Pay & Benefits

A New Guide to the Retirement Process Could Help Feds Avoid Pitfalls, Manage Expectations

OPM's new three-page guide to the federal retirement process will be updated on a monthly basis to reflect anticipated wait times for federal retirees to begin receiving their annuity payments.

Workforce

Federal Retirees Could Be a Great Talent Source, If Only It Were Easier to Bring Them Back  

There are lots of job ready federal retirees out there prepared and willing to return to work for Uncle Sam, but we need to eliminate the biases and disincentives that make it too hard for them to do so. 

Pay & Benefits

TSP Returns Stayed Mostly Positive for April

All but one of the five individual funds in the retirement savings program grew for the month, and all were in the black so far for the year. 

Pay & Benefits

OPM Tests Chatbot For Retirement Services

The retirement services chatbot is designed to answer easy questions to free up call center resources for more complex inquiries.

Pay & Benefits

What Feds Need to Know About Getting the Most Out of the TSP

Abraham Grungold joins the podcast to discuss his decades of experience with the Thrift Savings Plan.

Oversight

A Bill Would Repeal an Expensive Tax Rule For Public Servants

Rep. Abigail Spanberger joins the podcast to discuss her plan to put money in feds' and retirees' pockets.

Pay & Benefits

Spanberger Touts Feds’ Support for Repeal of Controversial Tax Rule Affecting Retirees

More than 2,500 people responded to an informal survey about the windfall elimination provision and government pension offset conducted by the lawmaker’s office within the first 48 hours of its posting.

Pay & Benefits

Most TSP Funds Recover From February Slump

Only one of the portfolios in the federal government’s 401(k)-style retirement savings program ended March in the red.

Pay & Benefits

Annuitants Will Feel the Impact of Medicare Part D Changes

Kevin Moss joins the podcast to discuss health care changes enacted via the Inflation Reduction Act.

Pay & Benefits

Bill to Boost Federal Firefighters’ Retirement Benefits is Back

Rep. Gerry Connolly’s legislation would include mandatory overtime hours in calculations to determine federal firefighters’ pension benefits.

Pay & Benefits

TSP Portfolios Backslide in February

After a strong start to the year, most of the funds in the federal government’s 401(k)-style retirement savings program lost ground.

Pay & Benefits

TSP Recordkeeper Says Things Are Getting Much Better, After a Rocky Transition

Officials from Accenture Federal Services committed Tuesday to working continuously to boost customer satisfaction.

Workforce

Are Pensions the Answer to the Public-Sector Worker Shortage?

Research shows that pension benefits overwhelmingly help attract skilled workers, especially millennials.

Pay & Benefits

A Bill to Fix a Customs and Border Protection Retirement Snafu Is Revived in the Senate

More than 1,000 Customs and Border Protection officers were mistakenly promised enhanced retirement benefits, only to have them taken away once the agency realized its error.

Pay & Benefits

Lawmakers Try Again to Standardize Cost of Living Raises for Federal Retirees

Federal employee groups have long decried the fact that retirees enrolled in the Federal Employees Retirement System receive lower annual annuity adjustments than their peers.

Pay & Benefits

Social Security: Could the New Congress’s Sharp Divide Lead to Compromise on Reform?

Social Security manages a huge chunk of what millions of fed families depend on for retirement, disability and survivor benefits, including the majority of current workers onboarded since the 1980s under the Federal Employees Retirement System.

Workforce

Retirement, Savings and Learning from Financial Classes

Sidney and Saundra Curry join the podcast to discuss financial wellness programs can serve public servants.

Pay & Benefits

First Responder Retirement Bill Gets a Unanimous Senate Vote

The legislation allows first responders with disabilities to continue receiving federal retirement benefits in the same manner as though they had not been disabled.

Pay & Benefits

A Proposed OPM Rule Would Align Congressional Retirement Dates and Contributions With Those of Feds

Laws passed in 2012 and 2013 changed retirement benefits and contributions for members of Congress and their staff.