency. It should be noted here that the agency only provides you with the information. In order to interpret it and get advice on what to do, you should contact your local personnel service center. As they have your employment records, they are in a better position to advise you on such matters.
When to start planning
This is an important question. We hear a lot of employees asking this question – when should I start planning. Well, to be honest, it’s better to start as early as possible. But just in case if you haven’t done it then make sure you start planning at least five years before retirement. We advise you to start planning five years prior to your retirement as you must have insurance coverage for five years immediately before retirement to keep it after retirement.
Keeping your health insurance benefits after you retire
Pay close attention to this part. Following are points that specify the conditions for being eligible to continue your health insurance coverage.
- You must be covered at the time of retirement.
- Your coverage must not fall under the category of converted individual policies.
- The date of issuance of the first annuity check must not be later than 30 days after the retirement.
- Prior to 5 years of the date of retirement, you must have continuous coverage.
You can also avail the benefits of optional life insurance if at the time of retirement you are eligible to continue your basic coverage, and again if you were continuously covered for a period of 5 years before your retirement date.
Waiver of the requirement for continuing life insurance coverage into retirement
Currently, there is no such provision that allows a retirement employee to bypass the stipulated conditions for continuing life insurance coverage. However, if you do find yourself in such a situation then you always have the chance to migrate to an individual policy.
Review your service history
As someone who is about to retire, it’s always a good idea to review your service history. You can find all the information in the Official Personnel Folder (OPF). The purpose of such a review is to make sure that all your service records are valid and verified. If you encounter a situation where some of the records are missing then you must report it to your employer. Your employer can help you to find the missing records and document them properly. Some employees are required to make retirement contributions. You can enquire about the consequences of payment or nonpayment of such contributions from your employer.
A complication can arise if you haven’t made payment for receiving the military credits (only if you have served in the military). Such payments are to be made before you retire. You can also get advice from the Personnel Officer on waving the military retired pay.
Check your eligibility for Social Security benefits
In order to check for your eligibility to receive social security benefits, you need to visit your local Social Security Office. After you fill and submit the form SSA-7004-PC, you will be provided with a benefit estimate statement. This statement will contain all the information your future eligibility for Social Security benefits and estimates of these benefits at specified dates.
Government Pension Offset
In some cases, it has happened that the social security benefits of a retiring employee’s spouse saw some kind of offset. This mostly happens when the pension of the retired employees is not covered by social security. In such cases, there is no offset on the social security benefits of the retired employee; it happens only to the social security benefits of the retired employee’s spouse. This offset amounts to two third of the federal pension.
Such an offset does not apply universally. There are some exceptions. For example, those employees who are covered by the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS), Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) Offset, and those who voluntarily took transfers to the FERS before January 1988, are exempted from the Government Pension Offset.
Windfall Elimination Provision
Windfall Elimination Provision reduces the Primary Insurance Amount (PIA) of a person’s Retirement Insurance Benefits (RIB) or Disability Insurance Benefits (DIB) when that person is eligible or entitled to a pension based on a job which did not contribute to the Social Security Trust Fund. While in effect, it also affects the benefits of others claiming on the same social security record.
The Windfall Elimination Provision does not apply if:
The WEP is applied to certain beneficiaries who are receiving RIB or DIB and who also:
- The beneficiary becomes entitled to the benefits after 1985
- The beneficiary also first becomes eligible, after 1985, for a pension based in any way upon earnings from employment that was not covered by social security
- The beneficiary’s entitlement to this pension has not yet ended (even if not yet claimed)
- The beneficiary is still alive
- The beneficiary has not obtained 30 Years of Coverage (YOCs) at the age of 62 years.
Estimating the amount of the Windfall Elimination Provision reduction
At your request, using the form SSA-7004, the Social Security Administration will send you a Personal Earnings and Benefits Statement (PEBES) that will list your earnings from employment covered by Social Security and provide a Social Security benefit estimate assuming retirement at alternative ages, 62, 65, and 70. You should contact your local Social Security office (external link) to determine the effect of the Government Pension Offset and the Windfall Elimination Provision on your Social Security benefits.
Effects on benefits
When the WEP applies, it is used in determining all benefits on the record, both for the primary beneficiary and any auxiliaries. This includes an effect upon the maximum total benefits paid on the record as well. Since the WEP does not apply after the death of the primary beneficiary, it is never used for survivors.
More from Ron Raffino:
Ron Raffino Author Page
http://benefitseducationgroup.com – Ron Raffino
Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP)
The Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) only impacts individuals who earned a pension in any job and did not pay Social Security taxes, but worked long enough in other jobs to be eligible for Social Security Retirement or benefits due to disability. The Windfall Elimination Provision impacts Social Security benefits when any of an employee’s federal service after 1956 was covered under the old Civil Service Retirement Systems (CSRS). Social Security was not withheld from these employees’ checks because the Social Security System had not yet been formed.
The Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) applies to federal workers if they reached age 62 after 1985 or became disabled after 1985. It also applies if you became eligible for the first time for a monthly pension based on work you performed where you did not pay Social Security taxes after 1985. The provision still applies even if you are still working.
Lower wage earners receive a higher return on their Social Security benefits than higher paid earners. While lower paid earners may receive as much as 55% of their income before retirement, high salary earners may only receive approximately 25% of their pre-retirement income. Social Security benefits were never designed to replace all of a worker’s pre-retirement earnings but only a percentage.
Prior to 1983 before Congress passed the Windfall Elimination Provision workers who had jobs not covered by Social Security, benefits were calculated as if they were low-wage workers. This allowed them to have the advantage of receiving a higher percentage of their pre-retirement earnings in addition to receiving a pension from employment where they paid no Social Security taxes.
