As a Fed LEO (FERS) I contributed 1.3% towards retirement, and I believe 6.2%'for SS and 1.45% for Medicare.
Trying to find an old pay stub to verify. I know it varied slightly over the years.
I don't really have a problem with the .5% decrease in CSRS COLAS. CSRS has always gotten a COLA that's 1% higher than FERS retirees. The proposal should have read "CSRS and FERS COLAS will be paid at the same rate". Sounds better and accomplishes the same thing.
The one part of these budget proposals I don't agree with is contribution rate changes proposed for current employees.
I could see some variance in contribution rates. But, a 5-6% increase above the one you hired in at is hard pile to swallow.
Still, FERS is a better deal than anything ANY of my non-government retired friends have.
A 5-6% increase above the one you hired in at may be a hard pile to swallow but it is better that benefit cuts. Unfortunately I am expecting both. That is why many of us are here. We foresaw our 3 legged stool being whittled down to a single leg. TSP is the only one we have any control over, so we are seeking to maximize it.
Someone on here used the term double-dipping in their post. I'd watch out with that one as it can be redefined at any time. Wait and see. In the future we will be accused of double-dipping because we have two government pensions (FERS & SS). It doesn't matter that it was set up that way from the beginning. It doesn't matter that it's cheaper than CSRS. What matters is saving SS, and government employees have been a favorite target for quite some time now. "Hey, their pension is better than the private sector so let's just tax it away from them." In the future I expect FERS to share in the CSRS SS cut and any other taxes government can come up with to save SS. Face it, the money has to come from somewhere and we are an easy target no one cares about.
Allocations as of COB Dec 28 : 100% S. | Retirement Date:Dec 2025
Past Returns: 2020 31.85%,2019 27.97%,2018 -3.36%,2017 13.10%, 2016 -1.79%, 5Yr Avg 12.61%
Haha. Easy for you to say, not being a CSRS retiree. Let's all pull to bring the other guy down. There's a winning strategy for the working class.
Look, since 1999, there have been 5 instances when the CSRS COLA was actually 1% higher than FERS. 5 out of 18. So, lets say the proposed .5% CSRS had been in place over that time frame (18 x .5 = 9% less COLA for CSRS compared to CPI). Meanwhile the FERS shortfall compared to CSRS w/h been 5% less than CPI. Not exactly even.
On the contribution side, you contributed a total of 7.5%. Same as me. Everyone contributes the same 1.45% to Medicare I believe. So we're even there, except CSRS don't/didn't get matching on TSP contributions and don't get a SS benefit. Depending on an individual's TSP contributions/strategy, FERS can actually be a far better deal -- or so many financial advisers claim.
It may be fine with you, but I'm not okay with any changes made to the retirement promise (contract) that was made to me before I made my decision to stay with the federal government for my entire career. It was the driving reason I stayed on after my first 8 years when I considered leaving the feds.
I don't want anyone's retirement benefits to adversely affected. Most especially current retirees. We worked for it. We earned it. It was part of our employment agreement with Uncle Sam, and a main reason most stayed in government service.
CSRS has unfunded liability while FERS is/was fully funded. So, why isn't it fair for both to get the same COLA? Or not get a COLA? And those CSRS unfunded liabilities are being partially paid from contributions of FERS employees which has now created unfunded liability for the FERS fund. FERS was designed to be "pre-funded" and therefore incurred no unfunded liability in the beginning. CSRS was designed as a "pay as you go" system which worked fine until the number of contributors declined/ceased and retirees increased. Now the once fully funded FERS system has unfunded liability because it's being raided to help cover unfunded CSRS liabilities. I helped fund my retirement, AND yours. Again, why shouldn't we all be treated equally when receiving COLAs.
https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/RL30023.pdf
Because the full costs of CSRS are not met by the combined total of employee contributions, agency contributions, interest earnings, and the supplemental payments from the Treasury, some future CSRS benefits will of necessity be paid from contributions that were made to the CSRDF on behalf of employees who are enrolled in FERS. This will create an unfunded liability for FERS, which will be paid off through a new series of 30-year amortization payments from the general fund of the Treasury to the CSRDF.
What I said was "The proposal should have read "CSRS and FERS COLAS will be paid at the same rate". Sounds better and accomplishes the same thing.
From FedWeek:
Cost-of-living adjustmentsUnder CSRS, retirees receive COLAs regardless of the age at which they retire. FERS retirees only receive them when they reach age 62, unless they are special category employees, such as law enforcement officers, firefighters or air traffic controllers, or disability retirees. Further, the COLAs of FERS employees are generally smaller than those for CSRS employees. While CSRS retirees receive the full COLA adjustment based on the consumer price index, FERS employees only receive that up to 2 percent; between 2 and 3 percent, they receive, 2 percent; and above 3 percent, they receive the CPI minus 1 percent. Once more, CSRS is the big winner.
Last edited by nnuut; 05-26-2017 at 03:40 PM.
FERS is only a better deal if you take advantage of matching and maximize your TSP!!!
Boghie the Swami here...
All my predictions coming true. I can see the future. I can speak with the dead, the living, and the yet born...
Here are the facts:
- America is $19,921,739,XXX,XXX in debt.
- Both FERS and CSRS are 'invested' in G Fund promissory notes
- Neither FERS nor CSRS are funded. They are line items in the budget
- Anyone dumb enough to trust a politicians promise gets a little financial instruction
In the end it will not matter that you were promised something if it wasn't funded. It was DUMB for us Rubes to think that saving 1% toward our pension ('matched' by a 14% contribution by the gubmint) was sustainable and was going into Gore's Lockbox in some super secure Swiss bank. Uh, nope, it gets dumped into the same asset pool as Social Security contributions and then gets 'borrowed' from - although never paid back, simply rolled over. Folks like Nnuut have their pension benefits tied to a line item in the Federal budget - there ain't no assets. We really are not talking about lots of money - say about $5 Billion a year if I remember correctly - but the battlefield has been prepped. While the nasty Republicans may get the blame if they start changing things in smallish ways now, those changes may be easier to handle than an abrupt 25% cut required in the near future. What do you think will happen in a future where Democrats run the show - but, nobody is funding our largess and we can no longer borrow. You don't think the Democrats will sacrifice some of our 'generous' pension benefits to sustain benefits for the poor and needy.
Folks, math don't lie.
Lookin' up at the 'G Fund'!!!
S&P500 (C Fund) (delayed) (Stockcharts.com Real-time) |
DWCPF (S Fund) (delayed) (Stockcharts.com Real-time) |
EFA (I Fund) (delayed) (Stockcharts.com Real-time) |
BND (F Fund) (delayed) (Stockcharts.com Real-time) |
||
Yahoo Finance Realtime TSP Fund Tracking Index Quotes |
Bookmarks