Is your retirement plan a complex spreadsheet with time, taxes, TSP projections and other calculations? Or does it consist of a couple of coin- filled Mason jars behind the refrigerator or buried in the back yard?

Have you thought out things like your likely lifespan, post- work financial needs, whether to rent or buy in retirement? And do you and your significant other plan to live together or not even on the same continent?

If you are planning to move, what’s the tax deal. Does your retirement state tax pensions, Social Security. Is there a sales or personal property tax and, if so, is that a deal-breaker? Or are you like the D.C.- based fed who retired to Washington State (no state taxes) but shops in Oregon (no sales tax)!

Whether you are actively or passively planning your retirement, take this numbers test.

The question is what do the following dates have in common: Saturday, (tomorrow in fact) May 30; Tuesday, June 30; Friday July 31; Monday Aug. 31; Wednesday Sept. 30; Saturday, Oct. 31; Monday, Nov 30 and Thursday, Dec. 31

If you are a quick study, you spotted that of the number are the last day the month. For most federal workers (people under the FERS retirement system) those days are also the best dates to retire. Whether you go in June or January depends, largely, on when you can afford to go and want to go.

Many feds pick Dec. 31 or Jan. 1, 2 or 3. One is best for workers under the FERS system, the other for those under the CSRS or CSRS offset systems. Leaving in late December or early January allows feds to carry over the maximum amount of unused annual leave. If there is a pay raise, most of that leave will be paid at the higher rate. And it should help with taxes because the unused annual leave (when can be worth thousands of dollars) will be taxed in your first retirement year.

For the rest of the year, benefits expert Tammy Flanagan recommends that workers under FERS consider consider retiring at the end of the month. CSRS employees are best, in most cases, retiring the first three days of the month.

Earlier this week Tammy appeared on our Your Turn radio show. She was the solo guest and answered questions about retirement, then explained the pros and cons of certain dates. The idea is to get the most from your retirement and with a little planning, you can. You can listen to that show anytime by clicking here.

NEARLY USELESS FACTOID

By Michael O’Connell

Sriracha sauce, a hot sauce made from chili peppers, distilled vinegar, garlic, sugar and salt, is named for Si Racha, in the Chonburi Province of eastern Thailand.

Source: Wikipedia

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