Federal Pension Advice and Insights

Sep 11, 2026

Retiring before Medicare means leaving federal service at any age under 65 while relying primarily on your Federal Employees Health Benefits (FEHB) coverage until Medicare eligibility begins. If you retire at your Minimum Retirement Age (MRA) of 57, that gap can stretch eight years.

Sep 10, 2026

Federal workforce cuts in 2026 continue a large-scale downsizing of the U.S. civil service. Most of the contraction, hundreds of thousands of positions, happened during 2025. Those separations are still working through the system in 2026, alongside new agency reorganization plans.

Sep 9, 2026

Federal employee retirement healthcare before age 65 rests on one core benefit. Your Federal Employees Health Benefits (FEHB) coverage continues into retirement at the same premium you paid as an active employee, as long as you meet the "5-year rule" and retire on an immediate annuity.

Sep 7, 2026

Yes, your Social Security benefits can be taxed if you have a FERS pension (Federal Employees Retirement System). The question of Social Security tax with a federal pension comes down to one number: your combined income. The taxable portion of your FERS annuity counts as ordinary income. That raises your combined income, which can make 50% to 85% of your Social Security benefit taxable at the federal level. This guide explains how the 2026 combined income rules work, why FERS income can push you over the thresholds, and how the numbers break down.

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.