An Investment in Knowledge Pays the Best Interest

12.22.23: Audio automatically transcribed by Sonix

12.22.23: this mp3 audio file was automatically transcribed by Sonix with the best speech-to-text algorithms. This transcript may contain errors.

Val Majewski:
Well, welcome back to The Federal Retirement Show. I'm your host, Val Majewski with American Benefits Exchange. I really appreciate you taking the time out of your schedule to view our content, to view our messages. We really appreciate that. What we do is try to get you accurate, honest, insightful information as a federal employee so that you can make the best decisions along your working career and make sure you're as prepared as possible for retirement. If you have subscribed, if you have, and made a little notification for yourself to look out for new episodes, awesome. We really appreciate that. But let's dive into today's content and I want to talk to you about you don't know what you don't know now, this conversation today comes from an experience I had recently with a federal employee, but this is really built on the whole reason why we do what we do. But in particular this conversation I've had recently. Now, if you didn't know, I talked to federal employees on an individual basis and all over the country on a group basis, and so do our reps nationwide. They do the same as well. And our goal is to provide, as I said earlier, information that is going to be insightful, helpful, useful, valuable when it comes to your benefits and retirement. And why do we do this? And that's where today's topic title comes in. It says because you don't know what it is.

Val Majewski:
You don't know when you first get hired as a federal employee, most of the time you're filling out your paperwork, uh, things aren't properly explained to you, and you just go to work and maybe you think you know what you know, or maybe you think you've got everything figured out. And then when it's unpacked for you, you realize you didn't know as much as you thought you did, or it was different than what you thought you knew, or there was more details involved compared to what you thought you knew. So where we come in is we want to unpack all that, lay it all out, explain everything. So again, you have a full understanding and you can then use that information to make the best decisions going forward. Now, this federal employee that I talked to thought that they had everything figured out. And when they booked time to speak with me, they thought it was going to be just a review of everything and a confirmation of everything they already knew regarding their benefits and retirement situation. And as we got through the conversation, this person realized really quickly, hey, I didn't know this. I didn't know that. I didn't know how this worked. I didn't know that this was an option. I didn't know this existed. So it was a big eye opening experience for this federal employee, to say the least, because we unpacked and uncovered a lot of things that this person did not realize or did not have a full understanding of, and were able to make some adjustments, make some changes to their situation so that they could be better set up.

Val Majewski:
Now that's the whole goal, right? Is to make sure that you are better set up as you move forward towards retirement, and whether retirement is 30 years away or 30 days away. You want to make sure you're set up and in the right direction, in the right situation, in the right position. So what are we talking about today? Again, our question or our statement is you don't know what you don't know. And we want to answer all these question marks and take all of the uncertainty and provide you with some clarity, right? If you know everything, what what happens when you know more information, you walk around with confidence instead of a false sense of security. If you think you know something or you're pretty sure you know something, if you absolutely 100% know, you know that you know that you know that provides confidence, that provides security for you, and you want to make sure that you have that. So what did Ben Franklin say? It's an investment in knowledge pays the best interest. An investment in knowledge pays the best interest. And even if you think you know something and maybe you did what? What if I had a conversation with this federal employee that I was just talking about and we found out, yes, this person did already know everything.

Val Majewski:
Did already have everything figured out was in the best situation. Then it's just a confirmation of everything that was there. And it's never a bad thing to get a confirmation, right? If you know something and somebody confirms it and you know you're right, that that also adds some confidence, right? That also adds some security if you get confirmed on all that stuff. But again, in this conversation that we had, it was eye opening that this person did not know everything that they thought they knew or, and, or they, uh, what they thought they knew or what they already had in mind was not completely accurate. So we were able to clear some things up and make sure that we got that all figured out squared away. So what are some of the things that you might not know? What might you not know. And these are just some of the questions, right. This is not comprehensive, but these are just some of the basic and maybe even a little more detailed questions that we get asked or that we answer through our process of going through your benefits and retirement situation. So things even at the beginning, how do you properly read your pay stub? Some people think they know. And then when we review that, they realize, oh, I didn't know that this led this or that this thing out here was that or that this indicated something different.

