FERS, CSRS, TSP, survivor elections, sick-leave credit — thousands of pages of rules, no one at the agency left to walk you through them, and decisions that lock in for life. This is the retirement that punishes guessing hardest — and rewards planning most.
The government used to staff people to help you retire. Now you're on your own — and several of these choices, once filed, never reopen.
Full, partial, or none — chosen once, at retirement, with your spouse's notarized consent. The wrong election can cost a surviving spouse the pension income and the health coverage that rides with it.
Keep it in the TSP with its famously low costs, or roll it over for consolidation and flexibility — there are honest cases both ways. A fiduciary is obligated to tell you when staying put is your better move. That's the difference between advice and a sales pitch.
Unused sick leave converts to service time under FERS. Deposit and redeposit decisions for temporary or refunded service can move your pension meaningfully — but only if handled before the paperwork goes in.
End-of-month versus end-of-year, your MRA, the FERS supplement before 62 — retirement-date mechanics that are worth planning years ahead, not discovering in the exit packet.
We plan the whole retirement — the pension election, the TSP decision, taxes on all of it, and the estate around it — as one coordinated plan. Fee-only, no products, no commissions: if the numbers say leave the TSP right where it is, that's exactly what we'll tell you.
Since the TSP Modernization Act took effect in 2019, separated participants have real flexibility. The choice is less about which option and more about the order you use them in.
You can keep your balance in the TSP after you separate, with the same low-cost funds. Required minimum distributions still apply to the traditional balance from your RMD age.
Separated participants can take partial withdrawals as needed, not just one. Each traditional dollar withdrawn is taxed as ordinary income in the year you take it.
Monthly, quarterly or annual payments, either a set dollar amount or based on life expectancy. You can change the amount or frequency later.
The TSP can turn all or part of your balance into a monthly payment for life. The decision cannot be undone.
A direct rollover avoids the 20% federal withholding that applies when the money is paid to you first. It can make sense for consolidation or tax planning, and sometimes it doesn't. That's the conversation to have before touching anything.
If you separate in or after the year you turn 55 (50 for law enforcement, firefighters and air traffic controllers), TSP withdrawals avoid the 10% early-withdrawal penalty. An IRA does not carry that rule, which is one reason the order of moves matters.
Your basic FERS pension is 1% of your highest three consecutive years of pay, times your years of service. Retire at 62 or later with at least 20 years and it becomes 1.1%: a raise for life.
Your minimum retirement age is between 55 and 57, depending on the year you were born. With 30 years at your MRA, or 20 years at 60, you can retire with an unreduced pension.
Retire before 62 on an immediate, unreduced pension and you may get a supplement that stands in for the Social Security you earned as a federal employee. It stops at 62, and it is cut if you earn above the annual limit from work.
Educational only — not investment, tax, or legal advice. Every situation is different; the right answer depends on the numbers, and that's what the strategy session is for.
Sit down with a fiduciary — not a salesman — and leave with a complimentary strategy for your exact situation, whether or not you ever hire us.