What’s your number?
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...
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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: 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 they are all 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.
Nearly Useless Factoid:
In a given year, no other month ends on the same day of the week as July 31. However, in leap years, July 31 falls on the same day of the week as Jan. 31.
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Mike Causey
Mike Causey is senior correspondent for Federal News Network and writes his daily Federal Report column on federal employees’ pay, benefits and retirement.
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