Thread: Kaufmanrider's Retirement Story

Originally Posted by Kaufmanrider

TSP is efficient.

Pending Full Withdrawal Request.
Your full withdrawal request is being reviewed. Requests received via fax or the US mail will generally be processed within 7 to 10 business days of receipt.

Looks like everything is moving right along. Congrats.

Checked my TSP this morning. I now have a zero account balance. Checked the "Statements" section of my account and there was a letter informing me the full withdrawal was completed Jan 29, 2014 with the details/amount and that the check was mailed to Schwab.

18 days after retirement and three days after I faxed the withdrawal request. Gotta hand it to TSP. Still waiting on OPM to notify me they received my retirement package. I wish they were as efficient as TSP.

Annual leave check arrived. No word from OPM, yet. I was FERS and my retirement counselor had said the packet is sent within 30 days of retiring. I'll give it another week before I start asking.

I received a letter from Benefeds informing me they were notified of my retirement and that they will work with OPM on my payments for Dental/Vision but in the interim I might receive a bill.

Lump Sum was completed today. I know have a pile of cash in my Roll-Over IRA. I'll watch the markets and not jump in too soon.

Sounds like you are making progress also. I read somewhere that you need your OPM Claim Number to contact OPM re your retirement.

Same here, Al check arrived but nothing from OPM. Benfeds sent me a no pay status letter letting me know what my deduction for Dental will be taken out of the annuity. I called them a couple weeks ago they told me to ignore any bill and my annuity deduction will encompass any payment that was behind. God I love this retirement status!!

One correction. I said lump sum was completed today. Which is true but I meant to say my Full Withdrawal from TSP was completed.

I received a letter from the National Finance Center, my pay center, that my Individual Retirement Record was forwarded to OPM Feb 4, 2014. My first interim should be March 1, so it looks like things are on schedule.

On a side note, I started diversifying my roll-over last week into the markets. 30% will be in 20-30 dividend paying stocks, 50% in a Lazy Portfolio (80-20 Stock/Bond split) and the final 20% will be my market timing portfolio.

Of course, the percentages may change over time.

Originally Posted by Kaufmanrider

I received a letter from the National Finance Center, my pay center, that my Individual Retirement Record was forwarded to OPM Feb 4, 2014. My first interim should be March 1, so it looks like things are on schedule.

On a side note, I started diversifying my roll-over last week into the markets. 30% will be in 20-30 dividend paying stocks, 50% in a Lazy Portfolio (80-20 Stock/Bond split) and the final 20% will be my market timing portfolio. Of course, the percentages may change over time.

Congrats, keep us posted on what dividend paying stocks you'll be buying and your strategy for the market timing portfolio. Thanks.

Kauf,

That's good news ! I'll be curious to hear how long it takes OPM to "finalize" your payment...hopefully not as long as it took them a while ago !

As I understand it, your AL lump sum comes from your Agency, so it's not surprising y'all saw that first....your interim, however, comes from OPM, so that takes longer. When you DO get your claim number, be sure to log into the OPM on-line web site...good info there on the status of your case, plus your monthly statements, etc

RE: the discussion about the amount of your interim pay...I see people saying "60%" or "80%"...but my "interim" was only 39% of my final number Granted, my "situation" was a little unusual, with multiple agencies, the supplemental, a gap in service, etc etc. as I noted in my retirement thread...I DID get a "catch-up" check for > $10K when all was said and done.

I look forward to seeing what you're doing with that TSP rollover in your account thread, too !


Stoplight...

Originally Posted by Kaufmanrider

I received a letter from the National Finance Center, my pay center, that my Individual Retirement Record was forwarded to OPM Feb 4, 2014. My first interim should be March 1, so it looks like things are on schedule.

On a side note, I started diversifying my roll-over last week into the markets. 30% will be in 20-30 dividend paying stocks, 50% in a Lazy Portfolio (80-20 Stock/Bond split) and the final 20% will be my market timing portfolio.

Of course, the percentages may change over time.

congrats to all the retirees... i plan to be in that boat in May and was wondering how you all handled your annuity? i will have 34.5 yrs of service and i'm CSRS. my first thought was to take as much money now so the wife and i can live comfortably with hopefully a litte extra to do things (travel). the wife will have S.S. when she becomes of age, we are both 54 now. she intends to work part time. if anything should happen to me she can sell some of the rentals and have cash. we also have 2 sons that i know will look out for their mom. not that i'm depending on them but i know she will be looked out for. just curious how you all did your annuity and why you did it and whether you would change your decision knowing what you know now? not trying to pry just getting some feedback.
thanks and enjoy your days
john

Originally Posted by GUCHI

congrats to all the retirees... i plan to be in that boat in May and was wondering how you all handled your annuity? i will have 34.5 yrs of service and i'm CSRS. my first thought was to take as much money now so the wife and i can live comfortably with hopefully a litte extra to do things (travel). the wife will have S.S. when she becomes of age, we are both 54 now. she intends to work part time. if anything should happen to me she can sell some of the rentals and have cash. we also have 2 sons that i know will look out for their mom. not that i'm depending on them but i know she will be looked out for. just curious how you all did your annuity and why you did it and whether you would change your decision knowing what you know now? not trying to pry just getting some feedback.
thanks and enjoy your days
john

I assume you mean the survivor benefit reduction? I opted for the benefit and will take a 10% reduction to my FERS retirement. Mainly because of the health insurance. Like you, we are young and affordable health insurance is an important consideration when you are not eligible for Medicare. We considered a large life insurance policy and Obama Care for her if something happened to me but the quality/out of pocket/deductable/premium, etc., does not compare with what she could get from FEHB.

So I took the hit in my annuity for healthcare.