Are you going to retire as soon as possible? Or do you plan to hit your expiration date at your post of duty? Find out now …

Quiz time about money, age and retirement:

Is the word “retirement” not a part of your vocabulary?

Are you comfortable with the idea of going 20 or 30 years without a full biweekly paycheck?

Ever wonder why they moved the defibrillator next to your cubicle?

When you ask colleagues who “the ancient one” they talk about is do they just smile and move on?

If you answered “yes” to any of the above, you can skip reading the rest of this.

But if you have thoughts of retiring while you are still healthy enough to travel and have fun, read on. Do you understand how your retirement plan works?

Are you one of the majority of current workers who are under the Federal Employee Retirement System? If you are under the three- legged FERS program, which is more important, Social Security, your Civil Service benefit or your Thrift Savings Plan account? One of them potentially could supply one-third to one-half of your spending money in retirement. But which one?

If you are one of the minority of workers still under the old Civil Service Retirement System will that be enough to let you live comfortably in retirement. Do you even need to invest in the TSP? Does being in the stand-alone defined benefits CSRS program mean you can be a bolder investor?

Do realize that even if your private sector spouse has excellent, lower cost health insurance, you should still be enrolled in the Federal Employee Health Benefits Plan? Have you ever heard of the five- year rule, which says that in order to carry the FEHBP into retirement you must have been in one of its plans for the five years prior to retirement?

How much is enough in retirement? Is there a point where — when you subtract all of your out of pocket costs associated with working — you might wind up with more spending money after you’ve retired?

Is it better to retire before or after a holiday? Why are December and January such popular months for retirees? The obvious answer may not be the complete answer.

All of the above are good questions. And we’ve got the answers. In the form of benefits specialist Tammy Flanagan. She writes a regular column for Government Executive and is senior benefits specialist at the National Institute of Transition Planning. Tammy “invented” the best-day-to retire calculator, which is slightly less complicated than the Mayan calendar, and a lot more accurate. Would you like to talk directly to Tammy or e-mail her a question? If so, Wednesday is your chance. She’s going to be the first guest on our Your Turn radio show. The show starts at 10 a.m. EDT and you can listen on your computer, at FederalNewsRadio.com (then hit the LISTEN logo), or on the radio in the Washington area at 1500 AM.

If you have questions for Tammy you can e-mail them to me now at: mcausey@federalnewsradio.com

Tune in. You might learn something that will allow you to retire much earlier than you planned. Or find out that you need to stick around a little longer to ensure a happy, worry-free retirement.

NEARLY USELESS FACTOID:

By Michael O’Connell

The Australian koala sleeps 22 hours a day. Koalas need to sleep that long in order to allow their bodies to digest the gum leaves they devour from eucalyptus trees. The leaves, which are very fibrous and low in nutrition, take a lot of energy to digest.

Source: Australian Koala Foundation.

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