Meeting with retirement guru, specializes in federal govt employees

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Earl Lemongrab
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Re: Meeting with retirement guru, specializes in federal govt employees

Post by Earl Lemongrab »

NotWhoYouThink wrote:
Meeting with retirement guru, specializes in federal govt employees
You are missing a verb.
In relatively informal speech like this, implied verbs aren't a big deal. You could complain about the lack of a subject, but that's implied as well. The gerund "meeting" implies the verb phrase "I am" sufficiently for most people. It's also arguably missing a preposition and an indefinite article. The full sentence could be, "I am meeting with a retirement specialist, who specializes in federal govt employees.

I'm not sure any of the missing parts lead to lack of clarity. It certainly didn't for me.
NotWhoYouThink
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Re: Meeting with retirement guru, specializes in federal govt employees

Post by NotWhoYouThink »

Tone and (attempted) humor, maybe including yours, don't always make it thru the filters.
"Meeting with retirement guru, specializes in ____________ govt employees."
Helping? Fleecing? Guiding? Swindling?
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Earl Lemongrab
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Re: Meeting with retirement guru, specializes in federal govt employees

Post by Earl Lemongrab »

NotWhoYouThink wrote:Tone and (attempted) humor, maybe including yours, don't always make it thru the filters.
"Meeting with retirement guru, specializes in ____________ govt employees."
Helping? Fleecing? Guiding? Swindling?
Ah, I see.
Faith20879
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Re: Meeting with retirement guru, specializes in federal govt employees

Post by Faith20879 »

This:
VictoriaF wrote:3. After the age of 65, should one choose Medicare Part B, FEHB, or both?
There have been numerous discussions but I have not seen a convincing lean to either direction. Would love to hear what your "guy" says about it, in plain English.

Thanks for sharing.
dbr
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Re: Meeting with retirement guru, specializes in federal govt employees

Post by dbr »

Faith20879 wrote:This:
VictoriaF wrote:3. After the age of 65, should one choose Medicare Part B, FEHB, or both?
There have been numerous discussions but I have not seen a convincing lean to either direction. Would love to hear what your "guy" says about it, in plain English.

Thanks for sharing.
A relative has Part A, Part B, and FEHB. I understand FEHB plays the role of a Medigap plan, a very good one at that. I would understand that you would certainly not throw away the FEHB coverage. I can't really help you with the Part B, but I would have thought that the arrangement is you take Part B. I could be wrong.
mrc
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Re: Meeting with retirement guru, specializes in federal govt employees

Post by mrc »

dbr wrote:
A relative has Part A, Part B, and FEHB. I understand FEHB plays the role of a Medigap plan, a very good one at that. I would understand that you would certainly not throw away the FEHB coverage. I can't really help you with the Part B, but I would have thought that the arrangement is you take Part B. I could be wrong.
Income-Related Monthly Adjustment Amount (IRMAA) can make part B premiums very expensive for a couple. Part A has no premiums, so we plan to use FEHB plus part A. After all, FEHB is what we have now (pre medicare). Adding part B — and paying the (higher) premiums — is not cost effective for us. I'll be curious what the "guy" knows/says about this. Personally, I think it's getting out on the edges of what these "guys" do. But I'm open for surprises: Like when we planned to forego FERS annuity survivor option until we found out that non-fed spouse couldn't then retain FEHB without the survivor option.
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dbr
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Re: Meeting with retirement guru, specializes in federal govt employees

Post by dbr »

mrc wrote:
dbr wrote:
A relative has Part A, Part B, and FEHB. I understand FEHB plays the role of a Medigap plan, a very good one at that. I would understand that you would certainly not throw away the FEHB coverage. I can't really help you with the Part B, but I would have thought that the arrangement is you take Part B. I could be wrong.
Income-Related Monthly Adjustment Amount (IRMAA) can make part B premiums very expensive for a couple. Part A has no premiums, so we plan to use FEHB plus part A. After all, FEHB is what we have now (pre medicare). Adding part B — and paying the (higher) premiums — is not cost effective for us. I'll be curious what the "guy" knows/says about this. Personally, I think it's getting out on the edges of what these "guys" do. But I'm open for surprises: Like when we planned to forego FERS annuity survivor option until we found out that non-fed spouse couldn't then retain FEHB without the survivor option.
My relative has over 40 quarters of qualified SS and pays Medicare Part B the same as anyone else on SS. This probably exemplifies how complicated the mixing and matching of benefits might get.
delamer
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Re: Meeting with retirement guru, specializes in federal govt employees

Post by delamer »

dbr wrote:
Faith20879 wrote:This:
VictoriaF wrote:3. After the age of 65, should one choose Medicare Part B, FEHB, or both?
There have been numerous discussions but I have not seen a convincing lean to either direction. Would love to hear what your "guy" says about it, in plain English.

Thanks for sharing.
A relative has Part A, Part B, and FEHB. I understand FEHB plays the role of a Medigap plan, a very good one at that. I would understand that you would certainly not throw away the FEHB coverage. I can't really help you with the Part B, but I would have thought that the arrangement is you take Part B. I could be wrong.

