Medicare Part B Increases Announced for 2017

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The premiums for Medicare Part B have been announced, by The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), for the upcoming year of 2017.  Although the Social Security COLA that was announced in October was low, preimum rates are set to increase across the board.  Under the harmless hold provision, which applies to approximately 70% of beneficiaries, the average premium had been $104.90 for the past few years.  Come 2017. this premium will increase by about 4% to $109. Read more

Federal Government and Federal Employees Under President Trump (by Ralph R. Smith – FedSmith)

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President Trump?

Those two words becoming a reality were considered highly unlikely before yesterday’s election.

In a year of political surprises, America’s election of Donald Trump as president despite consistently running behind in many polls is a historic event. As happened in the United Kingdom earlier this year, voters made up their own minds and ignored the political class and views often expressed in the political press.

For the federal workforce, there is little doubt there will be changes on the horizon after January 2017. Without regard to the desirability of these changes, the long political campaign is an overview of the philosophy and programs to be pursued by President Trump.

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Your Future Self Will Thank You: Crucial Retirement Advise for Young Federal Employees

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As a young federal employee, you may be thinking about retirement, but it probably seems like a lifetime away. Remember playing as a child and not giving a care in the world about adult responsibilities? In that moment, adulthood also seemed like a lifetime away, but here you are! It seems like everything happened in a blink of an eye. That’s the feeling you will have once you hit retirement! The youth of your career will seem like only yesterday and you won’t be able to figure out where all the time has gone. And when this time comes, you’ll be doing one of two things: patting yourself on the back for preparing for retirement early on or kicking yourself for not taking it seriously as a young employee. Read more

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.

 

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