Page 31 - The Informed Fed--Hearn (edited 10.29.20)

four built-in traps that await federal employees who have not prepared a
retirement plan.
1) They forget that the IRS has a vested interest in their
distributions which can cause surprising tax liabilities.
2) The FEGLI life insurance options they have chosen become
unaffordable which leaves the employee underinsured at the time
of need.
3) The TSP allocations have left the employee with market and/or
inflation risk.
4) The trap we see the most is the fear of outliving their money. We
touched on Earn While You Learn Philosophy #1 earlier. Let’s
go into more detail on this very important segment.
We find that the blame game can rear its ugly head when a person
suddenly realizes that their retirement plan is not what they thought or
assumed it would be. In most cases, it is those individuals that take
responsibility for their own actions and seize every opportunity possible
to improve themselves and take the challenges that life brings. It is our
own human nature that will tend to take the easy way out and just hope
the obstacles and challenges will go away. Sometimes it will work but,
unfortunately, we have to address the problems and challenges head on.
You can try to sidestep your responsibilities, but you can’t sidestep
the consequences of shirking your responsibilities. This first philosophy
builds a foundation for everything else. Taking responsibility for your
decisions will set the stage for success. Success is where you find it.
People from all walks of life and various circumstances, federal
employees or otherwise, have more or less had obstacles and have found
options that worked for them. Keep a positive attitude and work with
what you have and build on it one step at a time. Eliminate the excuses.
Are you too busy? Is your budget tight? Do you have too much debt?
There are always going to be things that will stand in your way. Resolve
to stand firm in the face of these distractions so that you can develop a
system of personal accountability. We will help you overcome the

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