Hardly anybody joins the government planning to become rich but you could be well on the way to millionaire status if you meet a few key characteristics.
Ever since the late 1990s some experts on government matters have been predicting a tidal wave of retirements from key federal agencies. That sparked fears of a brain drain as experienced feds fled their jobs heading for the shuffle-board courts.
A decade ago today, the US stock market was hitting rock bottom. The Great Recession, which had been in effect for almost two years, showed no signs of getting better — ever.
Federal retirement planning expert Tammy Flanagan joined Federal Drive with Tom Temin for some of the important questions that need asking before making the decision to retire.
Financial planner Arthur Stein is today's Your Turn guest and will talk about investment time periods for Thrift Savings Plan participants.
Maybe it's time to clean or even replace your personal political filter, at least when it comes to making long-range financial decisions. Most experts agree that based on past history the stock market is long overdue for a major correction of 20 to even 30 percent.
The average Thrift Savings Plan balance for Federal Employees Retirement System participants — 3.3 million people — was $138,933 in January.
As more companies scale-back or more often eliminate retirement plans for their workers, the government’s benefits package looks better and better to many private sector employees. But all comparisons are relative.
Another member of Congress has introduced legislation that would give federal employees the option to take a penalty-free hardship withdrawal from their Thrift Savings Plan during government shutdowns. Meanwhile, the TSP is also still struggling to improve its cybersecurity posture.
But if you don’t appreciate politicians trying to eliminate long-promised features of your Federal Employees Retirement System or Civil Service Retirement System packages fasten your seat belts.
If Uncle Sam kept a list of endangered workers, folks under the old Civil Service Retirement System would be at the top. Less than six of every 100 workers still on the payroll are under the system that was phased out in the mid 1980s.
Allan Roth, founder of Wealth Logic and a nationally syndicated financial columnist, said that when it comes to investing, his motto is "Dare to be dull," as in boring.
This week's Your Turn guest is estate attorney Tom O’Rourke, a former IRS attorney who now works exclusively on things such as wills, powers-of-attorney, medical directives and trusts, which some would say most people should have.
Senior Correspondent Mike Causey recently received an email from a listener with $1.2 million in the Thrift Savings Plan and made on his second move of funds last September.
The typical federal worker has been through at least four shutdowns. Another may happen as soon as this month, so we asked a long-time U.S. Postal Service worker in Florida and financial coach, to dig into his memory bank.