TSP Videos Coming to YouTube

"...The Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board is looking at YouTube as a potential destination for answering feds' questions about their Thrift Savings Plan accounts.

"We're dipping our toe into a new technology," said Kim Weaver, the board's director of external affairs. "Obviously, we're always trying to find ways to reach out to our participants."

According to Weaver, 67 percent of 18 to 34-year olds and 59 percent of 35 to 49-year olds are on YouTube, making it an ideal platform for the board to reach its customers...."

Read more at FederalNewsRadio.com

Early Outs Offered to 3,300 Postal Workers

"...as part of the Postal Service’s Reduction in Force avoidance plan — USPS is making a Voluntary Early Retirement (VER) offer to more than 3,300 EAS employees with a December 31, 2012 VER retirement date.

USPS notified impacted employees this week and has given them detailed information with a timeline of events to help them make decisions.

Senior leadership roles in the districts that are important in ensuring continuity of operations and managing change are not eligible for this VER offering..."

Read more at liteblue.usps.gov

TSP Roth Accounts Gaining in Popularity

"...About 20,000 Thrift Savings Plan participants have opened Roth accounts since the program’s launch in May, the board governing the plan said Monday.

About $13 million has so far been deposited in TSP Roth accounts, or roughly $650 per participant on average...

The new investment option allows participants to invest after-tax earnings into funds that will grow without tax liability on future earnings. This differs from the standard TSP plan, where before-tax dollars are invested and taxed when they are withdrawn..."
Read more at Federal Times

Best Cities for Retirees

"...When choosing a place to retire to there are lots of factors to consider aside from fun in the sun. Ample healthcare and low crime rates are just as important to retirees on the move.

To identify the winners, Kiplinger teamed up with Kevin Stolarick, research director at the Martin Prosperity Institute, a think tank that studies economic prosperity. All of the cities on our list have reasonable living costs, strong employment growth and a population that scores high on measures of education and tech-savviness. We sorted them further by using criteria tailored to each of our categories. For retirees, we also factored in the number of doctors, climate and the crime rate..."

Read more at Kiplinger

Phased Retirement Details Outlined

"...The government’s central personnel agency has said that allowing federal employees to phase into retirement is one of its important goals and it will make the option available “as soon as possible.”

However, participation will be “entirely voluntary” for both employees and their employing agencies, and certain categories of workers will be excluded, the Office of Personnel Management added in a fact sheet it recently sent to agencies.

Under phased retirement, an agency will be able to offer employees who are retirement-eligible the choice of switching to part-time work. They would draw a partial salary and a partial annuity, both prorated according to the time worked..."

Read more at The Washington Post

Important to Plan Ahead for Retirement

"...With all the talk about sequestration, reduced budgets, and early-out and buyout offers, it would be surprising if even the youngest feds aren’t thinking ahead about retirement. If you are nearing eligibility to retire, there are things you can do to get ready. And the sooner you do them, the better off you’ll be when the moment arrives to leave...

Ideally, you should plan five years ahead. That’s because you have to be continuously enrolled in the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP) and the Federal Employees’ Group Life Insurance (FEGLI) program for five years before..."

Read more at FederalTimes.com

USPS Considers Stopping FERS Payments

"...U.S. Postal Service executives are considering suspending contributions to the Federal Employees Retirement System because the agency may run out of cash, a new inspector general’s report says. The IG said the agency could face a $100 million cash gap in mid-October, when it is supposed to reimburse the Labor Department $1.4 billion for workers’ compensation costs. The Postal Service tried to suspend contributions to FERS last year on the grounds that the agency had a $7 billion surplus with FERS, but it backed down after the Justice Department refused to sanction the move. The news of the Postal Service’s cash problems came shortly before it failed to make a legally required $5.5 billion payment for future retiree health care..."

Read more at Federal Times

Almost 3,800 Postmasters Take Buyouts To Retire Early

"...Last Tuesday marked another bittersweet milestone in the U.S. Postal Service's seemingly endless downsizing campaign as almost 3,800 postmasters walked out the door. A few hundred more could follow them by the end of next month, according to USPS figures released today at FedLine's request...

To encourage postmasters to leave, the Postal Service has adopted a carrot-and-stick approach: On the one hand, offering $20,000 buyouts and an early retirement package; on the other, warning of possible reductions-in-force for postmasters still on the job after September 2014..."

Here’s where things stand, according to

Read more at federaltimes.com

Pay Raises and COLAs

"...COLAs for retirees are governed by a formula set in law. They are determined in reference to the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W), as calculated by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. As of the end of June, the CPI-W had increased 1.6 percent in the previous 12 months.

The 2013 COLA for retirees will be determined based on the results posted at the end of September 2012. That means price increases and decreases during July, August and September will affect the COLA that retirees receive in their Civil Service Retirement System and Federal Employees Retirement System benefit checks payable on Jan. 1, 2013..."

Read more at GovExec.com