Page 11 - The Informed Fed--Hearn (edited 10.29.20)

2008. We call these folks “Baby Boomers”. It is predicted that they will
cause additional burdens upon our financial and entitlement system due
to the massive numbers being placed upon the social security and
Medicare rolls. You may read that and think to yourself, thanks for the
uplifting start to the book! Well, it’s not all bad and we certainly need to
keep things in perspective. In light of all the bad press, there is a silver
lining.
I was prompted to write this book because of the number of times I
would conduct a review of benefits for an employee and discover that
they had no idea how their benefits were structured or what options they
had chosen and the impact it would have on future earnings. They simply
completed the new employee forms by making a few selections and then
forgot about it. They would meet with an advisor in the latter years of
their career only to find out that they should have been consulting with
one throughout their career. I can’t tell you the number of times I have
heard this statement: “I wish I would have met with you 20 years ago!”
We can all take a proactive stance instead of a reactive approach. You
can start by educating yourself on your federal benefits, which is what
this book is all about.
When we decided to write this book, we set out to provide
information that would help the federal employee take full advantage of
their benefits, while at the same time understand the pitfalls associated
with the federal benefit package. This book will help answer some of the
most common questions like:
• How well will I retire?
• What happens to FEGLI when I retire?
• Should I keep the FEGLI options A B & C?
• What should my TSP contribution rate be?
• Should I buy back military time?

• Is my TSP-3 completed correctly?
• When should I elect social security?

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