1. Federal Employee Retirement How to prepare & What are your options
Presented by
Vince Bono: Founder of Federal Employee Advocates
Carolyn Tobin: Editor of The Federal Employee
Financial Blog.
Please send your questions to Carolyn Tobin:
We will not reveal your identity on the call

2. Free Resources Our FERS & CSRS Online Retirement Calculator
Our Tax Grid that shows which States do and do not tax federal pensions and Social Security.
Our White Paper on the “Federal Employee 80% Rule”
Our White Paper on your Federal Employee Health Benefits
Vince Bono’s White Paper on Fixed Indexed Annuities
MRA and Social Security Full Retirement Age Charts

3. Federal Retirement Seven Important Considerations
Your Life Expectancy
When you will be eligible to retire
Will you be financially prepared to retire
When you can access your TSP money
What are your financial options
Taxes (State & Federal)
Will you make an irreversible mistake

4. Average Life Expectancy How many years will you need your retirement income to last?
Male 45: Years Female 45: Years
Male 50: Years Female 50: Years
Male 55: Years Female 55: Years
Male 60: Years Female 60: Years
Male 65: Years Female 65: Years
Male 70: Years Female 70: Years
Male 75: Years Female 75: Years
Your pension and SS alone probably will not be enough for you to retire on, so you need other sources of income to last at least this many years beyond your retirement.

5. Will you have enough money to retire?
Most federal employees should be able to retire and still keep their same standard of living, if their retirement income is at least 80% of their gross pre-retirement income.
For Sure you will no longer be paying payroll taxes.
For sure you will not be contributing to your TSP
Maybe you will “downsize”.
Maybe you will move to a “Tax Friendly” State.

6. Sources of Post-Retirement Income How do you get to 80%
CSRS or FERS-Defined Benefit Pension
Social Security-
Thrift Savings Plan-Similar to a 401K
Savings Accounts
IRAs
Annuities
CDs, Stocks, Bonds etc

7. Eligibility for “Normal” Voluntary Retirement
CSRS: FERS:
Age 55 & 30 Years *MRA & 30 Years
Age 60 & 20 Years Age 60 & 20 Years
Age 62 & 5 Years Age 62 & 5 Years
*MRA Plus 10 Years
There is a 5% per year reduction if you are under age 62
Ex: At age 57 your pension amount would be decreased by 25%
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If you leave federal service before qualifying, and have over 5 years of service, you can collect a deferred annuity at age 62, or you can a receive a lump sum for your .08% contributions

8. How do you get to 80% Of your Pre-Retirement Income Your Pension
CSRS FERS
20 Years: 36.25% Years: 20% or 22%
25 Years: 46.25% Years: 25% or 27.5 %
30 Years: 56.25% Years: 30% or 33%
35 Years: 66.25% Years: 35% or 38.5%
40 Years: 76.25% Years: 40% or 44%
42 Years: 80.00% Will never reach 80% )<:

9. Your Pension Calculation
FERS Employees
A) If you are 62 years of age and have 20 or more years of service:
1.1% X the number of years of federal service X Your High Three
If you don’t meet both criteria in A) the 1.1% drops down to 1.0%
CSRS Employees
1.5% of your High Three for your first 5 years of federal service
1.75% of your High Three for your next 5 years of federal service
2.0% of your High Three for every year of federal service thereafter

10. FERS Federal Employees Ask for our Free Calculator
FERS federal employee with 20 years federal service and age 62 at retirement with a High Three of $100,000:
1.1% X 20=22% X $100,000 = $22,000 Annual Pension
If that federal employee retired at age 61 instead of age 62:
1.0% X 20=20% X $100,000 = $20,000 Annual Pension
If that 62 year old federal employee retired with 19 years:
1.0% X 19=19% X $100,000 = $19,000 Annual Pension

11. CSRS Federal Employees Ask for our Free Calculator
CSRS Federal Employee age 62 with 20 years of Federal Service at Retirement and a High Three of $100,000
1.5% X $100,000 = $1500 X five =$7,500
1.75% X $100,000 = $1750 X five = $8,750.00
2.00 % X $100,000 = $2000 X ten = $20,000
$ $ $20,000 = Annual Pension of $36,250

12. SRS FERS Special Retirement Supplement
Begins at your Minimum Retirement Age at Retirement!
Take your Social Security Estimate for age 62 and Divide that by 40, then X that by your number of years of civilian service.
If your SS Estimate at age 62 is $12,000 a year, and your # of years of FERS Service is 25:
$12,000 Divided by 40=$300 X 25=$7500 a year.
This is subject to the $15,720 SS Earnings Test. For every $2.00 you earn above it, your benefit is reduced by $ Your pension is not included-only Wages & Business income.

