Advising Federal Employees

There is certainly no shortage of financial advisors in this great country. Consumers can find quality retirement planning advice from a vast pool of financial professionals, all of whom do a lot of things well.

However, for Federal employees, finding an advisor who not only has years of experience, but also focuses on the Federal market and has a specialized knowledge of your retirement benefits, can often prove to be a daunting task.

When it comes to planning for retirement and understanding the ins-and-outs of their benefits, Federal employees cannot afford to leave their planning to chance.

A Two-Headed Beast

In my opinion, Federal employees have one of the most complex benefits programs around. To make matters even more confusing, based on when he or she began their service, there are two distinct retirement systems:

Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) and
Federal Employee Retirement System (FERS)

Within both systems, there are many calculations, exceptions, special provisions, and exclusions that may apply and it can be very difficult to keep track of everything. Surely, Federal employees can find lots of information online about their CSRS or FERS retirement benefits, but finding a financial advisor to guide them and to help them understand these benefits, and how they fit into the rest of their financial picture, is an entirely different matter. And it is invaluable.

Most of the Federal employees I meet have never worked with a financial advisor before. They just sign up for many benefits when they start working for the Government and then assume that retirement will simply “work itself out.”
Unfortunately, with a limited understanding of the benefits and options available to them, many head into retirement ‘blindly’. They may not know at what point they can afford to start enjoying their retirement, or they may believe that they can’t afford to retire.

– Read the full article at: https://www.lifehealth.com/advising-federal-employees