AUTHOR ARCHIVES

Tammy Flanagan

Tammy Flanagan has spent 30 years helping federal employees take charge of their retirement by understanding their benefits. She runs her own consulting business at www.retirefederal.com and provides individual counseling as well as online training for the National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association, Plan Your Federal Retirement and the Federal Long Term Care insurance Program. She also serves as the senior benefits director for the National Institute of Transition Planning Inc., which conducts federal retirement planning workshops and seminars.

For more retirement planning help, tune in to "For Your Benefit," presented by the National Institute of Transition Planning Inc. live on Federal News Radio on Mondays at 10 a.m. ET on WFED AM 1500 in the Washington-metro area. Archived shows are available on NITPInc.com.

Results 351-360 of 617

What Congress Gets

July 8, 2011 You may have received an email recently from someone who is trying to start a petition to get members of Congress to pay into Social Security like other Americans. Or maybe you've gotten the one that says members of Congress receive their congressional salary for the rest of their lives...

Officers’ Options

July 1, 2011 Last week I had the honor of being a presenter at the annual Women in Federal Law Enforcement leadership and training conference. This gathering of more than 750 female federal law enforcement personnel was an inspiring event. It is amazing to think that when I started my own federal career...

Another Look at Annuities

June 24, 2011 When the time comes to withdraw money from your Thrift Savings Plan, one of the options is to use some or all of the money in your account to purchase a life annuity from a vendor (currently MetLife). Using Form TSP-70, you can request a series of monthly payments directly...

Midterm Quiz

June 17, 2011 It's the middle of the year and I thought it might be fun to review some of the topics I've written about so far in 2011. So here are two true-false quizzes: one for employees covered under the Federal Employees Retirement System and another for those under the Civil Service...

Decision Time

June 10, 2011 There are two weeks left in the first open season for the Federal Long-Term Care Insurance Program since its introduction in 2002. This means that employees and their spouses or same-sex partners have until June 24 to take advantage of enrolling in the FLTCIP through abbreviated underwriting -- by filling...

Best Dates to Retire, Revisited

June 3, 2011 Three weeks ago, I published my annual Best Dates to Retire column, covering 2012. It features a downloadable calendar highlighting the best dates each month, depending on your retirement system. Not surprisingly, readers had some questions about when they should plan to retire, based on their individual situations. This week,...

Waiting Game

May 27, 2011 A friend of mine, Scott, had a long career in the military, and then followed it up with a second career that he pursued until he was eligible for unreduced Social Security benefits at age 66. During the latter phase, he also received his military retirement check. He didn't need...

Ready . . . or Not?

May 20, 2011 I heard someone say recently that the reason people spend less money in retirement is because they have less money to spend. It may seem tempting to plan to retire at age 55 or 60. That way, you can have a life after retirement that could last as many years...

Best Dates to Retire 2012

May 13, 2011 How long will the pay freeze last? Will your retirement be computed on your highest three years of salary, or five? Will we see a cost-of-living adjustment for retirees in the near future? Will the formula change for computing the government's contribution to the Federal Employees Health Benefits program? So...

Retirement Checkup

April 29, 2011 This week, I took my car in for its 35,000 mile checkup, which included an oil change, tire rotation and safety check. While waiting for the service to be completed, I realized that taking care of my vehicle so it will last for many years is a lot like preparing...