13. How do you get to 80% Of your Pre-Retirement Income Social Security
The Minimum Age to collect is 62 , but there is a $15,720 Earnings Test until you reach your Social Security FRA (Full Retirement Age)
If you Retire & start collecting at 62 your payments will be 25% (6.25% per year) less than if you Retired & Collected at your “Full Retirement Age”. This assumes your Social Security FRA is Age 66. At age 63 the reduction is not 25% but rather18.75% (6.25% X 3 Years).
If you Retire & start collecting at age 70, your payments will be 32.5% more than if you Retired & Collected at your FRA, again assuming your Social Security FRA is Age 66.
The longer you wait, the more you get, up to age 70.
Age 80 is your “Break Even” Point.

14. How do you get to 80% Of your Pre-Retirement Income
Your Pension
If you are FERS at 30 Years = 30% or 33% (Age 62/20 Year Test)
If you are CSRS at 30 Years = 56.25%
Social Security
On Average 25% (30% for Lower Paid Federal Employee-20% Higher Paid)
The more you earn, the less percentage impact it has towards 80%
$150,000 Earnings/$30,000 Social Security=20%
$50,000 Earnings/$15,000 Social Security = 30%
FERS at “Mid-Level” Either 55% or 58% towards your 80%
CSRS at “Mid-Level” 56.25% towards your 80%

15. Taxation
There is a misconception that your federal retirement, social security and TSP withdrawals are not taxed.
Social Security: Taxed Subject to the Income Test.
Federal Retirement: Taxed to the extent of the Governments contribution. There is no Income Test
TSP Withdrawals: Taxed unless it’s a Roth.

16. When You Can Access Your TSP money
When you leave federal service
Retirement
Quitting government service
At 59 ½ if still working
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There may be early withdrawal penalties:
If you retire and withdraw the money before the year in which you turn 55
If you quit before retiring and withdraw the money before you reach 59 ½

17. How You Can Take Your TSP money
Single payment
No more than two total
One is allowed at 59 ½ if still working
Series of monthly payments
Can change amount annually
Can’t stop
Can change to one final payment

18. What Can You Do With Your TSP Money
Purchase a single premium immediate annuity
You have no choice as to the company.
This is risky because if you need money for an emergency, you have no access to it.
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Transfer or rollover with the company of your choice
Direct transfer avoids withholding

19. Alternative TSP Investment Choices
Nobody can deny that the TSP Funds over time have performed pretty well. But what happens if you want to retire within the next 10 years and another 2008 occurs. Then what? On January 1st of 2008 many federal employees who planned on retiring that year are still working today because they had their TSP money invested in the C Fund, S Fund, L Funds or I Fund and suffered massive loses in their TSP value.

20. A Quote From “Economy and Market Daily”
Harvard Economist Harry Dent is known worldwide for his uncanny boom and bust calls over the last 30 years, so one should pay careful attention to his new warnings that:
the stock market will collapse by 70%
real estate will plunge by 40%
unemployment will spike up to 15% (24.7% using the broad-based U6 Index).

21. The TSP 2008 “Meltdown” The C Fund Lost 36.99% The S Fund Lost 38.32%
The I Fund Lost 42.43%
If after taking those loses in 2008 you put your money in the G Fund in 2008, you are still nowhere close to just breaking even. In fact you are still years away from that!
Fixed Indexed Annuities Lost Nothing!

22. Fixed Indexed Annuities
A fixed Indexed Annuity allows you to participate in the upside of the stock market without any risk whatsoever to your Principal. The first annuity in the United States was “invented” by the Presbyterian Church in the early 1700s. Ben Franklin, utilized annuities to help fund the American Revolution and the rapid growth of both Philadelphia and Boston. Annuities are so popular that Ben Bernanke, the former head of the Federal Reserve, once disclosed that his major financial assets were vested in two annuities.

23. How Does Your TSP Earn Money
BlackRock Institutional Trust Company, N.A. manages the C, S, & I Funds. “These Funds are invested in order to replicate the risk and return of their benchmark stock market index”.
They are not managed to Maximize Gains or Minimize Losses, which is why in 2008, those funds failed you.
For example The C Fund's objective is to match the performance of the S&P 500.
That’s why in 2008, it lost 37% of your money.

24. How Does Your TSP Earn Money
The S Fund's objective is to match the performance of Small to Medium-Sized Companies that are in the “Dow Jones U.S . Completion TSM Index”.
That’s why in 2008, it lost 38.32% of your money.
The I Fund's objective is to match the performance of the “Morgan Stanley Capital International EAFE Index”.
That’s why in 2008, it lost 43.43% of your money.

25. How an annuity earns money Participate in the upside of the market, without any of the risk
Similar to your TSP, the performance of a Fixed Index Annuity is tied to a stock market index. The most common “Crediting Method” is the S&P 500, but most companies offer numerous other options for you to choose from, such as the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the NASDAQ, Unlike your TSP, if the chosen crediting method in your Fixed Indexed Annuity goes down, you don’t lose money. Best yet, all prior gains are Locked-In. So say in 2015 you earned 9% in your Fixed Indexed Annuity and in 2016 the stock market crashed, that 9% can never be lost nor can any other prior gain in that annuity be lost!

26. Access to your Funds When your annuity contract expires, you can:
Take the money in one lump sum.
Receive a guaranteed Lifetime Income.
Do combination of both #1 and #2
Roll the money into another Annuity