Planning for Long Term Care is such an important component of your retirement plan. However, the continual rate increases of the Federal Long Term Care Insurance Program are a major cause of concern among federal employees. Enrollees are facing an average increase of 83% in 2016. Read more
Given the fear of future tax increases, why aren’t more federal employees utilizing the Roth TSP to provide a buffer from future taxes?
I ask this question all the time during workshops and individual sessions with federal employees. The most popular responses are: (1) I don’t understand how the Roth TSP works, (2) I will be in a lower tax bracket in retirement, and (3) I don’t like the withdrawal limitations of the Roth TSP.
If you would like to get a better understanding of how the Roth TSP works, click here to request Chapter 5: The Roth TSP, from my book: FedSavvy, Tools and Tips to Maximize Your Federal Benefits.
Required Minimum Distributions (RMD) must be taken from an employer retirement plan by April 1st following the year you turn age 70 1/2 (unless you are still employed by that employer), to avoid a 50% IRS penalty of the RMD that was not taken. If you don’t take the RMD by December 31st of the year you turn 70 ½ and instead, take it by April 1st of the following year, you will avoid the 50% penalty but you will have to take two RMD’s that year.
Nationally, over 50% of marriages end in divorce. For federal employees, that typically means awarding the former spouse a portion of their FERS annuity and TSP account balance. Carol Schmidlin will be accompanied by a special guest for this webinar, CPA Dan Jamison.
Long-term care premiums are expected to increase for federal employees around the end of 2016.
The Office of Personnel Management agreed to terms on a new seven-year contract with John Hancock Life and Health Insurance Company this past Tuesday.
OPM Secretary, Sam Schumach, said that the increase is due to longer lifespans and low returns on investments from program’s trust fund. (At least one of those problems is a good one to have.)
The increase will occur “no earlier than Fall 2016” according to Schumach and there is no solid estimate on the increase, though signs point to it increasing from anywhere between 5-25%. The last time John Hancock signed a new contract, in 2009, premiums increased 25%.
We will update as soon as we have new information.
For further reading, click here.