Your Turn with Mike Causey

On any given day, the obituary section of almost any big city newspaper may contain the death notice of someone who was retired longer than he or she worked — nice! And on the same page there may also be a write up on an individual who spent 40, 50 or even 60 years on the job — also good! Sometimes, like in the Washington, D.C. area, both the early retiree and the job-for-life person were federal workers. So who won, who got it right? Today we turn to retirement expert Tammy Flanagan. She knows all the rules and regulations but she says there are times when, after you’ve done all your pre-retirement homework, you need to look inward to see what’s driving you to retirement, or to work until you drop.

Stock markets, like people and wine, have good years and not-so-good years. Investors who try to buy low and sell high don’t have very good track records. But people try. Take 2018, please! That year the C fund, which tracks the S&P 500 was down 44%. But investors who continued to buy shares got a pleasant surprise in 2019 when the C fund was up 31.5%. The story was the same for the S fund (small cap) and I fund (international stock index), which also had bad years in 2018 but bounced back big time — 28% and 22.5% last year, respectively. That means something, but what? We asked Washington, D.C., area financial planner Arthur Stein for his take. He has several self-made Thrift Savings Plan millionaires among his clients. He’ll be my guest on today’s Your Turn show at 10 a.m. EST. You can listen at www.federalnewsnetwork.com or on 1500 AM in the D.C. metro area. The show will also be archived on our home page so you or a friend can listen later. If you have questions for Art Stein send them to mcausey@f

Have you had the long term care insurance talk with your spouse or significant other, or your kids? How about with yourself, can you handle a reality check? The opioid crisis and other factors have stalled the steady increase in life expectancy in many communities and with some groups. But generally speaking reasonably affluent people with good steady jobs, decent pay, good health care and retirement benefits are living longer — people like you and me. But while living longer people in that group aren’t necessarily aging better. Many have trouble taking care of themselves as they age out. If you are counting on your health plan, or Medicare to handle the situation, think again! Not gonna happen. So what are you waiting for? It’s time to have and listen to the talk, so how about today? Tune in at 10 a.m. here on www.FederalNewsNetwork.com or 1500 AM in the D.C. area. to listen to this week’s Your Turn radio show. And if you can’t catch us live, the show will be archived on our webiste so you can listen anyt

When in doubt, ask Tammy Flanagan. Many feel she wrote the book on federal retirement planning. She was a long-time fed and now operates her own fee-for-service business. Best of all, she’s our guest today at 10 a.m. EDT on our Your Turn radio show. The show is archived on our home page so if you can’t catch it live on our website or on 1500 AM in the Washington, D.C. area, you can always listen later and pass it along to a friend or coworker.

Today’s Your Turn radio show features Paul Forte and Joan Melanson from Long Term Care Partners Inc. They run the LTC program for the federal government, and they are going to talk about the existing program including its new 3.0 version, which gives policyholders various options when premiums go up in the future, as they inevitably will. The show will stream live at 10 a.m. EST on www.federalnewsnetwork.com and on 1500 AM in the Washington, D.C.-Baltimore area. It will also be archived on our website so you can listen again, or refer it to a friend or coworker.

So when in doubt and with the deadline fast-approaching the way to guarantee the best coverage is to check out and stick with one of the plans with the highest premiums. If it costs a lot, it’s gotta be good, right? The good news is that many of the highest-premium plans are excellent. The bad news is they cost too much for what you get. In many cases you can get similar coverage with the plan’s basic option, which costs much less. Or if you need to save money only look at the plans with the lowest premiums. What could possibly go wrong, right? What could go wrong is that if you have an unexpected condition or emergency — i.e. the reason people buy insurance in the first place — you might be out of pocket big-time with a low premium plan. Which is why you either gotta shop or maybe continue to shell out big bucks for nothing. So low premium, good, high premium, better! Correct? Wrong, says Walton Francis, editor of Consumers’ “Checkbook Guide to Health Plans for Federal Employees.” He will be my guest on

Folks who do their health plan homework between now and Dec. 9 can in many cases save a couple thousand dollars in premiums next year — right off the bat. And/or they can get started with an “IRA on steroids” paid for by their health plan. Many retirees can have their Medicare Part B premiums paid for them by their health plan. The trick is knowing which plans work best for you, and how your long-time plan, which has been great in every way, may have simply become too expensive. Walton Francis, editor of Consumers’ Checkbook Guide to Health Plans for Federal Employees says the IRA on steroids is available to workers who pick from one of several plans high deductible heal plans (HDHPs) or consumer-driven health care (CDHC) plans that will give you money each year to be used for medical services or, if not used, can be rolled over into an account earns interest. In some cases, he says, participants have built up five-figure accounts.

