Replies to post #58045 on Zeev's Turnips Patch-No Politics (ZEEV)

[Captain_Jack]

Belgie24-- Actually, my post on CSRS is a lot more accurate than yours. In approx '84 CSRS was no longer avail to fed employees. I guess you missed the part about those 'grandfathered' will have a CSRS pension unless they were of the few to volunteer into FERS. PLEASE tell me WHERE the FREE medical comes in. I know quite a few that are paying big bux for terrible medical coverage, all deducted from their CSRS acct. Most if not all are USPS retirees. If the rest of CSRS receives free medical those people should go to court as they are the only ones actully funded by their employer. Yes-- FERS employees can get up to 5% matching. They are also able to put in up to 13% of their base pay. You are wrong again! The F fund is another POS that is available. Actually, the C & F have been around since the beginning. About a year ago and (I)nternational, and (S)mall Cap fund were introduced. They also suck big time along with the mkts. The G fund has been around since the beginning and is a fund of govt bonds only available to FED pension plans. The G fund has a very good rate in comparioson to the general mkt. Now, who can retire on a bond fund. Are you aware these funds are only updated for employees once a month? Balances & values -- 1 time a month! If they decide to transfer funds it takes over 2 weeks. Great Crap. Have you checked the FEES associated with the crappy funds? I am aware of several that put in only enough to get the full match in the G fund. The rest of their retirement investing is done outside FERS.. As I stated-- the CSRS was very good but you will be very hard pressed to find anyone that thinks FERS is any where near as good as CSRS. Many FED employees are clients & only the CSRS will have a decent retirement, at least until SS kicks in.
Only the USPS puts $$ into CSRS, and their portion is underfunded by approx $5BB. The rest of CSRS funding comes from the taxpayers,, 100%.

[Captain_Jack]

Belgie24~~OT~OT,, I have both the CSRS & FERS programs on disk. If you are interested in finding the way it really is I'll be happy to email them to you. In the plan you will see medical coverage is not funded and if an employee did not have a plan for 5 yrs prior to retirement will not be able to get one. Also, the FEDs I know pay a portion of their medical coverage while employed and have for many years. There are many other statements that can have holes shot in them. The AVERAGE FED in a large city may have a problem fully funding FERS. Their pay rates are not up to private industry. The new contract with UPS will have 5 year employees earning $60K + overtime. The USPS employee with 20 years will be making about $46K with overtime often being next to non-existant.
A few years after FERS was implemented CSRS employees were able to put up to 5% of their base into the bond fund only. Some time later they were able to get into the other funds. Recently, this non-matched deduction has been raised 1% per year and will be 8% in '03. This is tax deferred.
There is a formula and it can even be higher than 55% - 60% depending on age and years service. It is not based on <<"provides 55-60% of your ending salary..">> but on the high 3 year AVERAGE of BASE salary. OK-- no SS and 60% of $46K is $27.6 minus medical & life insurance, taxes, == not very generous considering there are no nice size contract increases but only small COL adjustments that do not cover the rise in medical premiums each year.
Some states (PA) do not tax CSRS pensions while others (OH) do.