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Information on this page is provided by Roseanne Jefferson.
Roseanne is a retired USPS employee with an extensive background in USPS
retirement, disability retirement, OWCP, EEO, Labor Relations and HR.
She conducts individual and group counseling and is able to
comprehensively discuss the pros and cons of employees who are on OWCP,
disability retirement and regular retirement. Roseanne will be happy
to answer your postal retirement questions. Contact Roseanne at
roseanne.jefferson@icloud.com. |
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Postal Retirement
Q&A June 2013 |
Good Day Postal Employees � Before I
say anything, I must thank all of the
readers with gratitude for the
outpouring of prayers for my daughter.
We may be turning a corner this month
in this journey, and I will ask that
you continue your prayers and know we
as a family are very grateful.
Just Sayin' � I wish I had a
dollar for each time I heard that a
postal employee say, that they
couldn't file for disability
retirement, because what is wrong with
them is/was not an on the job injury.
Q 1. Hi Roseanne, I'm under the
CSRS, I'm thinking about retiring Oct
1, 2013. I will have 38 years plus 2
years military (that I paid back very
early in my career). I have conserved
my sick leave my entire career and I
have, or will have about 2250 about
the time I retire. I have 285 hours of
annual leave that I have carried over
from last year, plus what have been
advanced to me this year. That gives
me 41+ yrs. What do you suggest as a
good retirement date for tax purposes.
Is it better to retire on Jan 1, 2014
so the annual leave is paid in the new
year? Really appreciate your outlook
on this. DF
A 1. Hi DF. The
first thing I gotta say, RETIRE!!! You
have enough (!!) years. But for
someone who does retirement
"regularly" I am pretty positive you
will make more retired than you do
working�.for a variety of reasons!!!
If you are in the EAS pay scale, then
waiting until Oct 1 is a date all CSRS
employee's (that were in Mgmt. knew to
use. Why�.because it's after the FY
(fiscal year). If you are a PCES
employee, the terms of your employment
have bearing on the answer. If you are
a craft employee then any time is OK.
So let's address the Jan 1, 2014
versus Dec 31, 2013�.what is the real
difference�none, timing, end of week,
end of pay period, bottom line
none�(again as a CSRS employee�FERS
employee's don't have the luxury of
retiring the first 3 days of the month
as does CSRS).
What the
question really should be is�.IS WHEN
you will be paid for your "earned
annual leave"�.that is the real
question, or I should say the real
issue". If you have MEGA earned
annual, that you have been a-planning;
a-plotting and saving for this "great
escape", to be paid out to you�you
would like to have that check in the
year of 2014. If you retire on Oct 1,
then your annual will be paid and
calculated into your 2013 earnings. If
you retire Dec 31, then the AL check
is going to come in 2014 (same as
would if you retired Jan 1 2014); and
thus may be able to reduce your tax
liability until 2015.
Q 2. Hi
Roseanne,
I'm glad I
discovered your page. My husband is
very sick and we are working our way
through the disability nightmare
paperwork. I just received the Life
insurance coverage worksheet and am
totally confused when it comes to
Options A, B, and C. He currently has
all 3 options. When it comes to Option
B, how do I choose between No
Reduction or Full Reduction? He
currently has 5 X for this. I'm afraid
he will not live to the end of the
year, and I want to be prepared
financially, but don't know if it's
worth keeping Option B at 5 or if I
should lower the number or drop it
completely. The same goes for Option
C. Any advice would be greatly
appreciated. Thank you, M
A 2.
Hi M, This is such a sensitive
subject. If you have the paperwork you
describe, that means that your husband
has sent the first portion of the
disability retirement package (SF
3112); and in turn HRSSC has sent you
the Large Blue Retirement package. I
would need to know if your husband has
had his session on the phone with
HRSSC for this disability retirement?
Once you answer that, (that will let
me know where you are in the process).
I can then better provide a little
guidance, or if interested in me
completing the entire retirement
paperwork via my Air Mail Retirement.
This is TOO important of a decision to
NOT KNOW exactly what you are doing,
regardless if you use me or not.