If wasting a couple-thousand dollars next year is no big deal to you, you can skip this. But if you’d be interested in saving $1,000-$2,000 on your federal health plan in 2020, read on. Walton Francis, who literally wrote the book on the federal health program said that many, many workers and retirees are paying too much because of the plan they are in. And with a little shopping they could save a bundle and still get excellent coverage.

For the past decade — since the end of the 2008-2009 Great Recession — stock market experts have regularly predicted a major correction, a drop of 20% or more in the stock market, each year up to and including now. So far they’ve all been wrong. This is the longest bull market in history. But eventually they will be correct and the market will tank. Then all their sky-is-falling-in predictions will be filed away and forgotten. In the meantime there is a bear market. The C, S and I funds of the Thrift Savings Plan tank. Like last time hundreds of thousands of TSP investors, both active and retired, will trade in their shares of the stock index funds for the “safety” of the Treasury securities G fund. Then what, are you ready? Which is why we called in Arthur Stein, a Washington, D.C.-area financial planner. Many of his clients are federal workers or retirees. Several are also TSP millionaires who rode out past financial ups and downs, investing mostly or exclusively in the stock market during good times — a

Many federal workers and retirees don’t bother with estate planning. Mostly because they don’t think of themselves, long-time civil servants, as the estate type. Get a will off the internet, get it notarized and all is well, right? Not necessarily. Wills are great, but if you are or were a career civil servant, if you own a house, if you have money in your TSP account, bank or investments — chances are you have an estate. If you check all those boxes and are still married to your first spouse, you almost certainly do. So what next? Tom O’Rourke, an estate/tax attorney in the Washington D.C. area, says many people have estates but don’t realize it. He’ll be my guest today on our Your Turn show at 10 a.m. EST, streaming here or on 1500 AM in the D.C. area. If you have questions for Tom, email them to mcausey@federalnewsnetwork.com before the show.

Most people know the rule is to buy low, sell high. If you buy that, the problem is knowing when the market has peaked or bottomed out. A growing number of Thrift Savings Plan investors are nervously wondering how much longer the current bull market — 10-plus years without a correction of 20% or more — will last, and can last. So many things could go wrong: Turkey and Syria, Chinese trade and the Hong Kong problem, post-Brexit Europe, or impeachment — a major disaster. Arthur Stein, a Washington, D.C.-area certified financial planner, weighs in on this episode of Your Turn with Mike Causey.

December and January are often the best months to retire if you want to maximize your lump sum payment of annual leave that can amount to a “design-your-own buyout.” That’s why the period between Dec. 31 and Jan. 3 sees the largest surge in retirements year-after-year. Benefits expert Tammy Flanagan answers your questions on this episode of Your Turn with Mike Causey.

How do you start your search for your estate? We discussed with Washington, D.C. area tax and estate attorney Tom O’Rourke. He worked for the IRS for many years and most of his clients are current or former civil servants, or are related to a fed.

For most white-collar civil servants, regardless of their duties, the September-October time period can be education/rewarding/challenging at the same time. Especially if you are preparing your personal budget for the upcoming year. FNN reporter Nicole Ogrysko bring us up to speed on how the immediate future looks for workers and retirees on this episode of Your Turn with Mike Causey.

While some people are already working on their 2020 taxes there are probably many more still trying to figure out what they did right, or wrong, because of the 2017 tax law. Many were surprised to learn that it no longer paid to itemize deductions that had been important in the past. Tom O’Rourke answers your questions on this episode of Your Turn with Mike Causey.

Effective Sept. 15, major changes will take effect in the TSP, changes that will make it more attractive for life-time investors and more convenient for people who need to withdraw different amounts over their retirement. Jessica Klement, NARFE vice president for advocacy and Mark Keen, certified financial planner and adviser gives us the details on this episode of Your Turn with Mike Causey.

Too many people begin their retirement planning too late. If not necessarily catastrophic, it isn’t good. But regardless of your age now, sooner is better than later. Benefits expert Tammy Flanagan is the guest this week. The Your Turn radio show airs at 10 a.m. EDT on 1500 AM in the Washington, D.C. area and www.federalnewsnetwork.com.

Most current federal retirees, and a small percentage of folks still on the payroll, are under the old Civil Service Retirement System. It offers a generous lifetime annuity that is based on salary and length of service, and it is fully indexed to inflation.

Have you had your professional mid-life crises yet? If not this might be a good time to get it over with. To take stock of where you’ve been, where you are going and what happens when its all finished.

On this episode, Tammy Flanagan covers the basics and then some, to help put more money in your monthly retirement income and reduce costs to you. Your Turn with Mike Causey airs at 10 a.m. EDT on 1500 AM in the Washington, D.C. area and www.federalnewsnetwork.com.