You are wrong. There is no requirement that you take Part B (once eligible) to be enrolled in the same FEHB plan that you carried as an active employee.. There is one newish FEHB plan that does require Part B, but it is only available to the Medicare-eligible (so not most active employees).
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delamer
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Re: Meeting with retirement guru, specializes in federal govt employees

Post by delamer »

Faith20879 wrote:This:
VictoriaF wrote:3. After the age of 65, should one choose Medicare Part B, FEHB, or both?
There have been numerous discussions but I have not seen a convincing lean to either direction. Would love to hear what your "guy" says about it, in plain English.

Thanks for sharing.
What do you mean by plain English?

It is a complicated issue; that is why there have been multiple discussions on this forum. The preferred option varies depending on individual (or a couple's) circumstances -- health status, income, asset level, risk tolerance, and probably others that aren't coming to mind.

So what a "guy" recommends for the OP might not apply to you. Maybe if you haven't been convinced that one option is better based on what you've read so far, then the options are pretty much equal for you.
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VictoriaF
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Re: Meeting with retirement guru, specializes in federal govt employees

Post by VictoriaF »

Has the retirement expert provided any interesting advice that you could share here?

Thank you,
Victoria
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kathyauburn
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Re: Meeting with retirement guru, specializes in federal govt employees

Post by kathyauburn »

You probably know this, but do not ever let someone talk you into leaving the TSP. It's the best thing going. G fund alone is worth staying in for. It's the single best thing I've gotten out of working for the Feds. I moved all of my previous retirement accounts INTO it.
dbr
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Re: Meeting with retirement guru, specializes in federal govt employees

Post by dbr »

kathyauburn wrote:You probably know this, but do not ever let someone talk you into leaving the TSP. It's the best thing going. G fund alone is worth staying in for. It's the single best thing I've gotten out of working for the Feds. I moved all of my previous retirement accounts INTO it.
Right, we need to assume that the intent of the guru is not to simply pick off assets AUM for himself. I have the impression this is not his game, and it will be interesting to see what kinds of advice have turned out to be helpful.
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Barefootgirl
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Re: Meeting with retirement guru, specializes in federal govt employees

Post by Barefootgirl »

Has the retirement expert provided any interesting advice that you could share here?

Thank you,
Victoria
Hello Victoria, yes, some so far.

One of the earlier posters in this thread was correct and I misunderstood ~ while I took my list of questions, it ended up that he had far more questions of me. Apparently, it's a two part session - the first being an information exchange and the second where he will bring his deliverable. He indicates it will be a report of various retirement withdrawal scenarios for me, with the pros and cons of each, along with other issues related to personal finance and retirement planning, not strictly limited to investing.

As far as your question of retiring early from the government, without having the pension reduced - he did indicate the only way to do that is purchase a gap health insurance policy that bridges from retirement to medicare eligibility.

He told me he doesn't sell anything but advice which is laid out in the aforementioned scenarios of pros & cons, allowing the potential retiree to make their own decisions. We'll see, so far I remain optimistic. I have the second appointment in a couple of weeks. He seemed surprised at my level of knowledge and parts of my current portfolio. I guess he hasn't met very many BHs, although I did not bring up that term, lol.
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VictoriaF
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Re: Meeting with retirement guru, specializes in federal govt employees

Post by VictoriaF »

Thank you, Barefootgirl,

Best wishes for your next session, and for course for the upcoming retirement,

Victoria
Inventor of the Bogleheads Secret Handshake | Winner of the 2015 Boglehead Contest. | Every joke has a bit of a joke. ... The rest is the truth. (Marat F)
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JaneyLH
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Re: Meeting with retirement guru, specializes in federal govt employees

Post by JaneyLH »

bsteiner wrote:
Cobra Commander wrote:... My understanding is that in order for a spouse to keep FEHB benefits upon the death of the employee they must choose the survivor option. This is probably worth clarifying but, if true, would dramatically increase the value of the survivor benefit.
That's correct. However, you can select a tiny survivor benefit, and that will let the spouse continue the health insurance. I was interested in hearing if he had any ideas as to how to evaluate whether to select the full survivor benefit where there are enough other assets so that it's an investment decision.
Yep. I'm the "spouse", and my benefit would be $100/month. As long as there is some small benefit, the FEHB benefits continue.
HIinvestor
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Re: Meeting with retirement guru, specializes in federal govt employees

Post by HIinvestor »

H retired after over 4 decades with fed govt as civilian with CSRS. So far, we are paying for Medicare A, Medicare B and FEHB family plan. Technically we could dump or opt out of Medicare B for H but in an abundance of caution have chosen to keep and pay for everything.

So far, we haven't uncovered anything we wished we knew before H retired. H went to a few pre-retirement seminars and I was even allowed to attend two of them with him.

I hope you learn interesting options and possibilities from the "guy," @Barefootgirl, and look forward to reading what you learn, particularly if the options are available to someone like H who already retired or like S who will likely work for some decades longer.
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Barefootgirl
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Re: Meeting with retirement guru, specializes in federal govt employees

Post by Barefootgirl »

Sure, will be glad to pass along anything that appears to be useful info for others, not just me.

