Replies to post #58055 on Zeev's Turnips Patch-No Politics (ZEEV)

[Belgie24]

Gee Captain, I wasn't trying to flame you. I'll respond to both your replies in this post for convenience.

I did not miss the part about grandfathering in your original post, but CSRS employees were not grandfathered into anything. They remain on CSRS only, if they didn't switch to FERS. In '84, NEW employees could not get on CSRS - that doesn't mean CSRS doesn't exist for older employees. I know this because my brother is a 36 year fed employee who is on CSRS, always has been, and will retire on CSRS.

I did not say CSRS get FREE medical, I said full medical benefits with the proper full retirement. Yes they still make a small contribution towards the monthly cost, but no where near what the total cost is. I know this because I was a federal employee, I was on both CSRS and FERS, and I paid the full amount thru COBRA after I left federal employment. My monthly health contribution went from @$100 per month to @$650 per month when I paid the full amount. It is now over $800 per month for family coverage, and I'm sure will go up again in January.

I agree with most of your comments on the TSP - it was one of the reasons I left - 2 weeks to transfer funds was ridiculous, but I think you are being a little harsh on the F fund - it has done pretty well in periods of falling interest rates. Now that rates are near bottom, I am advising friends there to transfer bond money to G from F. I think there is nothing at all wrong with the C(S&P 500 index fund) - it has relatively low expense and follows the market as it is supposed to. Of course it will go down in a down market.

I think it is possible USPS has some slightly different rules than other fed employees - that may be some of our disagreement. However, I believe your statement saying only USPS puts $$ into CSRS is incorrect - I believe CSRS employees contribute approximately 7% of their gross into CSRS.

Finally I did not say the pension formula in CSRS was based on 55-60% of gross. I was giving an approximation of monthly salary based on observations of people I knew who retired. I am very aware of "high 3" and the other factors like years of service in the formula.