Federal Pension Advice and Insights

Sep 4, 2026

FERS pension deductions are the subtractions and adjustments that make your actual FERS retirement income smaller than the gross annuity figure on your estimate. They include survivor benefit reductions, health and life insurance premiums, taxes, early-retirement penalties, and the earnings test on the FERS supplement. FERS, the Federal Employees Retirement System, calculates your gross pension from a formula. The income you live on reflects these deductions and adjustments.

Sep 3, 2026

TSP risks after early retirement are the specific financial dangers that surface when a federal employee retires at their Minimum Retirement Age with 30 years of service and may start drawing on the Thrift Savings Plan early in retirement. The core problem is time. An MRA+30 retiree may need their TSP to last 35 years or longer, which magnifies every mistake around withdrawal timing, sequence-of-returns exposure, tax treatment, and rollover errors. The seven risks below are the ones early federal retirees should understand, and you can manage each one more effectively with planning before you separate.

Sep 2, 2026

TSP performance in August 2026 was broadly positive. Every core fund and every Lifecycle Fund in the Thrift Savings Plan (TSP), the federal government's tax-advantaged retirement savings program, closed the month higher.

Sep 1, 2026

TSP mistakes before retirement are the avoidable errors federal employees make with their Thrift Savings Plan in the final years on the job. You might front-load contributions and lose the agency match, roll the account into an IRA and forfeit the Rule of 55, sit in the wrong funds, or misjudge Roth versus traditional.

Aug 31, 2026

The 2027 federal pay raise, as currently proposed, is a pay freeze for most civilian federal employees. Base pay and locality pay would stay at 2026 rates with no increase.

Aug 27, 2026

Federal employee spouse retirement benefits are the coordinated pension, health insurance, and Social Security protections a married couple relies on when one spouse works for the federal government and the other works in the private sector. In practice, the federal spouse's annuity, survivor election, and Federal Employees Health Benefits enrollment must be planned alongside the non-federal spouse's Social Security and employer retirement accounts.

Aug 26, 2026

No, FEHB does not cover long-term care. The Federal Employees Health Benefits (FEHB) Program is medical insurance. It pays for doctor visits, hospital stays, surgery, and prescriptions, not custodial care.

Aug 25, 2026

A major milestone for the 2027 federal pay raise arrives August 31, 2026. That's the day the president faces a statutory deadline to submit an alternative plan for the across-the-board pay adjustment under 5 U.S.C. § 5303.

Aug 24, 2026

The FERS Basic Employee Death Benefit is a death benefit payable to the eligible surviving spouse, or a qualifying former spouse, of a federal employee who dies while still on the employing agency's rolls. To qualify, the employee must have had at least 18 months of creditable civilian service. The recipient can generally take it as a single payment or in 36 monthly installments.

Aug 21, 2026

If you retired on FERS disability and are under age 60 on December 31 of a calendar year, OPM can stop your annuity for that year if your income from wages and self-employment reaches at least 80% of the current pay for the position you held when you retired. Your earnings must stay below that 80% line. Reaching or exceeding it triggers "restoration to earning capacity" and ends the annuity.

Aug 20, 2026

A FERS service credit deposit is a payment you make to OPM, the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, to buy back civilian time that was not covered by retirement contributions, so that it counts toward your pension.

Aug 19, 2026

A reemployed annuitant is a federal retiree who draws a Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) pension and, at the same time, earns a paycheck as a rehired federal employee. If you return to federal service in 2026, your FERS annuity almost always continues in full. But your new salary is reduced by the amount of that annuity for the period you work.