WEBINAR: November is Long Term Care Month

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As a financial professional, one of the most important parts of my job is to protect clients against large losses, especially those that can tear a family apart. Imagine having an expense that could wipe out your savings, and there was a 70% chance that this could happen to you or your spouse. Well this is not imaginary, it’s the cold, hard facts! This can be completely destructive to a family’s assets and well-being if you do not have a strategy in place. Spend 60 minutes learning the intricate details of the Federal Long Term Care program as well as hybrid life – long-term care plans, which insure that if you don’t use the long-term care component, it will pay out to a beneficiary when you pass, and some plans allow you a quit provision and will refund your premium if you cancel your policy.

Join us on Tuesday, November 8th at 12:00 pm EST

To access the Live Webinar, click here.

If you experience problems registering, please email natalie@franklinplanning.com or contact 856-401-1101

** For those of you who can’t participate on the computer and would like to call in, let us know and we will send you the slides so you can follow along! Or contact Natalie Meglino at natalie@franklinplanning.com and request to be registered.

IG: Customer Serivce Problems Plague OPM’s Retirement Services (by Ian Smith)

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A recent report from the Office of Personnel Management Inspector General found that the agency’s Retirement Services division is not living up to its goals in servicing correspondence from retired federal employees.

The report notes several key findings, one of which is that OPM’s Retirement Services is consistently not meeting its goal of responding to inquiries within 60 days. The table below from the report highlights the average processing time for inquiries, none of which are under 60 days. Read more

A Little-Known Retirement Tactic for Government Employees

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Carol Schmidlin’s recent article in the Wall Street Journal discusses the importance of a voluntary contribution plan.

Long-term federal employees can position themselves for a more secure retirement by employing a little-known feature of their benefits known as a voluntary contribution plan, or VCP. Workers put after-tax dollars into the plan, and can then roll those funds into a Roth individual retirement account.

Most individuals who have been employed by the federal government since before 1984 are covered by the Civil Service Retirement System, which grants enrollees a pension, along with a VCP. Employees can put up to 10% of their lifetime earnings on an after-tax basis into a VCP account, where tax on earnings is deferred.

VCPs aren’t widely used, due in part to the modest investment returns they tend to generate (2% this year). But they are useful for those nearing retirement who wish to reduce their projected tax burden. That’s because the entire balance in a VCP can be transferred to a Roth IRA, effectively bypassing the annual contribution limit for Roths of $5,500—or $6,500 for those over age 50.

 

Continue Reading…

Federal Retirees to Receive a 0.3 Percent Cost-of-Living Bump in 2017 (by Amelia Gruber)

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Federal retirees will receive a cost-of-living adjustment of 0.3 percent next year, according to figures released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics on Tuesday.

The small increase is an improvement over this year, when retirees did not receive any boost. But it was disappointing to federal retiree advocates, who noted it does not keep pace with jumps in health care costs. Read more

FEHB After Retirement: What Changes Can You Expect? (by John Grobe)

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Most federal employees and retirees are beginning to think about the annual Federal Employee Health Benefits (FEHB) open season and the choices that they will have the opportunity to make.

FEHB is one of the best benefits that we have as federal employees or federal retirees, and federal retirees (unlike most private sector retirees) are able to continue their FEHB enrollment after leaving federal service, and even after becoming eligible for Medicare.

There are some, but not many, changes in FEHB after retirement, and this article will take a look at them.

Read more