Final Rule: Phased Retirement

Article Excerpt: "...The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is adopting its proposed phased retirement regulations with four minor changes. Phased retirement is a human resources tool that will allow full-time employees to work a part-time schedule and draw partial retirement benefits during employment. The “Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act,” or “MAP-21,” requires OPM to publish regulations implementing phased retirement under the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) and the Federal Employees' Retirement System (FERS). The final rule informs agencies and employees about who may elect phased retirement, what benefits are provided during phased retirement, how OPM intends to compute the annuity payable during and after phased retirement, and how employees may fully retire after a period of phased retirement. The final rule does not address every administrative detail of the phased retirement process. OPM will be issuing separate guidance to assist agencies and employees..."

Resource: www.federalregister.gov

Widow gets advice on when to collect social security of her deceased spouse

Social Security Q&A: My Deceased Spouse Earned More, Should I Collect Survivor Benefits Early?

Article Excerpt: "...Question: My husband died when he was 58. Should I start collecting his death benefits at age 60 or wait until 66? He made a lot more money than I have or ever will.

Answer: Your best strategy is probably to wait until..."

Resource: www.forbes.com

Will My Federal Retirement Wipe Out My Social Security?

Article Excerpt: "...how the Windfall Elimination Provision may — or may not — affect your benefits if you receive or will receive a government pension...."

Resource: www.forbes.com

The RAISE Act is a proposal to expand Social Security

Leaders in Washington Pushing to Strengthen and Expand Social Security

Article Excerpt: "...The RAISE Act is not the only proposal to expand Social Security. Last year, Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA) introduced the Strengthening Social Security Act (S. 567) in the Senate, with Rep. Linda Sanchez (D-CA) introducing a companion bill in the House (H.R. 3118). The Strengthening Social Security Act proposes adjusting the benefits formula to provide an increase in benefits for most beneficiaries and improving the program’s finances by lifting the earnings cap on Social Security contributions. ..."

Resource: www.apwu.org

Does Social Security intentionally produce low-ball benefit estimates?

Why You Shouldn't Trust Social Security's Lowball Estimate

Article Excerpt: "...“It’s intentionally used to produce low-ball benefit estimates so people will save more on their own and they won’t be so hurt if the system’s benefits are cut in the future, which seems likely. ..."

Resource: www.forbes.com

Social Security by the numbers (your age)

Social Security at 62? Let’s Run the Numbers

Article Excerpt: "...This period includes when you reach what Social Security calls your “full retirement age” — 66 for those born between 1943 and 1954, as old as 67 for later arrivals — and what might be called a bonus period after that, ending at age 70...."

Resource: www.nytimes.com

Social Security

Social Security’s 20 worst inequities

Calling out Social Security for its awful inequities

Article Excerpt: "...You can contribute to Social Security your entire life and get back less in benefits than someone who never worked and never contributed a penny to the system...."

Resource: www.pbs.org

Social Security, inequities within Social Security,

Are Social Security benefits taxable?

Are your Social Security benefits taxable?

Article Excerpt: "...If you’ve recently begun receiving Social Security benefits or plan to apply in the near future, you may be wondering this tax season: are Social Security benefits taxable?..."

Resource: www.oanow.com

Federal employee retirement backlog continues in an actual undergroud limestone cave

Deep underground, federal employees process paperwork by hand in a long-outdated, inefficient system

Article Excerpt: "...Here, inside the caverns of an old Pennsylvania limestone mine, there are 600 employees of the Office of Personnel Management. Their task is nothing top-secret. It is to process the retirement papers of the government’s own workers. But that system has a spectacular flaw..."

Resource: www.washingtonpost.com

Supporting entitlement cuts will cost you an election

Did Social Security Cost Democrats a Seat In Florida?

Article Excerpt: "...But Jolly had an easy comeback: He denied wanting to privatize Social Security, and fired back by noting that Sink voiced some support for the Simpson-Bowles debt-reduction plan, which included cuts to Social Security...."

Resource: www.nationaljournal.com

Social Security

Will politicians again attack retirees with a chained CPI threat?

Door left open for chained CPI comeback

Article Excerpt: "...Critics countered that the chained CPI doesn’t account for medical costs which make up a larger share of expenses for older people than for the population as a whole and would over time cost federal retirees thousands of dollars...."

Resource: www.federaltimes.com

chained CPI

How to maximize your Social Security

How to maximize your most valuable retirement asset

Article Excerpt: "...Most people aren't careless with the things they value the most. Surprisingly, one exception is how most people treat their most valuable retirement asset -- Social Security...."

Resource: www.cbsnews.com

Social Security,

Social Security rules to become familiar with

Don't Fall Into These Social Security Traps

Article Excerpt: "...Some of the Social Security rules can be frighteningly complex. Because it will likely represent a large portion of your retirement income, it's important to understand how the government program works...."

Resource: www.nasdaq.com

Social Security

Ridiculously low social security pay and Medicare expenses

Seniors struggle with Social Security adjustments

Article Excerpt: "...the Medicare Part D "doughnut hole" -- the no-man's land in which beneficiaries pay the full cost for prescriptions after they have used up their basic benefit and before they reach an upper "catastrophic" mark when coverage resumes...."

Resource: www.post-gazette.com

Health care costs are well on their way to eating up half of the average Social Security check

Health Care Consumes Over a Third of Social Security Checks

Article Excerpt: "... Social Security benefits were never intended to go mostly toward medical bills. Yet today, even with Medicare (including the prescription drug coverage - Medicare Part D - which took effect in 2006), out-of-pocket health care costs are well on their way to eating up half of the average Social Security check of seniors and their surviving spouses. ..."

Resource: www.huffingtonpost.com