In this episode, Val breaks down the different L Funds available within your TSP. How much risk are you willing to take with your retirement savings?

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8.23.22: Audio automatically transcribed by Sonix

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

Val Majewski:
They? Welcome back to the Federal Retirement Show. I'm your host, Val Majeski, with American Benefits Exchange. And I wanted to share with you all a recent experience that I had. And as you may gather from our previous episodes, our company, we attend a lot of local, regional and national events that federal employees go to, whether it's trainings, whether it's union events, whether it's association events, whether we're going there to be a sponsor or have a table where we can give advice and pass out information, or we're giving a presentation. We enjoy going to the events and interacting with the federal employees that are in attendance. This recent event that i went to was filled up with federal employees that work in h.r. These are human resource professionals within the federal government, all different agencies, DOD, Social Security, IRS, VA. And these employees were awesome to talk to, right? And they were sharing with me the experiences. And they were there to train. They were there to learn how to deal with different situations in the workplace, how to how to deal with disputes. And they were there to gain more knowledge on their profession being in human resources. The thing that I see that a lot of federal employees that are not in H.R. don't understand is that H.R. is not properly trained and they're not properly given the information when it comes to benefits and retirement.

Val Majewski:
Now, what do I mean by that? Because you've heard us talk about the different things within federal employee benefits, retirement information, going over calculations for pension, going over the different costs for your supplemental benefits, your optional benefits like fegley, going over your health insurance and how that changes in in retirement or costs or things like that. You've seen the different episodes that we've come out with and time and time again at this event, I was talking to different HR folks and and they were telling me and sharing this story that they get asked these questions all the time. And unfortunately, the bulk of their job revolves around something totally different. Right. So they they're not properly educated and trained when it comes to benefits and retirement. So they really appreciated the time that we took to come and help and be a sponsor of the event, but provide this information to them because we're passing out pamphlets. We're we're giving them the opportunity to sign up for a personal benefits and retirement review. And I had to ask and I did. I stopped most of the ones that I was talking to and I said, you know, is this something that you all are properly educated on? And the answer was no. And I also asked, Do you get questions about these things all the time? And they said, yes, but unfortunately we have to refer them to somebody else.

Val Majewski:
And there was multiple times where people said, Yeah, there's an 800 number or there's a hotline that we'll defer and we'll send the federal employees that come to us to so they can get information about their benefits and retirement because we don't know these things. Now, most federal employees believe, at least from my experience, that H.R. people in human resources are ones that they can go to. They're a resource for them when it comes to benefits and retirement information, I have to tell you that that is not the case. Right. So if you're planning to go into your HR professional, the person in your office that is in HR or they're they're more trained to deal with on the job disputes, personnel issues, EEO things, harassment complaints. They're not educated. It's not their fault. They just weren't given this information when it comes to benefits, retirement choices, guidance, how to prepare for retirement, how to fill out the retirement paperwork, what the effect is of certain choices that you make at the beginning of your career, in the middle of your career, at the end of your career when you retire. So that's where we come in and that's where, again, I'm appreciative of the opportunity to be a subject matter expert when it comes to federal benefits and retirement information.

Val Majewski:
I'll say that over and over, because as much as I would, I would love for the government to teach their HR professionals all of this information. They have enough on their plate. Right? I've seen it. I've experienced it, I've talked to them. They are super busy and loaded up with a ton of things that they need to take care of on a daily basis that benefits in retirement can couldn't possibly be something else that they're going to put on their plate. So that's where we come in. That's where our company comes in. That's what this show is all about, is providing you the information that you need and the experiences that we have as a company, as I've had, as a benefits and retirement expert, as an attendee, as a sponsor, as a speaker at these different events. The issues that we see, the questions that we see, the information that we know you need, that's what this is all about, is making sure that you have that. And our ultimate goal, if H.R. is going to be more your resource for on the job issues, complaints, harassment, things of that nature, that they're qualified, skilled and trained to deal with that I'm certainly not. Then let us be your personal HR department when it comes to benefits and retirement information.

Val Majewski:
Reach out to us. Should you have any questions? Should you have any concerns? Should you want to do a personalized benefits review or retirement estimate? You have questions about costs, how things change over time. What's your future retirement going to look like? How to properly prepare? What are the options that you have within the government system? What are the options you have outside of the government system? What are the the private options that you have that might be better than what you're offered on the inside? These are things that we can discuss. And ultimately the decisions, the choices, the direction you go in is completely up to you. But we just want to offer the guidance, right? The guidance that we know you need, that you're looking for, that H.R. is telling us they don't know where to send people. There's a hotline, there's an 800 number. There's somewhere that they send them. They don't. I asked several. I said, Where does that 800 number go? Who do they talk to? Do you know if they get their questions answered when they call that number? And I've never heard of this before what that number was. But they said, I'm not I'm not sure. You know, we just point them in that direction because we don't know the answer. And I said, Well, it'd be great if you do need a resource, point them in our direction.

Val Majewski:
This is what we do on a daily basis. This is what we help out with. This is the information that that we are experts in. Now, there's a lot of things that we're not experts in, but when it comes to benefits and retirement for federal government employees, we love to help. We feel like there's there's not many questions we're going to get stumped on. But however, if we do, we're going to make sure to find you the right answer. Right those. There are some weird 1% off the wall scenarios that I've seen that I've never seen before, or I'll back up. I remember I played professional baseball. I'll tell you a quick story and I had a coach that was in the game for 50 years, 50 years. He got signed as a 17 year old and at this time he was 67. And he's like, I've been in this game for 50 years. And I tell you, there's something I see every day that I had never seen before. There's a situation. There's something that happens that I've never seen. So we're never I realize that I'm never going to know every single thing and in our reps that are across the country are never going to know every single thing. But I will tell you, we know a whole lot and the goal of our company, the goal of this show is to take some of that stress off of your your HR personnel and be that personal HR department for you when it comes to benefits and retirement information.

Val Majewski:
So just to let you know, just ease the stress off of of the folks that work in HR, come to us if you should have questions about your benefits, retirement, preparing costs, like I said, options. That's what we're we're happy to help with and what we're excited to talk to you about. So, like I said, my experience at this event was was extremely positive. I've talked to several of them afterward, have done personalized benefits, review with them, open their eyes to some things they they didn't know, confirm some of the things they may have thought of before. But that's our goal, right? It's just to lay it all out so that you can make the best choice for you, your family, your situation, both when you first get hired in the middle of and in the middle of your career and also towards the end of your career. Right. I mean, you want to be making the right decisions along the way, make changes as needed, because what you needed at the beginning is probably not going to be the same as what you need at the end.

Val Majewski:
And you want to know how to manage all of that along the way so that you're maximized or optimized and set up properly so you can retire on your terms with your expectations and get exactly what you want, and so you can live the lifestyle that you deserve to live. When you finally say goodbye in your last day and go on to the next stage of your life. So I appreciate you taking the time to review this episode. I just wanted to share with you my experience at this recent conference and share with you that, yeah, your HR department is working hard, they are stressed, they are dealing with all the personnel issues and everything. They are extremely busy. But one thing that has been consistent and constant is that they need help when it comes to benefits and retirement, just like you do. So let us take the stress off of them. Reach out to us at the Federal Retirement Show or American Benefits Exchange, and we'd be happy to help. You can go to our website, fill out our form. Plus the personalized benefits and retirement review. Be happy to get all the information you're looking for. Again, my name is Val Majewski, host of the Federal Retirement Show. And I appreciate you taking the time to watch this episode and look forward to seeing you in a future show. And.

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