Federation of Federal Employee Benefit Advocates

Federation of Federal Employee Benefit Advocates The Leading Federal Benefits Educators for Federal Employees, HR and Financial Professionals

Your will doesn't control your TSP. Most people don't find that out until it's too late to fix.Your TSP is generally pai...
09/10/2026

Your will doesn't control your TSP. Most people don't find that out until it's too late to fix.

Your TSP is generally paid according to whatever beneficiary designation is on file, not your will.

If that form hasn't been touched since a marriage, divorce, or new child, it may not reflect who you'd actually choose today. FEGLI works the same way.

Take some time to make sure your beneficiary designation is up to date.

Most federal employees have never heard of FEEA, a nonprofit that exists solely to help feds through financial emergenci...
09/08/2026

Most federal employees have never heard of FEEA, a nonprofit that exists solely to help feds through financial emergencies.

Interest-free loans up to $1,500, paid directly to whoever you owe (your landlord, hospital, utility company).
Disaster relief grants around $500.
Scholarships up to $5,000 for you or your dependents.

It's been helping federal employees since 1986, and it's worth knowing about before you ever need it, not after.

For more info visit feea.org

The questions we hear most from federal employees planning retirement, answered straight."Do I lose FEHB when I retire?"...
09/04/2026

The questions we hear most from federal employees planning retirement, answered straight.

"Do I lose FEHB when I retire?" No, as long as you've been enrolled for the 5 years before retirement (or since your first chance to enroll) and you're taking an immediate annuity.

"Can I still get Social Security if I have a pension?" Yes. The Social Security Fairness Act eliminated WEP and GPO, so a federal pension no longer reduces your Social Security benefit the way it used to.

"How much do I need in my TSP?" There's no universal number. It depends on what your pension and Social Security already cover and what your actual spending looks like in retirement.

"When does my first annuity payment arrive?" You'll typically get partial interim payments first while OPM finalizes your full annuity, which can take several months depending on current processing times.

For more information, reach out to a certified Federal Retirement Consultant (FRC®). federalretirementconsultant.com

Most federal employees assume working a few extra years meaningfully improves their retirement. The math often says othe...
09/02/2026

Most federal employees assume working a few extra years meaningfully improves their retirement. The math often says otherwise.

Your high-3 barely moves late in a career, and your TSP keeps growing whether you're working or not.

There's a real exception: if you have fewer than 35 years of earnings on record, extra years can meaningfully raise your Social Security benefit by replacing a "zero" in that calculation.

Annuity calculation errors can sit undetected for years, sometimes decades, before anything catches them.If OPM ever sen...
08/31/2026

Annuity calculation errors can sit undetected for years, sometimes decades, before anything catches them.

If OPM ever sends you a bill for its own past mistake, you may not owe what they're asking.

Federal law allows a waiver when you weren't at fault and repayment would be against equity and good conscience, not just if you can't afford it.

If you ever get an unexpected overpayment notice, don't assume it's final; you have real options.

FERS disability retirement's actual bar is lower than most people assume.18 months of service, and you just need to be u...
08/27/2026

FERS disability retirement's actual bar is lower than most people assume.

18 months of service, and you just need to be unable to do your specific job, not any job.

A May 2026 court ruling closed one more door OPM used to deny claims: OPM can no longer reject an application just by saying the medical evidence isn't "objective" enough.

Three decades of case law have moved consistently in applicants' favor.

The federal retirement backlog has fallen more than 60% since February, down to 24,784 pending cases in July. You'd expe...
08/25/2026

The federal retirement backlog has fallen more than 60% since February, down to 24,784 pending cases in July. You'd expect that to mean faster processing. It hasn't.

Average processing time actually climbed to 109 days in July, the slowest all year.

Digital claims: 98 days. Paper claims: 156 days.

Fewer cases waiting, longer waits per case — the math is counterintuitive, but the data's clear.

Starting September 2, OPM, not the independent Merit Systems Protection Board, will decide appeals for RIF, suitabilit...
08/21/2026

Starting September 2, OPM, not the independent Merit Systems Protection Board, will decide appeals for RIF, suitability, and probationary firing cases.

The bigger change: a final OPM decision generally can't be appealed to federal court, an option that's existed for over 40 years.

If you're currently employed, this is the process that would govern your case going forward. Legal challenges are considered likely.

A bipartisan Senate bill wants to make sure last fall's 43-day shutdown never happens again by keeping Congress in sessi...
08/19/2026

A bipartisan Senate bill wants to make sure last fall's 43-day shutdown never happens again by keeping Congress in session and triggering automatic temporary funding instead of furloughs when a deadline is missed.

The last shutdown cost an estimated $7–14 billion in permanent economic output and ran more than 5x longer than the historical average of 8 days.

Whether this bill actually passes is still uncertain, but it's the first real structural fix on the table.

Starting this year, OPM is requiring FEHB and PSHB insurance carriers to submit monthly claims-level data on more than 8...
08/17/2026

Starting this year, OPM is requiring FEHB and PSHB insurance carriers to submit monthly claims-level data on more than 8 million federal employees, retirees, and family members — including medical claims, pharmacy records, and provider data.

OPM says the data will be stripped of names, Social Security numbers, and addresses before it reaches them, with only ZIP code, birth year, and a scrambled ID remaining.

NARFE and other federal employee groups say that's better than the original plan, but still isn't the same as true de-identification, and they're still pushing for clearer answers on who gets access and how long it's kept.

Nothing requires action from you right now, but it's worth knowing your health data is part of this conversation.

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