Roseanne
Q 3. Hi, Roseanne, I
am a city letter carrier, and have
been one since I started at the post
office. I am 54 years old and I have
worked for 24 years. Things have been
getting very difficult at work. The
nonsense that they are writing Letters
of Warning, Suspension with no pay.
The union has done nothing to even
address the problem with management.
The managers and some supervisors have
no clue about mail delivery�Roseanne
it's a mess out here. So my question
is if I am fired, will I lose all my
pension (annuity)? And thank you for
all the help you provide us postal
workers who really rely on you to tell
us what is going on and how to make it
happen. TJ
A 3. Hi TJ, Anyone
can get fired and lose their
retirement..anyone! Your best bet is
to try to work towards your MRA, and
no doubt that's at least another 4 or
5 years away. Many emails that I get
are very much like yours�.looking for
a light at the end of the tunnel and
hoping for another early out. Let me
say this to you�we all, every postal
employee has had their "moment in the
sun" with the post office�.some of us,
have had even more than 1 moment in
the sun to be real about it!!�I say
that to say hang in there. Retirement
is SO WORTH it�it is! As long as you
are NOT ill, you can do another 4 or 5
years�you can!! You have done 25�.you
can do a few more�I will tell you
this�don't piss off your TSP�don't
borrow on it�don't do anything other
than fund it! Make a 5/4 year
calendar�(I did�when I had precisely 5
years to go� I didn't know they would
offer an early out�but I made a
calendar and marking each day off,
coming closer to retirement helped.
Hang in there !! Roseanne
Q 4.
Roseanne, Can a postal employee move
their TSP money to an independent
investor before retirement? If you
can, is there any kind of a penalty
for doing so? When I do retire will my
military disability be stopped? I
asked this last question once before
but I think you misunderstood or I mis-communicated,
I think you thought I had a postal
disability as well as my military
disability. I am a 30% disabled
veteran so it's not much but want to
be prepared if I am going to lose it
at retirement. One other question, I
get my retirement pay based on my high
3 years salary averaged out correct?
So how much percentage is that figured
at? Let's ballpark 60K. I have 4 plus
years before I reach my MRA but I
still hope for a Vera before then and
want to be as prepared as possible.
Thanks so much for you help and time!!
MA
A 4. Hi MA, You can take
your money out of TSP�you will be
penalized and taxed but you can. And
remember, that while employed, the
postal service has MATCHING
CONTRIBUTIONS.!!, and if any, and I
mean any financial person out there
that "suggests" that you shouldn't
fully FUND TSP and your employer is
matching the funds�. RUN LIKE HELL!!!
I don't think they mean you any
good�.think about this�if you do move
your money�even if you do, the PO is
STILL putting 1% into your TSP..just
saying. As far as your VA disability,
that will not change at all because
you are retired. You don't lost any of
your VA disability check because you
are a federal retiree. Think about
it�you receive the VA disability while
you are working, so being retired has
no effect on it either. It is an
approval of injuries/illness as a
result of your military employment.
You deserve that based upon your
medical information provided to VA,
and retiring does not change that. An
easy way to figure is to take the
number of years you worked so if it is
30, then it's 30% of your high 3
average salary. If you worked 42
years, it's 42% of your high 3 salary.
Whenever you get those 4 years, and I
will assume that gives you 30 years,
then you are looking at $60,000. X 1%=
$600.00. Then $600. X 30 (yrs) =
$18,000 divided by 12, gives you
$1500.00 (monthly gross & before a
spousal annuity factored in). Reduced
by taxes, & health/life insurance's,
that is only ONE of your components of
your retirement. You still will have
either pre 62 the Special Supplement,
or at 62 Social Security, and TSP
money, whatever choices you make with
your TSP. I hope this has cleared up
any misunderstanding that may have
occurred in the other email you
referenced. Hang in there!! Retirement
is so worth it! �Roseanne
Q 5.
Hi I am S, and I retired Jan 31, 2013.
I had expected a small annual leave
check for 32 hours. I did not received
it. Should I have gotten paid for
these unused hours ?
A 5. Hi S,
Lets be clear first before you do
anything. Did you really have 32
(EARNED) hours on Jan 31st? Look on
your last pay stub to see what it
shows as "earned"�because it's only
the earned annual leave you get paid
for. You don't say what your position
is, but regardless if window clerk,
rural carrier, all positions can have
"financial issues" that would put an
employee in a status of "owing" the
post office money when they retire.
