Your 2019 fed must-do calendar

To kick off the new year, Abraham Grungold in the U.S. Postal Service's Office of the Inspector General, also a financial coach, developed this must-have calen...

There were times when it seemed like we, or at least some of us, wouldn’t make it to 2019. But the doubters were wrong, and we did. To kick off the new year, Abraham Grungold, an investigative analyst, specialist in the U.S. Postal Service’s Office of the Inspector General as well as a financial coach, developed this must-have calendar for feds and retirees:

We live in a society now filled with Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and other media that takes up our time. Why do we not take the time to review our employee benefits and other opportunities?

Every year, I hear co-workers say, “Oh, I forgot open season. I still have not filed my taxes and I must find a new job.” We are federal employees. After a few years, certain events should be ingrained in our federal DNA, but they are not.

In an effort to help all federal employees, I have prepared a useful calendar. Each month, take one hour and address a monthly topic. You will be on top of your federal benefits, opportunities and continue your career as a less stressful employee:

  1. January: New Year’s may bring new beginnings. Update your resume and look over the application forms on USAJobs.gov.
  2. February: Reach out on Valentine’s Day and make a connection on LinkedIn.
  3. March: Spring clean and update your Thrift Savings Plan and Life insurance beneficiaries.
  4. April: File your tax returns before the 15th.
  5. May: Before that Memorial Day weekend barbecue, think about long term care insurance.
  6. June: Celebrate Flag Day but also think about life insurance.
  7. July: After watching the fireworks, give some thought to a dental plan.
  8. August: Look into a vision plan.
  9. September: In case of a government shutdown, be prepared to have a surplus of cash to pay your bills.
  10. October: Spend Columbus Day discovering your options for the Federal Spending Account Program.
  11. November: Veterans Day is the time for Federal Employee Health Benefits premiums and choices.
  12. December: Before attending the office holiday party, decide on your TSP 2019 contributions and review your 2018 performance.

Nearly Useless Factoid

By Amelia Brust

The first inoculation against smallpox in the U.S. was conducted in Boston at the suggestion of an African slave named Onesimus. He was “gifted” by a congregation to the minister Cotton Mather, to whom Onesimus described a method from his homeland of deliberately infecting a person with a small dose of the disease in order to develop immunity. In Mather’s first trial, almost 97 percent of inoculated patients survived.

Source: Boston Globe

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