Any thoughts on the Part-time Plan for Federal Employees eligible for retirement?

[bjean]

It appears congress just approved this part-time program for federal employees eligible for retirement and you can draw half of your retirement annuity. This other deal I am concern with, the elimination for FERS supplement is suppose to voted on maybe this week. Any thoughts on this, again if they eliminate the FERS annuity I am going probably in the summer.

As always thanks for all of your great input. My tsp balance is a few thousand below what it was in late January 2011, it has been a slow crawl back. I was conservative beginning of the year due to my losses last year, but have been a little more risky lately....still concern about the pullback everyone is talking
about!!!!!!:worried:

 

[driz]

I can't wait to see how all that semi-retirement business shakes out. Not that I am in the slightest interested but for the repercussions that will surely follow. I didn't even know the supplement ripoff was still a viable option for these pirates either. I'm going to watch that one like a hawk myself so I can bail before the deadline in the event it pans out that way. It sure seems like a hot potato right before an election to even bring something like this up though the Conservatives would throw us under the bus as fast as they would pass another tax break for their corporate "sponsors".

 

[SkyPilot]

After reading much about the proposals, it doesn't seem that either the TSP or the supplement issue will affect current employees but rather new hires. However, still possibility of affecting pension contributions. But that's really just tea leaves, isn't it? We are being either offered up as a sacrifice or targeted as a sacrifice. It's a race to the bottom folks, and we are being sold out for political gain on both sides of the isle... I hope the congressional aides will make our (their) plight known to their bosses

 

[driz]

After reading much about the proposals, it doesn't seem that either the TSP or the supplement issue will affect current employees but rather new hires. However, still possibility of affecting pension contributions. But that's really just tea leaves, isn't it? We are being either offered up as a sacrifice or targeted as a sacrifice. It's a race to the bottom folks, and we are being sold out for political gain on both sides of the isle... I hope the congressional aides will make our (their) plight known to their bosses

Sadly that will be the best and most likely outcome for those of us already here. Unfortunately it just craps on people 20 years down the road. With this sort of thing afoot I can only imagine the HR nightmare of trying to get feds who have any qualifications at all. All this stuff used to be buried behind semi closed door with answers to questions pretty much unattainable for us mortals. People never had the access to information that they do today. It's going to be very hard for them to pull the wool over peoples eyes without someone calling Bullsite. It makes me wonder how good ol Ronny would have done with FERS / CSRS if everyone had the internet. Generation Y had better keep their eyes open. if they plan on being a fed is all I have to say........ I wonder if they will drop the reading and writing requirement for most fed jobs in the future or just open them up to illegal aliens?

 

[uscfanhawaii]

It appears congress just approved this part-time program for federal employees eligible for retirement and you can draw half of your retirement annuity. This other deal I am concern with, the elimination for FERS supplement is suppose to voted on maybe this week. Any thoughts on this, again if they eliminate the FERS annuity I am going probably in the summer.

The article I read said that the phased retirement was passed by the Senate. Still has to go thru the House and the President.....not that either of those will stand in its way! see the below articles on the Senate passing the bill and the House looking to vote this week.
Senate approves 'phased retirements' for feds - FederalTimes.com
House may vote on phased retirement, instead of higher retirement contributions - FederalTimes.com
Note that the 'savings' from this bill will go for roads and forests, not saving the FERS pension or any other Fed Employee plan (like maybe our pay raises or lack thereof for the next few years!). Our senator Akaka pointed this out as a problem with this bill.

Yes, feds are under attack from both sides. Watch out for more to come re. pay and pensions! Write your Congressmen! Join federal committees like NARFE, FMA, etc. :worried:

 

[bjean]

The article I read said that the phased retirement was passed by the Senate. Still has to go thru the House and the President.....not that either of those will stand in its way! see the below articles on the Senate passing the bill and the House looking to vote this week.
Senate approves 'phased retirements' for feds - FederalTimes.com
House may vote on phased retirement, instead of higher retirement contributions - FederalTimes.com
Note that the 'savings' from this bill will go for roads and forests, not saving the FERS pension or any other Fed Employee plan (like maybe our pay raises or lack thereof for the next few years!). Our senator Akaka pointed this out as a problem with this bill.

Yes, feds are under attack from both sides. Watch out for more to come re. pay and pensions! Write your Congressmen! Join federal committees like NARFE, FMA, etc. :worried:

Okay, I just read the article on "House may vote on phased retirement", what a mess, how does congress know they will save $465 million? Are they going to force employees near their retirement to go part-time, someone's comments below the article did the arithmetic and commented the phased retirement program would actually cost more than other proposals??????

This is so screwed up, I cannot stand either party, they have become so polarized and have proved once more how totally incompetent they really are at trying to reduce the looming deficit and attacking the federal workers (middle class) meager benefits.............bj

 

[uscfanhawaii]

Okay, I just read the article on "House may vote on phased retirement", what a mess, how does congress know they will save $465 million? Are they going to force employees near their retirement to go part-time, someone's comments below the article did the arithmetic and commented the phased retirement program would actually cost more than other proposals??????

This is so screwed up, I cannot stand either party, they have become so polarized and have proved once more how totally incompetent they really are at trying to reduce the looming deficit and attacking the federal workers (middle class) meager benefits.............bj

Can't agree more!!

 

[uscfanhawaii]

here is one article about how the 'phased retirement' may or may not work:
News Articles: Phased Retirement: How Would It Impact Your Federal Annuity?
It does sound pretty screwed up! :blink:

 

[bjean]

Anyone know how OPM actually calculate the FERS supplement annuity

I am a FERS transfer and will have 13 yr 7 mths as FERS transfer. Does OPM actually review the average salary for each year to calculate the 1/40 for the FERS supplement? Does anyone know about the FEDBENS.us website and how accurate this site is????

I have three different results for my FERS supplement:

the first estimation is from the HR person who did not have access to my personnel file and the figure was 50% less than my calculation. She would not tell me how she calculated this estimate and told me they arent even suppose to provide this and always give a low figure. The second estimation I divide my years under FERS by 40 and then multiply my social security annuity at age 62 minus the salary before government. The third estimation on FEDBEN.us where the calculation involves entering salary for each year under FERS is the highest? Again thanks for any input, our HR personnel are PATHETIC!!!!!!!!!! I dont know what I would do without this site, there is no support for a federal employee and you have to look out for yourself!

bj

 

[Stoplight]

Re: Anyone know how OPM actually calculate the FERS supplement annuity

BJ,

Sorry to hear you're getting frustrated with your attempts to nail down your supplement. I was also curious just how this was calculated, and how much it would be.

I found the 1998 CSRS and FERS Handbook at this OPM web site : CSRS/FERS Handbook

I'm an engineer, and good at crunching numbers, but after looking at the 46 pages in Chapter 51, I decided it wasn't worth my time or effort...I've based my retirement plans off of the estimates I've received ! The Handbook does have a lot of examples and worksheets, so if you want to dive it, take a look !

Good Luck !

Stoplight...