2014 retired FED and going to retire FEDs...

[Redbugdave]

Hey Cassie...It has now been almost one full year for me, too. My first day of retirement was Jan 12, 2014. It has been wonderful! You are right...I cannot believe a year has gone by so fast. I am FERS and under 62 years of age, so do not get the COLA. However, my TSP now is larger than the original amount I had when I retired, even after taking my monthly withdrawals. I am pleased, too. It's odd not having to work for money. I just can't get over it.

How about Kaufman?

 

[unno2002]

Redbugdave, hope your "luck" with OPM is better than mine. I retired 30 SEP 2012. My "interim" pension, while OPM played with the calculations, was around 1/3 of my projected pension should have been. I started getting a full pension APR 2013. I submitted a FOIA, and found that the full pension was signed and authorized 17 OCT 2012. They just dragged their feet on implementing it.
Re TSP, I rolled my entire account out as soon as possible, to a "Real Estate" type IRA.[FONT=&quot][/FONT]

 

[Redbugdave]

Hi Unno,
No, I did not have any problems like what you had...looking back on it. The only thing I did not like was a general lack of information on the retirement process itself. That is, you put in your paperwork and then just had to wait not knowing what was next or what to expect.

I think during the time you retired...wasn't that when OPM was under a crunch with too many retirements and not enough people to process them?

 

[Kaufmanrider]

Hey Cassie...It has now been almost one full year for me, too. My first day of retirement was Jan 12, 2014. It has been wonderful! You are right...I cannot believe a year has gone by so fast. I am FERS and under 62 years of age, so do not get the COLA. However, my TSP now is larger than the original amount I had when I retired, even after taking my monthly withdrawals. I am pleased, too. It's odd not having to work for money. I just can't get over it.

How about Kaufman?

Going good Redbugdave. Got my COLA as I am under the special FERs retirement. Roll-over IRA is up after my 72t withdrawals. Been a busy year for me. Time just flew. Wife and I are off this week to California for a month.

Sent from my SPH-L720 using Early Retirement Forum mobile app

 

[1vertical]

Hello fellow Ex- and current FERS folks. My what a lot of information
to digest here. I put in for retirement at the end of Oct 2014 and cancelled.

Here is the scoop....there was another craft person that was retiring at that
time and his loss would have resulted in a huge shortage of trained/qualified
personnel. That in turn would have resulted in an unacceptable (to me)
amount of schedule deviation and mandatory overtime....so I put in for
retirement at the same time. At this point in life, my agency's failure to
properly staff should not become my problem. Well then I began to
visit my local medical person to get a work limitation to 40 hrs. per week...
they were on board with the issue and armed with that arrow in my
quiver, I was able to cancel my scheduled retirement and remain in
the work force a bit longer.

I am in a unique position fiscally and am really glad that I found the
firecalc thing here......reading your posts about leaving work and going
onto the FERS payroll has re-kindled my desire to retire.

 

[Kaufmanrider]

Welcome 1Vertical. Wow, your agency accepted a medical slip not to work more than 40 hrs? I don't that would fly in my former agency as I suspect it would conflict with the Union/Management agreement on OT. I have been retired over a year now and don't miss the shift work and OT I did over the years. I sleep when I want and don't have a clock in my bedroom. I get up when I get up.

Sent from my SPH-L720 using Early Retirement Forum mobile app

 

[Redbugdave]

Vertical...My old outfit I retired from was doing the same thing about not filling slots as people retired or transferred out. Some positions have been unfilled for more than 1 1/2 years. The work was expected to be done by the ones left in addition to their normal job duties. That's how the agency was saving money. I am glad I bailed when I did. I was also trying to cover other duties from positions not filled.

If you could get a waiver, that is wonderful. I would hope some of the other people in your outfit would do the same thing. Then, positions would be forced to be filled or else management would have to fill in. You can bet if it came down to that...the positions would be filled within a couple months.

You did the right thing. Now you can retire on your terms instead being pushed along.

My outfit sounds like Kaufman's. Union and all.

 

[1vertical]

You did the right thing. Now you can retire on your terms instead being pushed along.

My outfit sounds like Kaufman's. Union and all.

I have the union stuff to contend with as well....but they are between the
rock and the hard place as far as my craft is concerned and need to keep
me on staff to cover even basic operations.

I wish I had done more of the "right thing"....I played the I fund when it
first came around back when you could make unlimited moves in the TSP.
Then they pulled that rug out from under us (like that was really hurting their
fingers typing on the keys to change our positions) on that ability. I moved into the "G" fund ever since. I have very little tolerance for risk. So my gains in the TSP are not large....but my losses were zero. It was fun to watch the
Europe markets close and know what the US market would do before the open.

I have house paid for, I have the 28 yr FERS $18k/ annum pension, and at this point I would have the FERS supplement for 16 months. At that point I am certain I will need the Social Security (age 62) as income along with about
$1k per month from my TSP just to maintain some resemblance of my current lifestyle.

