Clocking Out for Good

WAKE UP! One signature can cost you for the rest of your life.

You've given this job twenty, thirty, maybe forty years. You earned every penny of that pension. So why are you about to give part of it back?

Every year, federal and postal employees walk out the door confident and get blindsided. A smaller check than they planned on, every month, for life. Years they thought counted that don't. A surviving spouse who loses the pension and the health insurance at the same time. And by the time they find out, the paperwork is signed.

No do-overs. No take-backs. No "I didn't know."

Clocking Out for Good is written for FERS and postal employees within three to five years of retirement, by a veteran and former federal employee who has counseled tens of thousands of them. In plain English, it shows you exactly where to look while you still have a paycheck and time to do something about it:

• Why "eligible" doesn't always mean an unreduced pension, and how MRA+10 can cut your check for life

• Which of your years actually count, and why veterans need to finish their military deposit before their last day

• What happens when the FERS supplement stops at 62, and how outside earnings can shrink it

• The gap between your gross pension and what actually lands in your bank account

• Traditional vs. Roth TSP, Roth conversions, RMDs, and the tax bill riding on your balance

• How to turn your TSP from savings into income that has to last for decades

• The survivor election that can decide whether your spouse keeps federal health insurance

• When to claim Social Security, and what the Social Security Fairness Act changed for CSRS retirees

• FEHB, PSHB and Medicare, including the Part B rules postal retirees can't afford to miss

• What your unused sick leave is really worth

• A step-by-step plan for your final year, from picking your last day to waiting on your first check

It closes with the 15 decisions you can't take back, a final walkthrough checklist, and quick-reference tables you'll keep coming back to.

Read it before you sign anything. Your family is counting on it.