“The Federal-Postal Coalition is made up of 31 national organizations that collectively represent 5 million middle-class federal and postal workers and retirees. Federal and postal employees take care of our veterans, guard our borders, thwart terrorism, maintain our military’s hardware, take criminals off our streets and keep them behind bars, support the country’s businesses, ensure…
By Karin Price Mueller – February 23, 2015 Forget for a moment how you feel about your own financial situation. Forget if you feel that government workers get too many benefits. Forget what you think about the fiscal health of the governments that are on the hook for those employees’ pension payments. And forget if…
Good Day Postal Employees……and a Very Happy New Year!!! This has been a very busy month with emails and retirements seminars. It still amazes me how many employees are still confused regarding their benefits in retirement, and the very calculation of their retirement. Many still confuse CSRS rules with FERS (very different) rules in retirement…
Seniors Increasingly Struggle to Pay Back Educational Loans Watsonville, California resident Rosemary Anderson testified in Washington on Wednesday before the Senate Aging Committee’s hearing on older Americans and student loan debt. “Some may think of student loan debt as just a young person’s problem,” said Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL), chairman of the committee. “Well, as…
For CSRS retirees: (08/19/14) The 2015 CSRS retiree COLA is based on the third quarter (July, August, September) average CPI-W index in 2014 over the 2013 third quarter average. After the second quarter of 2014, the third quarter of the 2015 COLA adjustment period, the quarterly index has risen by 1.7%. For FERS retirees: (08/19/14)…
Many people are confused about what is causing the so-called postal financial crisis. The PENSIONS are NOT the problem except for the fact that they are overfunded!! The pensions (CSRS and FERS) and the Retiree Health Benefits Prefunding are different things. The Retiree Health Benefits Prefunding, which was created under the Postal Accountability Enhancement Act…
Offering workplace benefits such as health and retirement programs and paid vacations is a well established way to attract and retain talented workers. But the structure of these offerings has been changing in the public and private sectors over the past 20 to 30 years for several reasons, including rising pension debts; a more mobile…
In 1985, I began a new position at FBI headquarters in Washington as a retirement counselor. This position laid the groundwork and provided the training for my future career as a retirement specialist that I continue today. My official title was Employee Relations Specialist-Employee Benefits, and my duties included communicating laws, policies and regulations regarding…