Then my spinning mind makes me re-do all the math and calculate the
FERS pension based upon the 1.1 percent of my high three and what that
would be if I work until I am 62. The dang ole carrot dangled in front of the donkeys' nose trick....well it would gross me an additional $280 a month for life.

The question is, IS IT WORTH IT? (not shouting, just accentuation)
Or should I take the $980 a month supplement for the next 16 months and laugh all the way out to the pasture NOW?

 

[Kaufmanrider]

Is your Pension (18K) after taxes and deductions or before?


Having your house paid for is a plus, but you probably have insurance and property taxes.


Have you done up a budget to see what you spend monthly and compared that with what you will make monthly when retired?


I think your FERS Supplement would be about 70% of your full 62 benefit. With 18 months to go until age 62 I'd stick it our. The extra $280 a month in your FERS and the couple dollars more you'd get from SS are worth it.

 

[1vertical]

Thanks for your reply Kaufmanrider, the 18K is gross not net.
I have done some of that difficult budget analysis. Very close
to breaking even and we live so frugal now, no cable, no gas, no water bill,
no sewer bill, no credit card debt, only electric @ a couple hundred a month. Yes there are taxes and insurance. This life style makes me wonder
if I could really live someplace else where those other expenses mentioned
above exist for me (but are common for most ppl) to surmount.

I Loathe going to work every day and the winters here are taxing my resolve.
My mental condition is almost like PTSD caused by working for an abusive
supv. for 25+ years. Nightmares from the workplace, waking up from
sleep with the job tumbling around in my mind....physical manifestation
of stress in the form of ulcers...arrrgh. Both my parents are still living
and I intensely want to go spend a bit of time with them while I have
them. (They live 2000 miles away ) The 18 months until I turn 62
seems like a very high hurdle. The fear of the unknown - retirement-
keeps me going back day after day. Why am I afraid of that you ask?
Because it seems like I may be a prisoner in my own home due to lack
of funds.

 

[Redbugdave]

Hang in there, Vertical. Like Kaufman says, you need to run the numbers to see just where you stand. That's the only way you will find resolve. On your TSP, you need to check your withdrawal rate vs how long the funds will last.


With my TSP, I have stayed mainly in the S and C funds all these years. Here is an interesting article on a long term investment strategy looking at the entire pie of all your incomes during your working life and retirement. Remember, just another opinion.
The Whole Story on Federal Retirement Income

 

[ABQ2015]

I wish I had done more of the "right thing"....I played the I fund when it
first came around back when you could make unlimited moves in the TSP.
Then they pulled that rug out from under us (like that was really hurting their
fingers typing on the keys to change our positions) on that ability. I moved into the "G" fund ever since. I have very little tolerance for risk. So my gains in the TSP are not large....but my losses were zero. It was fun to watch the
Europe markets close and know what the US market would do before the open.

...

Then my spinning mind makes me re-do all the math and calculate the
FERS pension based upon the 1.1 percent of my high three and what that
would be if I work until I am 62. The dang ole carrot dangled in front of the donkeys' nose trick....well it would gross me an additional $280 a month for life.

The question is, IS IT WORTH IT? (not shouting, just accentuation)
Or should I take the $980 a month supplement for the next 16 months and laugh all the way out to the pasture NOW?

I'm also in FERS and eligible to retire this year but after some unexpected home repair expenses last year, I'm considering working another 19 months until age 62 for the extra bump. Tracking my expenses for two years helped me make this decision. While I could live on my retirement income, that extra pension will come in handy. Like you, I also played the I fund game for a year and made some good money but have low risk tolerance which was made worse by the recession. If I had been more aggressive, I would be retiring this year but that is in the past. Haven't read Red's article yet but I force myself to stay in the market at 60% equities (C, S, and a little I) which seems to be a good balance for my situation and allows me to sleep at night. Reading the ER forum and how others have stayed the course and come out okay has been reassuring.

 

[Redbugdave]

Also...You guys may want to subscribe to this retirement newsletter. It has some good tidbits of information. I have looked at it over the years. Free.
My Federal Retirement | FERS CSRS Thrift Savings TSP FEHB FEGLI

 

[unno2002]

[FONT=&quot]I retired from civil service SEP 2012. My interim pension was around 1/3 of what I and Army Benefits Center estimated it should have been. Month after month, OPM said there was no one I could speak with since my case was not yet assigned to anyone. Around the end of MAR 2013 I started to get the pension I had estimated. I filed a FOIA for the OPM calculations. When the documents arrived, it showed that my full and correct pension had been signed as approved 17 OCT 2012… but it still took them five more months to implement it.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Re the Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) they were prompt, I rolled the entire thing out to an IRA, then from that account further split the money among several accounts. If we need money I can just have one of the IRA custodians cut a check, or make an electronic transfer, otherwise I’m still leaving the money inside the accounts. [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Just to babble, I would never consider using the “annuity” setup in the TSP site, the payments are horrible compared to other options. [/FONT]