Your Turn with Mike Causey - Federal News Network | Hubbard Radio

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Growing your TSP: Time to time the market? Jun 17, 2020

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Many people investing for retirement know that it is risky, dangerous and stupid to try to time the market. To guess when stocks are high and sell them then guess again when they are at the bottom when they become bargains. Then repeat as necessary until your bank account is overflowing or all your hair has fallen out. Whichever comes first. Opponents of the by-low-sell-high, repeat-as-necessary system include Warren Buffet, many Americans’ favorite billionaire and the late John Bogle, founder of Vanguard. Both said they couldn’t do it and they never met anyone who could. Still, lots of people — now with the ‘help’ of apps — think they can. So are you one of the lucky/gifted few who can read the markets when guys like Buffet and Bogle couldn’t. Take a test. In fact you’ve already taken it according to D.C. area financial planner Arthur Stein. He’s a former congressional economist who now advises clients — many of them current or former feds including some self-made millionaires — how to grow their TSP accounts and other investments. Art Stein is my guest today on our Your Turn radio show. He says the recent ups and downs of the stock market, after a record long 11 year bull market, have already tested TSP investors like you. So how would you do in the Am I A Market Timer Test?

Life after lockdown: New spouse, new career, status quo? Jun 12, 2020

Show notes

Some retirees, maybe a lot of them, may decide either they are wanted and needed back in the workforce. Both to do good and make more money For many feds, whether long-time or relatively new, the question is: What now? Now, naturally, we turn to Tammy Flanagan. She’s an expert on federal benefits with the emphasis on planning for the best possible retirement from Uncle Sam. Her husband is retired Secret Service so she knows about retirement for law enforcement officers, too. Will the “new” post-pandemic, civil service be hit with a wave of retirements, the long-predicted retirement Tsunami at last, opening up the promotion pipeline? Many think thousands of long-serving (suffering) feds will bail out, deciding they want to spend their golden years on the beach instead of in a bunker. Or will folks who were considering retirement decide to delay pulling the plug. That could be especially true of the economic downside of the pandemic (which could last years) bring with it low inflation which means fewer and or smaller cost of living adjustments for federal retirees?

Life after lockdown: New spouse, new career, status quo? Jun 10, 2020

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Life after COVID-19: Finding (and keeping) a federal job Jun 03, 2020

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A high percentage of the federal workforce is literally risking disease or death daily, as part of their jobs. Every day, 24/7. They are heroes who’ve always been there, but whom many of us are just noticing for the first time. Most federal civil servants are either working from home or in a furloughed status. But all are getting paid. By contrast at least 40 million American workers have been fired or furloughed and are seeking unemployment benefits. Many have been helped with temporary loans from the federal government. But there are some businesses that aren’t coming back — ever. Many of the relatively few companies that offered workers defined benefit pensions have pulled the plug on those programs, cutting off some workers in mid-career. They may have jobs when they come back but any retirement nest egg they have will have to come in whole or part from them. A lot of feds who, pre-pandemic, were thinking about going into the private sector may have revised plans. Many people in the private sector, who maybe once looked down on bureaucrats, are suddenly anxious to join the ranks. As federal agencies get more authority to dismiss “nonproductive” workers, job turnover could increase. More openings for more outside candidates. So what’s next? Spend some time with my guest on Your Turn today, Kathy Troutman, who wrote the book, literally, on getting and keeping a federal job. She’s expanded her decades-old operation from the time people sent in paper resumes to the various avenues available today to find and secure a federal job. Where to start?

COVID-19 impact on 2021 COLA, pay raise and WEP/GPO May 27, 2020

Show notes

According to some political pundits the 2020 presidential election may be decided by voters who are 60-plus years old. They supported candidate Donald Trump, age 73, last time but, according to some polls, are leaning toward former Vice President Joe Biden, age 77, as of right now. While many candidates court the younger vote, the numbers show that on election day older Americans out vote their children and grandchildren by a substantial degree. That could be an important factor in places like California, Texas, Florida, Maryland and Virginia where one-third of the nation’s 2.6 million federal retirees and survivors live and vote. Former feds are also an important chunk of the electorate in key states like Arizona (60,826), Florida, (186,027), Michigan (47,422) and Minnesota (31,151). Today on Your Turn, I’ll be talking with Jessica Klement of the National Active and Retired Federal Employees about the possibility of a pay raise, the outlook (grim) for a retiree COLA and the long, as in very long, shot chances of some kind of reform or change in WEP-GPO. NARFE is part of a coalition working on the issues. She’ll explain the difference between plans to repeal vs. revise WEP and GPO, and she’ll explain what its like to lobby Congress in a normal year, vs. times like these.

