Confident Federal Retirement

Many federal employees keep hearing the same story. Retire, let your income drop, then do big Roth conversions from your TSP in the low-income years. The issue is that once a FERS pension and maybe a spouse pension start, those years are often not very low at all. That can leave you worried you are missing something or paying extra tax now for very little benefit later. In this episode, you will l...

If you're a married federal employee under FERS, the survivor benefit election is one of the biggest one time choices you'll make at retirement. Check the wrong box, and your spouse could lose income, or even health coverage, if you pass first. Check too safe, and money can feel tight while you're both still here. In this episode, I break down the three main FERS survivor options in plain English....

Many married federal employees in their 50s and early 60s feel the same two fears. Before retirement, the fear is, do we have enough to stop working? After retirement, the fear is, are we spending this money too fast? In this episode, you will hear simple stories from real federal couples and see how a clear plan can help calm your mind before and after you retire. In this episode, you will learn:...

Many married federal employees look at their FERS pension and their TSP as two separate choices. Then they treat the survivor benefit form like a small checkbox, without seeing how it can change a spouse's income and healthcare for the rest of their life. That can lead to a lot of stress. In this episode, you'll learn how your TSP and survivor benefit really work together, and how Federal Employee...

Many married federal employees under FERS feel stuck on the survivor benefit choice. They do not want to give up too much of their pension while both spouses are alive. But they also do not want to leave the surviving spouse short if the federal employee dies first. This episode is for federal employees in their 50s and early 60s who are within about 5-10 years of retirement, and where only one sp...

Soon‑to‑retire federal employees with most of their savings in the traditional Thrift Savings Plan often worry about making a mistake in the final stretch before retirement. The rules are not always clear-cut and small decisions can have big effects on your stress level later. In this episode, you will learn: Why maxing out your TSP too fast can cause you to lose part of your agency match How drif...

If you are a federal employee with a military pension in the mix, the rules around buying back your time can feel especially confusing. Maybe you retired from active duty and now work under FERS. Or you spent years in the reserves or Guard and are trying to sort out what can count toward your civilian retirement. You might have heard that you can never buy it back if you get a pension. Or that you...

If you and your spouse are both high-income federal employees under FERS, earning strong salaries and maxing the traditional TSP, the biggest risk you face is often not saving too little. It is how and when all of that pre-tax money comes out, and what that does to your taxes, Medicare costs, and surviving spouse. In this episode, you will learn Why large traditional TSP and IRA balances can turn...

Many married federal employees focus on whether they have enough to retire, but not on what happens to the surviving spouse's taxes when one of them passes away. The hard truth is that a widow or widower can end up paying more in taxes and Medicare costs on less income, because the tax brackets, deductions, and Medicare IRMAA thresholds all tighten for single filers. In this episode of Confident F...

Many federal employees with prior military service have heard about "buying back" their time, but are not sure if it's worth writing a big check just a few years before retirement. The rules are confusing, the stakes feel high, and most people only get one shot at this decision. If you're a FERS federal employee in your 50s or early 60s, with active duty, reserve time on orders, or academy service...

If you're a married federal employee in your 50s or early 60s with most of your savings in the traditional Thrift Savings Plan, you might be wondering how required minimum distributions will affect your taxes and retirement paycheck. Many federal employees have never seen their FERS pension, Social Security, and future RMDs all on one page, which can lead to nasty surprises in their 70s. In this e...

If you're a federal employee in your late 50s or early 60s, you've probably had this thought. We have a FERS pension coming, a six‑figure TSP, maybe some IRAs. And we still aren't sure we can actually afford to retire. That feeling is more common than you'd think, and it usually doesn't mean you're behind. It usually means nobody has helped you put all the pieces together yet. In this episode of C...

Most federal employees assume their will is the document that decides where their money goes when they're gone. For your TSP, your IRAs, and your life insurance, that's usually not true. Those accounts pay out based on a beneficiary form on file, and in most cases that form beats whatever your will says. If an old name is sitting on one of those accounts right now, the people you love could be the...

