Expert’s View

In last week’s article, I wrote about changes in designations of beneficiaries you might want to make in your insurance …More

Not a year goes by without events that change our lives. What’s important is to recognize which of those life …More

Last week I went over the rules governing the earning, accumulation and use of sick leave. This time I want …More

If you were already enrolled in the Federal Employees Health Benefits program during the recent Open Season, you either changed …More

I regularly get questions from readers who want to know when they should apply for a Social Security benefit. While …More

As usual at year’s end, a flock of you have either just retired or will soon be retiring. So, what’s …More

Over the last few weeks, I’ve written about three topics that need your immediate attention: the FEHB Open Season, FEDVIP …More

In my last two articles I wrote about the Federal Employees Health Benefit program and the options available to you …More

As I mentioned last week, the Federal Benefits Open Season for the 2024 plan year will be held from November …More

The Federal Benefits Open Season for 2024 will be held from November 13 through December 11. It will allow federal …More

Only a few percent of federal employees are now under the Civil Service Retirement System. But the government is big, …More

In this series we’ve looked at steps to decide whether you are ready to retire and how to pick a …More

Last week we examined issues to consider when deciding whether to retire. Now let’s look at some general considerations for …More

As I wrote last week, if you are covered by the Civil Service Retirement System, you’re a member of a …More

The portion of the federal workforce covered by the Civil Service Retirement System continues to dwindle. A subset of that …More

In my last two articles, I focused on the survivor annuities provided to children who meet the necessary criteria, including …More

Last week I described the benefits provided to the children of current or retired federal employees who have passed away. …More

In my last two articles, I wrote about the survivor annuities provided to the spouses of deceased federal employees and …More

If you are married when you retire – and there isn’t any court-ordered divorce settlement blocking the way – you …More

Talking about death isn’t a comfortable topic. But it’s an important one if you are either married or will be. …More

No matter when you began planning for retirement, you need to check and see if you’ve covered all the bases. …More

Last week I spelled out the rules governing when you can retire and when your annuity begins. In short, FERS …More

Mid-year is when many federal employees start doing some serious thinking about retiring, often eyeing the period around the end …More

Are you thinking about retiring? I mean really thinking about doing it within a foreseeable time frame, as opposed to …More

Last week I wrote about the Windfall Elimination Provision and pointed out that the argument for keeping it on the …More

Pardon me for not getting excited, but bills have once again been introduced to repeal or modify the Windfall Elimination …More

Every time Congress tries to save money, as the House of Representatives now says it wants to do, there seems …More

I recently received an email from an employee who will soon be eligible to retire. He will have the correct …More

In my last column, I talked about the choice employees face if they had left the government, withdrawn their retirement …More

As Yogi Berra once said, “This is déjà vu all over again.” Recently I got an email from an employee …More