Val Majewski:
So we want to make sure that the one, you know, how to read the pay stub that you've been getting for however long, every two weeks, this is something you get on a bi weekly basis. And you may not get it physically anymore, but you can go into your pay system to look that up. We want to make sure you know how to read that and what all the codes on there mean and what those things indicate. What are the all the deductions? What do they mean? How to arrange your pay stub is key. How does your retirement system work? Now this could be something you already know and hopefully you do. But there are two main retirement systems, right? Csrs and Pers. We have other episodes where we've covered those. Those two systems. When are you eligible to retire? Probably the biggest question we get asked by federal employees is when am I eligible? When can I leave? Well, do you know the requirements on what or what it takes in order to retire with full benefits from the government? Then once you know when you can leave, how do you calculate your pension? What does that look like? Part of that pension calculation is the high three. What's all included in your high three? What's not included in the high three? You may be thinking, oh, all this, all this money I've made, all this time that I've worked, this is all going to count towards my high three.

Val Majewski:
It may not. What is Phegley federal employees group life insurance. What is that? I've seen that. I've seen that before. What does that mean? What are all the options with and how do all those options work? What are the costs involved? How do those costs change over time with your family? You may think, oh, when I got hired it cost effectively was really cheap, but have you looked blatantly? As you get older, it may increase and it may increase drastically. What is the survivor benefits plan? If you're not sure what this is, then we definitely need to talk because this is an option that you're going to choose when you do retire. We've had other episodes on that. If you need some education, go find the other episodes where we talk about survivor benefits. Plan the pluses, the minuses. What are all the TSP funds? You may know the letters, but what do they indicate? What do they represent? What do they follow? How does the Roth TSP work? You may not even know there was a Roth part of your TSP or what Roth means. If you're looking for tax free funds in retirement, that's what a Roth is. A Roth account is a way in which you can save money that will eventually be entirely tax free.

Val Majewski:
When you decide to take them out in retirement, what are your TSP distribution options? Which ones are good? Which ones are bad? Which one's right for you? What is the BRS supplement? The first supplement. Are you aware of what that is and how that can be a part of your benefits in retirement? What are your federal employee health benefit options? Your fhlbb. Which plan do you have? Do you need to update that plan? We just went through open enrollment for that. What are the costs? Have the costs changed? Can you keep your fhlbb in retirement? Big question. We get asked. How does your fhlbb work with Medicare, both while you're working and in retirement? If you're working past 65 and then in retirement once you hit 65? Will you properly be prepared for retirement? These are now some non maybe non benefit questions. But some things that people think they know. I've talked to a lot of people who think they're on the right track. They're going to put their 30 years in with the government. And they come to realize once we go over their entire situation, then they're not as properly prepared as they thought they were. So will you be properly prepared for retirement? This is something that you want to know. Will you make enough money in retirement? That's part of the preparation. But will you have enough income to cover your living expenses to live the lifestyle you want in retirement? How do you know that's the case? Are you just guessing and hoping, or are you backing up with data and calculations along the way? Because this is not just, hey, I planned when I was first hired and that's it.

Val Majewski:
No, you need to have regular checkups, right? You don't just go to the doctor once, gives you a clean bill of health and you never go again. You're going to get checkups on an annual basis. Make sure nothing else has come up. Make sure everything's still status quo. Make sure you're on the right track. Same thing with your retirement. You have to get regular checkups to make sure you're still on the right track, because things may have changed. In the same way your health may have changed over time. Things may have changed. Desires may have changed. Wants may have changed. Your plan may have changed. Have you taken the key retirement risks off the table? Have you taken the key retirement risks off the table? If you're not sure what those retirement risks are, we're talking about inflation risk, tax risk, longevity risk, long tum care risk. There's a lot of risks involved. And we went over this in a recent episode. But have you taken those risks off the table. Because there's a lot of things that can affect your retirement. If you keep the risks on the table, stock market risk, how will that affect you? Well, I can really drastically affect your TSP if the stock market goes negatively.

Val Majewski:
So understand that you can take these risks off the table and provide some security for yourself. Will you be debt free in retirement? A lot of federal employees that talk to say that's their goal. They don't want to carry any debt into retirement. But will you be debt free? Do you know that for sure? Do you have a plan in mind if you don't, how? This is a question we get asked. How can I how can you, the federal employee, eliminate debts before you retire? How can you eliminate debts before you retire? Do you have a plan for that? Now? These are just some of the questions that we want to answer along the way. Right. We said you don't know what you don't know. And maybe you didn't know to ask some of these questions. Maybe these weren't concerns of yours before looking at this episode like, wow, I need to dive into some of these things. I need to make sure I have this all ironed out. I need to make sure that I'm in the right situation. I need to know some of these things that I do not know. So what can you do if you realize that, hey, I'm watching this episode. I'm a federal employee. Um, I've not really asked any of these questions.