He's going to address Medicare, but I have to wonder - since I am 10 years away from eligibility - wondering if that is speculation. Of course, I am 7 years from SS.
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MnD
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Re: Meeting with retirement guru, specializes in federal govt employees

Post by MnD »

Lost Laker wrote:I found this to be a helpful resource for federal employees: https://fersguide.com. And it is only $10. Covers the FERS pension, TSP, and SS and various other retirement considerations.
This guide, the corresponding powerpoint presentations and the e-mailed and archived newsletters are excellent makes this an incredible bargain for $10 a year access. https://fersguide.com

Tammy Flanagan columns at Federal Executive can be read for free and they show up as a list so you can go through many of them at once.
http://www.govexec.com/voices/tammy-flanagan/2340/

A membership in NARFE gives you "free" access to live one-hour webinars by Tammy Flanagan and other experts on numerous detailed aspects of Federal retirement with time after for Q&A. The entire recent video archive of seminars is available to watch with membership and I think the last 12 seminars are always available. NARFE works to protect federal employee and retiree benefits, so getting the membership is useful and especially timely now in addition to the on-line content.
http://www.narfe.org/webinar/

If you read the Fersguide, power-read a bunch of Tammy Flanigan columns at Federal Executive and watch a few NARFE retirement seminars you will be miles ahead of the typical federal employee. The Federal retirement system is complex and the level of ignorance and misunderstanding in the federal community of the valuable benefits we have is just staggering. A coworker the other day who is in her mid-50's with 30 years in asked me if i knew if we had any pension benefits besides the TSP and Social Security - she had no idea if we did or not. :shock:
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Re: Meeting with retirement guru, specializes in federal govt employees

Post by montanagirl »

About FEHB. My friend was retired federal (Forest Service) and has Mail Handlers health insurance with her Medicare. I believe that is one form of FEHB. I have helped her through a number of crises, and she's been in and out of the nursing home several times. Last time I learned that Mail Handlers did not cover the 20% of nursing home costs that you incur from days 21-100. I called to make sure I was reading it right but some snippy clerk dismissed me out of hand, as if I were asking about LTC. Of course it doesn't cover that. :x

She stayed the full 100 days. The nursing home went through its billing cycle and sure enough, my friend was presented with a hefty bill for that 20%. She had to take it out of her meager retirement savings at Full Service Brokerage.

This convinced me to get Plan F for myself when the time came.
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Barefootgirl
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Re: Meeting with retirement guru, specializes in federal govt employees

Post by Barefootgirl »

Thank you MnD, I'm going to follow up on your most helpful post of links and guidance. In my situation, I will have 10 years of service when I retire, so I need to fully understand the differences for my situation versus benefits for a typical, longer length of service.

Montanagirl, need to educate myself on the terms used with Medicare. I haven't been paying close enough attention since it always seemed far away - thanks for your comment, I am going to educate myself.
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Nova1967
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Re: Meeting with retirement guru, specializes in federal govt employees

Post by Nova1967 »

I know there are big changes proposed in the budget for retirement such as elimination of SS Supplement, No COLA, and the pension at high 5 instead of 3. Its something to keep a close look at since the reduction in benefits could be substantial.
Not sure if the post borders on the forbidden topic of political discussion but I thought I believe anyone close to retirement should keep an eyes on potential changes in the FERS retirement system.
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Re: Meeting with retirement guru, specializes in federal govt employees

Post by LadyGeek »

I removed an off-topic post. As a reminder, discussion of proposed legislation is off-topic ("what might happen" with Social Security, etc.). Here's a detailed explanation: Re: Tax exempt muni bond funds & proposed lower rates on taxable investment interest

Please stay on-topic, which is:
Barefootgirl wrote:With this post, I'm reminded of the thread the other day about being your own "guy".

I've been my own guy (lol) for quite awhile, taking guidance from here and other places, but I think being close to retirement (early 2019) and making such a big decision, especially when the outside view is that federal jobs should be clung to, bears the time and fees involved in meeting with an advisor.

In my case, the guy is considered something of a local D.C. area guru (no, not Rick Edelman, lol) and comes well regarded, particularly in the area of federal employment/federal retirement - I've seen him speak - he's a virtual encyclopedia. I can't think of a single question for him beyond the first one - "am I on track/what am I overlooking?" I have a meeting with him next Friday.

Federal retirees or federal retiree wannabes? beyond making sure I take the healthcare with me, what else should I ask him - what did you learn after the fact that you'd wished you'd known beforehand?

I have my notepad ready for the meeting - it has one sentence on it, lol.
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Faith20879
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Re: Meeting with retirement guru, specializes in federal govt employees

Post by Faith20879 »

delamer wrote:...It is a complicated issue; ...
Absolutely!

We (HD and I) are trying to collect information and listen to fellow Fed bogleheads' reasoning for their own situations. So when our time comes all these will be considered.

There was a lengthy discussion on to keep B or not and a lot of the wording I couldn't quite follow so was wishing for plain English from BFG's guru. It wasn't meant to be a command.
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