To see the maximum amount your benefit could be reduced visit www.socialsecurity.gov/retire2/wep-chart.htm.
P. S. Always Remember to Share What You Know.
You may also want to read Government Pension Offset (GPO)
Social Security – Background
~~SOCIAL SECURITY-BACKGROUND
As we continue building our laundry list of things we need to know and do in order to prepare to retire well, Social Security is a major item on our list. The Social Security Act was signed on August 14, 1935 some 15 years after the Civil Service came into being on August 1, 1920. When the Social Security Act first came into being, it was only a retirement program for the primary worker. It was not until many years later around 1939, that benefits for survivors and the retiree’s spouse and children were added. Disability benefits were not a part of the program until 1956.
Today we look at the Social Security Act from a much smaller view than it was originally structured. The Act was extensive in its original format and contained provisions for national unemployment compensation, Aid for Dependent Children and assistance to states to support a number of health and welfare programs.
Today we think of Social Security as a core part of the retirement structure for employees of the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) as well as those employees under the CSRS Offset program. Individuals under these systems have social security deducted from payroll, while employees under the old Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) do not.
CSRS employees may, however, be eligible for social security benefits because they worked in non-federal jobs where they paid into social security or via spousal or survivor benefits because of a spouse’s covered employment. The history of the Social Security Act and its expansion to cover the categories of spouses and survivors has been of great benefit to many families.
Two legal requirements may impact Social Security benefits for CSRS employees: the *Government Pension Offset and the * Windfall Elimination Provision. The Government Pension Offset does not affect CSRS Offset employees but the Windfall Elimination Provision might, depending on the beneficiary’s earned outside income while drawing Social Security benefits.
*DEFINITIONS: Government Pension Offset – This law affects spouses, widows and widowers who may qualify to receive a pension from a federal, state or local government where Social Security taxes were not paid from your work and may cause your Social Security spouse’s widow or widower’s benefits to be reduced.
Windfall Elimination Provision – Your Social Security benefits may be reduced if you receive a pension based on work you performed in a government agency or employment in another country where your employer did not withhold Social Security taxes from your salary.
We will discuss both Government Pension Offset and Windfall Elimination Provision in greater detail in a subsequent post.
P. S. Always Remember to Share What You Know.
Click HERE for information on Windfall Elimination Provision
Click HERE for information on Government Pension Offset
Click HERE for information on Social Security
Click HERE for information on CSRS
Click HERE for information on FERS
Tips to Getting Your House in Order to Retire Well – Interim Payments
Interim Payments
The term Interim Payments is a term Federal and Postal employees should become thoroughly familiar with. Although the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) works diligently to get annuity checks to retirees in a timely manner, good planning dictates that we should be prepared for the unexpected or the glitches that often occur during the normal course of conducting business
Interim Payments represent approximately 75 to 80 percent of what you will receive in your full annuity check. Don’t despair, all deficits will be recovered when you begin to receive your full annuity check.
It is important when you are submitting your Retirement Application papers for both CSRS and FERS retirement and for all Federal and Postal Benefits and that you are certain to check and recheck your retirement application to make sure you have crossed all your T’s and dotted all of your I’s. Overlooking pertinent information will cause a delay in the processing of your application. I always recommend that potential retirees do a –dry run- or test drive of the application package to become familiar with its contents and requirements before submitting the actual package. You may even want to solicit the help of a financial professional to ensure that you have the ability to maximize your Federal and Postal retirement benefits. Potential retirees need to know what their responsibilities are towards enhancing a seamless process to retirement. Retirement packages are on-line and information about your TSP can be found at PSRetirement’s TSP portal which will give you valuable information as you begin getting our house in order to retire well.
P. S. Always Remember to Share What You Know.
For more information visit and to access your retirement accounts visit;
LINKS
For information on how to log into your TSP.gov account
More information on Interim Payments
Complete CSRS information for Federal and Postal Employees
Explanation of Federal Employee Retirement System Benefits (FERS)
Emotional and Psychological Readiness
~~Item #2 – Emotional and Psychological Readiness
Psychological Readiness is an underrated part of adjusting to retirement. There is no denying the importance of those concrete items such as maximizing the benefits of the Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) and understanding how all of your Federal Benefits work in retirement. But in order to chart a workable course for retiring well one must be emotionally and psychologically ready to embrace change, accept new beginnings, expand horizons and brace for the sometimes unexpected.
There are things we need to know and do so that we chart a feasible course to retiring well. Whether you’re eligible for CSRS or eligible for FERS often concrete items that we can touch, sort of put our hands on prioritize the list of things we need to know and do in order to retire well.
Below is a list of things we can do to get ready psychologically and emotionally to retire well and ensure the resources we need to live the life we deserve outlast us.
• Define who you are, absent of your job’s title and work environment
• Outline your gifts and skills and how you can use them to improve the world around you
• Think about what you’ve always wanted to do but were restricted due to the time constraints of your job
• Do a 15 minute self-evaluation of where you are, where you’ve been and where you’d like to be 3-5 years post-retirement
• Write down 5 of the most intriguing places in the world where you’d like to live, one just might be in your own back yard
• Think about what you are going to do on the first morning of your retirement
We spend more waking hours on our jobs and with our work families than we do in our homes with our own families. Psychological readiness ensures you’ll be ready to tackle all the issues a new retiree faces. Retiring well means getting ready to face new challenges and opportunities, meeting new people, going to new places and understanding a new and better you. These are critical tools needed to get you emotionally and psychologically ready to live a life on your own agenda. Getting ready now means success when you enter your next adventure – retiring well!
P.S. Always remember to share what you know.
LINKS
For complete information on FERS benefits