Stocks on sale? Should you buy, sell or sit tight? May 21, 2020

Show notes

A lot of people who know how the market works and what the TSP was designed to do would probably say don’t do it. In part because it involves timing the market — buying when it is low, selling when it is high — which is a lot easier said than done.

GPO and WEP: The other pandemics! May 13, 2020

Show notes

Proposals to eliminate WEP and GPO have been around almost since enactment in the 1980s. But repeal has always been the legislative equivalent of mission impossible — probably still is. But what about “reform” rather than repeal? Has the turmoil created by the COVID-19 pandemic changed the political outlook? In the House, 245 members have signed onto a bill that would repeal the Evil Twins. Not likely to happen, but under House rules if that repeal proposal gets 290 cosponsors — 45 more — it has to come up for a vote. And that opens up the possibility of a modification, though not repeal of the two. Long shot, yes, but possible. In the meantime, back to retirement plans for — someday. My guests today on our Your Turn radio show includes benefits expert Tammy Flanagan. She talked about what you should be thinking regardless of your age or time in government so that when you want to/have to leave, you will have enough money to live on. Lots of boxes to check. She’ll explain what they are and why you should have a backup plan. Later during the show we’re joined by Jessica Klement of the National Active and Retired Federal Employees association. NARFE has been one of the leading advocates of repeal/reform of GPO and WEP. She’ll explain what they do and give an update on what Congress might do.

COVID-19’s impact on your TSP and taxes May 06, 2020

Show notes

Millions of people who, just a couple of months ago, had good paying jobs, health insurance and vacation plans are now having to make choices between food and rent. Others are still waiting for special checks from the government. A lot of people are trying to figure out what Congress and the White House have done to ease their pain. And what’s next? Tax deadlines were changed so you can delay filing until mid-July. Rules governing things like Required Minimum Distributions for older investors have been waived. Law offices are suddenly swamped with questions and requests from people wondering what they should be doing to make sure, in a worst case scenario, their designated loved ones get what’s due them. A will, witnessed by your buddies on the softball team that you pulled off the internet suddenly doesn’t seem sufficient. Maybe for a good reason? So Tom O’Rourke, estate and tax attorney in the Washington, D.C., area, joined me this morning on our Your Turn radio show. We’ll talk about the latest in death, taxes, estates and new legislation designed to help people in these very uncertain times.

Feb. 19: The day the earth stood still? Apr 22, 2020

Show notes

Experts in the stock market, real and self-anointed, know that historically it has gone up and down due to a variety of things — some predictable, some coming from out of left field. Buying stocks during the Great Depression was, in hindsight, a smart move. Shares were on sale but most people didn’t get it, or couldn’t afford it in the 1930s when they were too busy trying to find work, food and pay the rent. Some TSP investors see the current crisis as a buying opportunity. They are assuming that shares in the stock-indexed C, S and I funds are on sale and that, like during the Great Recession of 2008-2009, this too shall pass. Others are not so sure. Fans of the treasury securities G fund believe recent events have proven that while its yield is low, it never has a loss. So we asked Washington, D.C.-area financial planner Arthur Stein for his take. He knows the TSP well after working with the House Ways and Means Committee and after years as a professor and financial adviser.

Writing your own obit Apr 15, 2020

Show notes

When I was a very young reporter assigned to write obituaries, an elderly colleague (a woman of about 45) gave me some good advice. “If you want to be sure you get a good obit in the paper, write it yourself!” Which, lately, a lot of us have been doing. At least in our heads. Regardless of age, sex, health, whether we are still working or retired, most if not all of us are looking at a worst case scenario if we get “it”, and don’t survive, “it!” At some point most people realize , for the first time, they are not immortal. That their time is limited. That one of these days — despite family, friends, kids and grandchildren, a paid up mortgage and a low-mileage car — this is all going to end. But this is the first time in any of our lifetimes that we have all faced our mortality at the same time. The realization that this could be it. We are all, literally, in the same boat. Turns out the inevitable could be very soon. As in days or weeks. And what happens when/if that happens. The planning we meant to do someday may be long overdue. What if this is someday? We don’t have a cure or vaccine. Yet. But we’ve got maybe the next best thing for you. A top-notch pilot and navigator to help us, in a sense, write our own obit. And make it a good one. I asked Tom O’Rourke to be my guest on Wednesday, April 14 on our Your Turn radio show.

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