Benchmark Financial Group Blog

By Ashby Daniels for FedSmith If you’re investing for retirement, the Roth IRA is a sometimes overlooked option worth considering. Unlike your TSP, investments in a Roth IRA are not deductible from current income. But like your TSP, the earnings in your account are allowed to compound tax-free. And here’s the best part: when you begin withdrawing...

By:  Robert Benson for FedSmith FedSmith.com recently conducted a survey of our readers which asked about recent retirements and how long it took before retirees started receiving their full (as opposed to interim) annuity payments.  The questions we asked retirees were: 1.     What was your retirement date? 2.     Are you CSRS or FERS? 3.    ...

By John Grobe for FedSmith FedSmith.com recently posted an article of mine (See The Five Year Requirement Under FEHB) that dealt with the requirement that an individual must have been enrolled in Federal Employees Health Benefits (FEHB) and Federal Employees Group Life Insurance (FEGLI) for the five years immediately preceding retirement in order...

Washington, D.C. -- The Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board announced today at its quarterly interagency meeting of Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) coordinators that May 7, 2012 will be the day that the TSP will begin to accept Roth TSP contributions.  The Roth TSP was authorized by the Thrift Savings Plan Enhancement Act of 2009, which was...

By John Grobe for FedSmith Editor’s note: This is the second article in a two part series. In Part I, What is TRICARE for Life, we talked about the very basics of that program. Where it begins to get a little complicated is when a person who is eligible for TRICARE (and most likely eligible for TRICARE for Life), is also eligible (based upon...