That is why no longer are the annual
leave checks automatically paid 2
weeks after retirement (ahem�like
clockwork they were!!)�they are now
looking to see if you owed them 15 or
20 cents. They are searching the data
base(s) to make sure you don't owe
THEM. Ok, so lets say you legitimately
have this 32 hours of annual leave,
you have checked your stubs and you
KNOW you don't owe them any money�CALL
your former office where you worked,
PDC, post office,
station/branch�wherever "checks are
sent to" to see if a check is there.
Understand that this is a PAPER CHECK
that is typically mailed or picked up.
With this being the middle of May and
you retired the end of January,
yea,nWAY TOO LONG!! � Something is
wrong.. It's either, you are NOT owed
any annual leave; OR you owe them
money; OR, the check was cut and
sitting in the desk of a supervisor at
your old office, so I would call them
first. AND if the check is not there I
would try the timekeeping office in
your particular district or area
because THEY would know where those
checks are/were. Roseanne
R 5.
Yes there was a total of 32 hours of
annual on my last check. I was a
window clerk. If I owed the Postal
Service any money would they not have
given me some information about my
debt. Thank you for your response. I
will call the office to check on it.
Q 6. Hi Roseanne! Is the FERS
supplement subject to the same income
limits that social security recipients
are subject to? I always enjoy reading
your column. I hope your daughter is
doing well. Thank you, RP?
A 6.
Hi RP, If you look at the special
"supplement"�it really means just that
� supplement. Supplementing (for) your
social security (payment) until you
reach age 62. When looking at it from
that perspective�then it makes sense
that YES, there is income limits
associated with the special
supplement. Understand this - always,
when you are dealing with $$ that the
federal government is "paying" you,
and there is a "limitation" on
earnings, or just some "special
criteria" associated with that money,
they will ALWAYS FIND OUT � always -
and you will always owe them back.
Take care, Roseanne
So why did
I "go there"? Because this is a prime
area where I see retiree's getting
into financial trouble. Well for one,
look at the retiree's that went with
this last early out (w/incentive), and
consider the number of those that were
FERS employees. They are eligible for
the below: (Provided @MRA )
1.
FERS check
2. Special Supplement
check (if at MRA) (or will when reach
MRA)
3. Incentive Payment
4. TSP
5 Part Time job (anywhere,Except a
Federal Employer).
So all the
above is doable, but I would make sure
that I do this first: 1. FIND OUT from
OPM or SS what is the precise about of
money you can make without it
affecting your Spec Supp or SS check.
(Everyone is not the same�.age plays a
part in this too). 2. If you do decide
to work, be very selective about
working part time, because you need to
look at the dollar figure and divide
it by 52, to know how much you can
earn every week. Although, even if
working a part time job within the
"earnings limitation" and then if
married... And for some added fun,
should you live in a state that does
NOT tax federal pensions; then have
part time earnings, that make it
unbearable when filing taxes at the
end of the year. The moral of THIS
story, don't work anywhere else unless
you crunch the numbers first � KNOW if
you are losing anything. � - I guess
my words would be "IF working reduces
ANY of your retirement benefits�why in
the world would you!" DO YOUR
HOMEWORK, and factor in any incentive
money in your effort to minimize your
tax liability.
However, that is
not to say that a second job is not a
GOOD thing. It's a great thing for
some! Just don't make too much money.
Retirees that are "our" age, are just
a perfect employee for part time jobs.
We don't need health benefits, we damn
sure don't want 40 hours a week, we
are excellent workers (have to be�we
retired) we are former federal
employees (that also helps in
establishing integrity). It could help
transition you over from the
"hyper-drive" mode that you've done
for the last 30 or so years at the
post office, to a more mellow "doing
something" mode, instead of just
STOPPING altogether. It can be a
"interesting" transition, that maybe a
part time job could bridge a gap. In a
few columns ago, I shared that the
first 6-8 months of retirement can be
a roller coaster ride itself, and it
takes time to really transition into
retirement. YOU just got to find that
magical number that if you want to
work, so that you actually don't lose
any money. Till we speak again,�.
Roseanne |
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