Buried in your retirement paperwork is one election that shapes your spouse's security for life — and you can't undo it once your annuity starts. Here's how to weigh the survivor annuity before the form-signing scramble.
FEHB for life is one of the best things a federal career produces — but you keep it only if you clear the 5-year rule going in, and your spouse keeps it after you're gone only if you clear another. Both trip up Foreign Service families.
Bonds lost 13% in 2022. The G Fund didn't lose a cent — it never has. This post explains the TSP's most popular and most misunderstood fund: how special-issue Treasuries make it structurally immune to loss, why it pays long-term rates on an overnight security, what actually happens during those alarming debt-ceiling headlines, and the one risk no guarantee covers — inflation.
Most investors have never heard of the institution that actually keeps their money safe. It isn't your advisor, and it isn't quite your brokerage either — it's a custodian. This post explains who custodians are, how trillions of dollars are safeguarded through asset segregation and SIPC protection, and why the question "who is your custodian?" is one of the smartest things you can ask any financial advisor.
Around 65, every federal retiree with FEHB faces the same fork: pay for Medicare Part B too? Roughly half do. Here's how to reason through it — including the one factor most guidance ignores for people who retire abroad.