Q. I am retiring Aug. 30 and would like to pay my home off at this time. I have $107,000 in my account and the payoff for my home would be roughly $49,000. I plan to let the remaining balance stay there until 62 and receive monthly payments. My retirement is listed under FERS and, at 62, I will get Social Security (I have worked in the private sector for more than 30 years and expect my retirement pay to be nothing less than $1,000 a month, for a total income of at least $2,600 a month. Does this seem like a…
Browsing: Social Security
Q. Thank you for your answer on my question of investing my 100 percent G Fund into an L Fund. You recommended choosing an L that corresponds to my life expectancy. I expect to retire in about a year, will have about $500,000 outside of the fund after I transfer my 401(k) into the fund. My FERS will be about $1,000 a month, and I will defer drawing Social Security until after 67, maybe wait until 70 (I am 64). The issue is life expectancy. Our family tends to live into its 90s. I am thinking that the L2020 may…
Q. My husband was forced to retire early when the Army depot closed here in Sacramento, Calif. Several years later, he was forced to stop working due to a stroke and applied for Social Security disability. He was told that his Social Security allotment was greatly reduced because of his Thrift Savings Plan retirement account. He never thought this was fair because he has worked and paid Social Security all his life, but instead of receiving about $1,500 a month on Social Security, he receives a reduced $450. By comparison, I retired on a state pension and am fully qualified…
Q. I have been in FERS for 16 years. I have been in the Army Reserve for 21 and plan to stay in until after my FERS minimum retirement age (58). I have enough combat time to be eligible for early reserve retirement pay at 58. I have deployed to combat several times and receive a combat-related injury compensation from the Veterans Affairs Department. I have a FERS Thrift Savings Plan and a military member TSP. I am thinking of buying back four years of active-duty time toward my FERS retirement. I believe former President Bush signed a special combat-related compensation…
Q. I am retiring under FERS in a few months, and am looking for recommendations on how to best invest my Thrift Savings Plan dollars. I believe my options are to buy a MetLife annuity, leave the funds in my TSP account until I turn 71 years old (I am now 60), or roll the TSP dollars into an IRA or other type of investment account. I have approximately $350,000 and will receive my FERS retirement and eventually Social Security. Do you have any recommendations to roll the dollars into an investment account that I could occasionally draw from and that could draw…
Q. I understand that the lump-sum payment for unused annual leave is treated as wage and salary income and is subject to federal and state (if any) income tax, FICA (Social Security) and Medicare taxes. How is it treated for Thrift Savings Plan purposes? Are individual and government matching contributions made? Can a retiring employee top up their contributions from the lump sum (up to the IRS-determined maximum)?
Q. Does the withdrawal of your Thrift Savings Plan annuity affect the amount of your special retirement supplement or Social Security if it exceeds the maximum amount of money you are allowed to make under Social Security?
Q. I am 41 and a “gray area retiree from the Maryland Army National Guard. I am employed with the Postal Service (FERS) and have about 19 years of service (including five years active duty, which I already paid back). I also collect 30 percent disability from the Veterans Affairs Department. In planning my final retirement living, it seems if I retire at my minimum retirement age of 57, I should be immediately eligible for full annuities of the following, with no penalties or offsets: FERS basic annuity Social Security offset (until 62) TSP annuity (no IRS penalty) VA compensation…
Q. I am a Postal Service employee under FERS. I am going to retire soon with 26½ years at age 60. Do I have to take the special retirement supplement, or can I waive it? If I take it, do I have to start taking Social Security at 62, or do I have an option to wait until I am older? If I decide to purchase an annuity with my Thrift Savings Plan balance from MetLife, is that annuity protected if MetLife folds? A. Mike: A MetLife annuity is backed by MetLife. Your state may also offer some backstop in…
Q. I joined federal service in September 1984 and left at the end of August 1986. The FERS retirement program had not really been implemented and the Thrift Savings Plan did not exist. I declined to participate in CSRS since I was compelled to pay into Social Security and felt the additional retirement payments under CSRS were too much for me. In the summer of 1988, I returned to federal service and was told I had to wait a year before being eligible to participate in TSP. I heard from some employees that when TSP was first created, there was a “catch-up”…