You are a great saver. The mortgage might be gone, the kids are grown, and every month there is money left over piling up in your checking and savings account. But you keep wondering, am I being smart with this, or am I just sitting on cash? If you are a federal employee in your 50s or early 60s, this episode walks you through that exact question. Today, Tom Poltersdorf, CFP®, a fee-only fiduciary...

If you're a federal employee getting close to retirement, you probably know your FEHB health insurance can follow into retirement. What most feds don't realize is that the premium while you were working can end up costing you more once you're living on your pension. In this episode of Confident Federal Retirement, Tom Poltersdorf, CFP®, breaks down exactly why that happens. The reason comes down t...

If you're a federal employee in your late 50s or early 60s, sitting on a healthy TSP and a strong FERS pension, this episode is going to feel familiar. In this case study, Tom walks through an anonymized story of two long-career federal employees with about $1 million each in their TSP, paid-off mortgage, no debt, and a real plan to travel $50,000 a year in retirement. They've done a lot of things...

If you're a federal employee, you've probably wondered whether to retire as soon as you qualify or push to age 62 for a bigger FERS pension. In this episode, Tom walks you through a real federal couple wrestling with that exact question. The husband, in his early 60s, wasn't sure he'd "make it to 62" given his parents' declining health. His wife, in her late 50s, was burnt out from constant reorgs...

If you're a federal employee 5-10 years from retirement, you've probably wondered what to do with your FEGLI coverage. Maybe you've been carrying Option B and Option C for years and the bill keeps creeping up every age band. Or maybe you've heard FEGLI gets expensive in retirement and you're not sure whether to keep it, drop it, or replace it with private term life insurance. In this episode of Co...

Should You Work to 62? FERS Supplement vs. 10% Pension Bump. If you are a FERS employee in your late 50s, you might be wondering if you should retire as soon as you hit your Minimum Retirement Age or stick it out until age 62 to qualify for the 1.1 percent pension multiplier. On paper, it can look like "just a little bump," but in reality, that higher multiplier compounds across more service, a bi...

Most federal employees have heard of the FERS Special Retirement Supplement, but very few truly understand the tradeoffs. In this episode of Confident Federal Retirement, Tom walks through a real‑life style case study of a GS‑15 with just over 30 years of service who is about to hit Minimum Retirement Age. The core question is simple. Should they retire now with the FERS supplement, or keep workin...

If you're a federal employee in your early to mid 50s, there's one IRS rule that can completely change how you think about retiring before age 59½. It's called the Age 55 Rule, and it's one of the most misunderstood pieces of the federal retirement puzzle. In this episode, Tom Poltersdorf, CFP® and fee-only fiduciary at GT Wealth, breaks down what the Age 55 Rule actually does, who it applies to,...

Most federal employees plan their retirement around one number. The pension estimate from OPM. But that gross pension figure can be misleading, and it almost never tells you whether your retirement paycheck will actually feel like your working paycheck. In this episode of Confident Federal Retirement, Tom Poltersdorf walks you through a simple reframe that changes how you plan. You'll learn why yo...

Most federal employees spend years making sure the numbers work for retirement. The pension is set, the TSP (Thrift Savings Plan) balance looks solid, Social Security is mapped out. But there's a question I see trip people up more than any spreadsheet ever could: Are you actually ready to retire as a person? In this episode, I walk through a conversation I have on almost every Blueprint call with...

Thinking about leaving federal service before you hit full retirement eligibility, or just want to know what your options are if life forces that decision? This episode breaks down exactly what happens to your FERS pension if you separate before you're ready to retire, including the three paths most federal employees don't fully understand until it's too late. Tom walks through the deferred retire...

If you're a federal employee considering leaving before a traditional retirement date, you've probably heard the terms "deferred retirement" and "postponed retirement" tossed around, sometimes like they mean the same thing. They don't. And confusing them is one of the most expensive mistakes I see federal employees make. In this episode, I break down exactly what each option means under FERS, who...