Val Majewski:
I haven't gotten the answers to all of these questions. I don't know the answers to all these questions. I have different questions of my own that I want to make sure that I get answered. What can you do? Well, you can go on our website. W w w dot Federal Retirement Show.com. You can fill out the form and request an evaluation, a full benefits and retirement workup. Now what that is, it's a it's a complimentary service. It's not something you're not going to get charged a fee for this. No matter how many reports we create for you, we can create a 100 page report. We can give you all this information. It's never going to cost you a dime. This is a service that we provide the federal employees. But you can see exactly where you currently stand. And then you can see how you're trending, how you're going as you move towards retirement to make sure you're on the right track. Okay. We'll outline everything. We'll answer all those questions from the previous screen, as well as any of the new questions that you want to ask. Now, if we realize that there's something that needs to be changed, right. So I use that doctor analogy. Go to the doctor, he says, hey, you need to change this about your diet nutrition. You start taking this medication, you need to do this, that and the other thing you need to make some adjustments.

Val Majewski:
Hopefully you're going to listen because your health is on the line. Same thing here. I'm going to say if we come up to and show you some concerns, some areas where you can improve, hopefully you'll make those adjustments. You'll tweak the dials a little bit and ensure you're on the best possible track. There's nothing more confident than knowing 100% that you're going to retire the way you want, how you want, and when you want. It's all on your terms. A lot of federal employees we talked to are forced to work to a certain time. They don't get to retire when they want because they're not properly prepared. Their situation was not taken care of ahead of time. They've created a little bit of a mess for themselves. Hopefully that's not new, but just saying, if you had that security, that knowing that you're on the right track and you're on the right plan and you're on the right timeline, then it adds a lot of confidence and a lot of security knowing that you're going to retire again, how you want, when you want, where you want, it's going to provide you peace of mind. You're going to know that you've done all you can to maximize or optimize everything the government gives you. He talked about that a lot. I used I like those words maximize and optimize. Maximize the benefits, maximize the opportunity, optimize or make more efficient.

Val Majewski:
Make streamlined your entire situation so that you are preparing for your future. Now we want you to live as effectively as you can now, right? We want you to live in prosperity now. Certainly don't want you to live in the in the poorhouse today just to prepare for tomorrow. We want you to live both your best life now and in retirement. Live your best life financially, benefit wise the best now and make sure you're also set up properly for retirement. So it's it's a double today and tomorrow I will continue to make sure you're in the best situation. As we do routine checkups, we go over your situation. You can say, hey, I'm making new money. I've decided to put more aside of my TSP. I want to do this now. I want to do that and we can reevaluate, update the numbers and make sure again you're still on track. Hey, my goals have changed. I want to move to this place. I want to do this now. In retirement, we can alter the plan and make sure again, with that alteration, you're still on the right track. So again, the question or the statement that we're saying today is you don't know what it is you don't know. And that's what we're here for. We're here to fill in the blanks. And if you didn't even have the questions, we want to give you some information, answer questions that you may not have known to ask, and provide information they did not know that you needed to know.

Val Majewski:
And if new questions pop up, we want to be here to answer them. That's what this podcast, this radio show is all about. That's what our company is all about. That's what we've been doing for 30 plus years as an organization. And we want to help you and we want to help those that you work with. So don't keep us a secret if you like, like our episodes, if you like our channel, if you like our show, pass that information on to your colleagues. Share with them. Hey, there's this this radio show, The Federal Retirement Show gotten a lot of great information from it. You should listen to it. Check it out. There's a lot of content previously recorded episodes. Go in and check it out. You can probably find the topic you're looking for through our our list of episodes. Again, I really appreciate you taking the time out of your day, your schedule to visit with us to view this episode, to watch our previous episodes. It really means a lot your support. Again, go to our website dot Federal Retirement Show.com fill out that form. We'd love to chat with you. Review your situation. Make sure you're set up properly. Again, my name is Val Majeski with American Benefits Exchange. I really look forward to seeing you on a future episode. And.

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