Weekend Reading on Your Federal Benefits 34-17

(for the week of August 19th – August 25th)

You’re too busy during the week to keep up on all the news around your employee benefits and pay. My weekly summary of some of the most interesting and relevant news stories could help you and includes some of my insights. You might just refer to it as “What’s George been reading this week?”

By the way, if you’ve read something about your employee benefits that you think is important or interesting, send it to me. And, let me know about news sources that you follow. Have a great weekend.

George Ray
Federal Benefits Online

In this week’s news, we’re talking about Federal employees, Federal benefits and debt. There are also some useful articles on managing your career in the Trump era, and continuing your Federal Employees Health Benefits insurance if you leave service. How concerned are you about the prospect of a government shutdown? You can provide your opinion in a short quiz. Lots to read and do, so let’s get started.

Federal Employees, Federal Benefits and Debt

From Fedsmith.com

Ralph Smith writes about an issue that has been coming up more and more recently. How are your investments in the TSP’s Government Securities Fund (G Fund) and investments made for your pension treated when the Federal government exceeds its debt limit, as has occurred again this year?

“Extraordinary measures’ must be utilized to allow the government to continue to pay its bills. Those measures include suspending the issuance of the securities used in the Thrift Savings Plan’s G Fund even though participants continue to contribute money into the G Fund. It also includes suspending the issuance of securities for the Civil Service Retirement and Disability Fund – the fund that holds the money that you and your agency contribute to fund your pension (both CSRS and FERS). Suspending the issuance of new debt provides the Treasury with some additional ‘breathing room’ to prevent us from exceeding the debt ceiling, which is currently set at $19.808 trillion. In addition, the Treasury has the power to use money from these funds to help pay ‘our’ bills.

Should you be concerned about this? Generally, no. At least not as long as the debt ceiling is raised, the new debt gets issued, your money gets credited, and any money borrowed is replaced. If that doesn’t happen (so far it always has happened), then there will be consequences. What will those consequences be? We hope that we’ll never know.

Managing Your Career in the Trump Era

From Govexec.com

After a change in any administration, it can be valuable to take a step back and re-evaluate your career. Stewart Liff, a performance management, and team development expert says now that we’re 200 days into the Trump administration, it’s a good time to decide if you want or need to do something differently, or even do something else. In this article, he poses some worthwhile questions that you should ask yourself about your career. Where are you going, and where do you want to be in five or ten years? (Yes, I can already hear the answer from most Feds which will probably be ‘retired’ since so many are retirement eligible, or very close.)

Are you satisfied with the direction of your career, and do you still believe that you are making a difference? Could you make changes by moving into another department or office? What about moving from headquarters into a field office, or into the field? Is your career still ‘on track’?

Often, it’s our own attitude about our agency, job, supervisors, and co-workers that determine whether we enjoy our job and feel fulfilled. Can you change how you feel about these factors to turn around a negative or cynical attitude? If not, it may be time to move on to a private sector position. Mr. Liff also enumerates some of the pros and cons of moving on from Federal service in this thought-provoking article.

Continuing Health Coverage When Leaving A Federal Job

From Fedsmith.com

Another useful benefits article this week from Fedsmith was written by attorney Janet Gershen-Siegel and addresses an issue that most Feds are likely not familiar with (and may hope that they never will need to be) - it’s called ‘Temporary Continuation of Coverage’ (TCC). With so much talk in the news about early retirement and buyout offers, it’s important to understand which benefits may continue after you leave service if you are not eligible for immediate retirement.

Your Federal Employees Health Benefits (FEBHB) Program coverage can be continued for up to 18 months after leaving service. The challenge is that you will continue to pay your portion in addition to taking on your agency’s cost too (and an administrative fee). If you think your health coverage is expensive now, wait until you must pay almost three times as much for the same benefit.

One of the more common (and maybe more frequent uses) of this rule occurs when an employee’s child ‘ages out’ – a child attaining the age of 26 can no longer be covered under the parent’s FEHB program. TCC allows the child to continue to have health insurance – although at a higher price.

There are several other incidences when TCC may be used, and Janet enumerates them in this valuable post.

How concerned are you about the prospect of a government shutdown?

From Federal News Radio

Nicole Ogrysko of Federal News Radio reports on a story that you probably heard on the national news this week. There could be a threat of a government shutdown if the wall is not funded, and Congress has little time after returning from its break to come to an agreement. Nicole and Federal News Radio wants your opinion. There’s a short three-question survey at the end of the article. What do you think? Let your opinion be heard.

See you next week. Thanks.

If you or someone you know needs help with understanding and wisely using their benefits, let them know about my e-learning course for FERS-covered employees. Enroll here and become the boss of your benefits.

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Issue 34-17