Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
That is so true. They're going to try to balance the budget on your guy's backs. It wouldn't surprise me to see things go to a high five instead of high 3, just to keep pensions low. They've already increased your (tax) contributions for retirement by a couple of percent I think. I heard that you no longer get paid for your sick leave, but get it added on to your time in service when you retire, which makes it nearly worthless.
It's great that you're taking the time to mentor the new kids, #1 is max out your TSP as soon as you get the job because SS might not be there when they retire.
I don't think they ever paid unused sick leave.
What they do pay is for unused annual leave.
Effective in 2014, they credit your time in service with your unused sick leave. No separate check like for unused A/L.
That is 1 for 1 on sick leave. My boss is one who when he finally retires (unless he needs to use his sick leave for emergency will have 1 full year to turn into creditable service. I will have about 10 to 11 months myself barring an emergency.
Effective in 2014, they credit your time in service with your unused sick leave. No separate check like for unused A/L.
According to my husband, who retired from the Veteran's Administration in 2003, the feds have been crediting sick leave towards your time in service for quite some time how. That's what they did for him on 2003.
That is 1 for 1 on sick leave. My boss is one who when he finally retires (unless he needs to use his sick leave for emergency will have 1 full year to turn into creditable service. I will have about 10 to 11 months myself barring an emergency.
They no longer do it, but I got 40% value on my sick leave 2 years ago when I retired. It was over $20,000.
NOW, (as Chaser said above) they don't do that, they just add it to your time in service, which means you may never get the value back.
Say you were making $100,000 a year, and you had 2080 hours SL accrued (that's 1 year of work). If they paid you at 40% for your sick leave, you'd get $40,000. Now, if they add it to your time in service, you get an additional 1% of your high 3 (1% for every year worked) which, if you were making $100,000 means your retirement goes up $1000 a year. You'd have to live another 40 years after retiring to get that $40,000 you would have gotten in a lump payment.
It's better if you can take the leave and extend your Time In Service. You get the benefits of being paid for it as well as a little more in retirement payments.
They no longer do it, but I got 40% value on my sick leave 2 years ago when I retired. It was over $20,000.
NOW, (as Chaser said above) they don't do that, they just add it to your time in service, which means you may never get the value back.
Say you were making $100,000 a year, and you had 2080 hours SL accrued (that's 1 year of work). If they paid you at 40% for your sick leave, you'd get $40,000. Now, if they add it to your time in service, you get an additional 1% of your high 3 (1% for every year worked) which, if you were making $100,000 means your retirement goes up $1000 a year. You'd have to live another 40 years after retiring to get that $40,000 you would have gotten in a lump payment.
It's better if you can take the leave and extend your Time In Service. You get the benefits of being paid for it as well as a little more in retirement payments.
Special Groups (Fire fighters, Law Enforcement Officers, and Air Traffic Controllers) in federal service have some different features under FERS than other federal employees. The pension multiplier is higher, they can retire at an earlier age and with fewer years, their FERS supplement to social security is not reduced by other employment once they leave the government, their FERS pension COLA starts immediately at retirement rather than at age 62, etc. Another feature specific to ATC is that you can cash in your sick leave at 40% of value. This seems to be due to ATCs being in a bargaining unit (I assume this means a "union") that has negotiated this benefit. For the rest of us federal employees, sick leave cannot be cashed in but is added to years of credited service so with FERs you will get your money back after about 100 years of retirement, 50 years under CSRS.
Of course starting early and doing all the deposits does the most good. Living within means is even more important.
The problem with TSP is you can lose money in it. I can't remember when the L funds came along but up till then you were on your own and before that a lot of people didn't even have good internet. So people now have it a little better then the first 10 years or so.
If you didn't know anything about the market and put it in stocks and forgot about it - you could end off worse than if you'd but it a mattress.
I'm one of those doofus's who contributed, though maybe not maxed at first, sort of hard as a GS-7, but didn't understand and didn't take the time to figure it out.
Boy am I sorry now!
Had it all in the G fund for a long time after losing a bunch when it was in stocks, missed this rise, and now here at the 11th hour I've put what I have it in one of the more conservative L funds which still has a lot of stocks. Watch, the market will tumble. I think I've been here before - I keep 'buying' and 'selling' at exactly the wrong times.
So telling people to contribute the max isn't good enough. They really need to understand TSP.
Question:
I had a guy tell me you should always retire on the 31st of Dec so when your lump sum of annual leave buy back comes (assuming you have that) you will be in a lower tax year. Is that true or does it depend a lot of other personal tax status stuff?
I have a year and a half to be 60.5 yrs old and 30 and a couple of months yrs service. Single so don't need to figure out all the spouse stuff. Still pretty confused about a lot.
According to my husband, who retired from the Veteran's Administration in 2003, the feds have been crediting sick leave towards your time in service for quite some time how. That's what they did for him on 2003.
He must be under CSRS retirement, it was FERS that started it in 2014.
FERS appears to be a slippery slope for many...................I sat in on a retirement seminar several months ago and a good part of the audience was within 5 years or less from retirement under FERS and many did not realize that their TSP was such a vital part of their three incomes (SS, FERS annuity and TSP) at retirement (the facilitator mentioned it was 40% of your retirement income).
Those who lost quite a bit in 2008 in the C Fund..................if they held fast and stayed in then they are up, those who jumped, well...............
CSRS paid for sick leave, FERS is now 100%.
Your Federal Retirement is one of the most important things you can educate yourself with, FERS has a lot of nuances with the supplement and other scenario's.
Once you are within five years of retirement most of your decisions if wrong are going to be hard to recover from.
I have many around me that keep plugging away at their contributions and just as many taking loans against it for cars and what not.
The problem with TSP is you can lose money in it.
I have a year and a half to be 60.5 yrs old and 30 and a couple of months yrs service. Single so don't need to figure out all the spouse stuff. Still pretty confused about a lot.
Giesela I am sorry that you took the loss. I am not sure what you are saying but if you are okay please PM me and I might be able to answer your question right away and most certainly can get it answered quickly.
Quote:
Originally Posted by JBtwinz
FERS appears to be a slippery slope for many...................I sat in on a retirement seminar several months ago and a good part of the audience was within 5 years or less from retirement under FERS and many did not realize that their TSP was such a vital part of their three incomes (SS, FERS annuity and TSP) at retirement (the facilitator mentioned it was 40% of your retirement income).
Those who lost quite a bit in 2008 in the C Fund..................if they held fast and stayed in then they are up, those who jumped, well...............
CSRS paid for sick leave, FERS is now 100%.
Your Federal Retirement is one of the most important things you can educate yourself with, FERS has a lot of nuances with the supplement and other scenario's.
Once you are within five years of retirement most of your decisions if wrong are going to be hard to recover from.
I have many around me that keep plugging away at their contributions and just as many taking loans against it for cars and what not.
JB great points.
I want to give a pointer for those in a similar position as I. I have a nice chunk in my TSP and along with pensions I feel pretty comfortable with what I have. I am 3+ years away from my retirement and probably 5 years from me tacking any of that TSP money. I didn't start out with the lifecycle funds so I am manually managing my funds. Since I currently still contribute my breakdown in 5% - G 50% - S and 45% - C and those numbers are contribution. My current balances are quite different. Some will be surprised to read these. I have currently 39% - G 41% - S and 20% - C. The balances are that way because I cannot afford huge swings but I also cannot afford to lose to inflation either. For a long time I also contributed to I fund but there is a lot volatility so have since moved out.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
