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AUTHOR ARCHIVES
Tammy Flanagan
Tammy Flanagan is the senior benefits director for the National Institute of Transition Planning Inc., which conducts federal retirement planning workshops and seminars. She has spent 25 years helping federal employees take charge of their retirement by understanding their benefits.
For more retirement planning help, tune in to "For Your Benefit," presented by the National Institute of Transition Planning Inc. live on Mondays at 10 a.m. EDT on Federalnewsradio.com, or on WFED AM 1500 in the Washington-metro area.
Mail Call, Part Two
July 11, 2008 Last week, I answered some of your recent questions about calculating retirement benefits under the Federal Employees Retirement System and the Civil Service Retirement System. This week. I'll wrap up the topic by taking on a few more questions. Social Security How much of my Social Security check will be ...
Mail Call
July 4, 2008 Here are answers to some of your questions about calculating retirement benefits under the Federal Employees Retirement System and the Civil Service Retirement System. Military Service and FERS Where can I find information on the effects of buying back military time under the Federal Employees Retirement System? Military service is ...
Time of Transition
June 27, 2008 When a new administration takes office, there are always a number of federal employees who leave government without enough service to qualify for immediate retirement benefits. This includes the more than 7,000 top agency officials, policy advisers and aides who are subject to noncompetitive appointments to the civil service, along ...
Deposits and Credits
June 20, 2008 Do you like surprises? A birthday party, bouquet of flowers, maybe even a visit from a long-lost friend -- all of these can be pleasant surprises. But when it comes to retirement, surprises are to be avoided. To do so, it's important to understand two concepts that are uniquely important ...
To-Do List
June 13, 2008 Many of you may be at the point of setting a date for your retirement and wondering what needs to get done before you go. One of my readers came up with a "countdown checklist" to help prepare for the big day. (She doesn't want to take credit for it ...
The Benefits of Social Security
June 6, 2008 We all know that Social Security provides benefits for workers -- that is, people who have paid Social Security taxes on their own earnings. But do you understand how Social Security also benefits workers' families? When you start receiving your own Social Security retirement benefits, your spouse, dependent children and ...
Myth Busting
May 30, 2008 At any given moment, there are many different myths floating around about federal retirement planning. One of the things I like about doing this column is having the opportunity to set the record straight. So this week I thought I'd do a little myth-busting. Myth: The age of your spouse ...
TSP and Taxes
May 23, 2008 Do you know the circumstances under which you can withdraw funds from your Thrift Savings Plan account without a tax penalty? Are your heirs aware of the tax implications of the choices they will have to make about the funds in your account after you're gone? These two issues come ...
Words of Wisdom
May 16, 2008 Do you ever wonder what retirement will be like? Last weekend I had the pleasure of spending time with my father's brother, Steve Kukic (who is a young 85), and his (even younger) wife, Helena. They retired as civilian federal employees from Edwards Air Force Base in the mid-1970s. Uncle ...
Federal vs. Private
May 9, 2008 In a recent piece in the Wall Street Journal, Dallas Salisbury of the Employee Benefit Research Institute detailed how private sector benefits have changed since World War II. That got me thinking about the changes that have occurred in the federal government in the years since the Civil Service Retirement ...
