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Retired Pay World (10 unread)

January 22, 2010
12:35
Just How Long Have You Been In Civil Service?
» ‎ Retired Pay World
Recently we talked a bit about the practicalities and legalities of what a federal employee’s actual “basic pay” really is. Basic Pay is of course very important if for no other reason than it becomes one of the single biggest factors that determines how large an employee’s annuity (retirement check) will be. If your “high three” basic pay doesn’t suit you, you may be able to take some actions before retirement that will improve it. But the other factor that really counts, and about which you can usually do much less is your time in Federal Service here’s some expert guidance from Government Executive magazine.

Document Your Service
Length of service is one of the most important concepts for which you must take responsibility. Your agency has maintained your personnel records throughout your career, but you will need to verify that those records are complete and that they accurately reflect your federal service. Remember that every month of service is worth 1/12 of 2 percent (CSRS) or 1/12 of 1 percent (FERS) of your high-three average salary for the rest of your life.

You need to maintain clear records that document the history of your entire federal career. This means having the employee copy of all of the SF-50 forms that show beginning and ending dates of federal service, military service records and even records of that temporary summer job that you performed for the National Park Service in 1972. If you haven’t done this, then schedule an appointment to review your official personnel file to be sure that this documentation exists. And ask for copies of any documents not in your own files at home.

photo credit: Senator Mark Warner

I can’t begin to emphasize to you just how important this documentation may become. You may find some error in the future that tries to deprive you of some of your service time. You may have a problem during a divorce case where absolutely proving what you are entitled to (or not entitled to) is crucial to your legal and financial well being. Or you might (more personal experience here, *sigh*) have the Defense Accounting and Finance Service (DFAS), the folks who actually put the money in your bank account come at you from “out of the blue” and claim that you have been overpaid for a period of years. If you think that your agency is going to keep the records that will ’save your bacon” then you better think again. When a court or another government agency alleges that you owe something, the only possible defense is that you have records to show otherwise … else it’s pretty much a case of “take out your pen and write the check”.

Disclaimer

As always remember that this site, although written by a retiree with substantial experience in the school of hard knocks, it is for personal, lay opinions and informational purposes only. If you have a legal question you should seek help from a legal professional. If you have questions involving current or future values of pensions you need an actuary or competent pension valuation expert. If your questions are tax-related, seek a competent tax advisor. In other cases, I recommend the base chaplain.

You can comment on this post, you can email me at: davestarr (at) gmail (dot) com or you can call me at: 1-719-966-4295
Copyright © 2010 Retired Pay World. This Feed is for personal non-commercial use only. If you are not reading this material in your news aggregator, the site you are looking at is likely guilty of copyright infringement. Please contact legal@retiredpay.com so we can take legal action immediately.
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January 19, 2010
2:35
If You Want to Learn, Without the BS …
» ‎ Retired Pay World
OK, as anyone with a brain has noticed, I’m selling something here. The OnlineProfits course from my blogging colleague, Daniel Scocco.

I’m promoting it for one primary reason. It works.

For another reason, it has a history …Daniel launched this program more than a year ago … it quickly filled up with happy members (they must be happy, because there is a no-nonsense 30 day money back guarantee, so one would certainly expect unhappy people world bail).

For another good reason, Daniel focuses on quality over quantity .. only 300 members will be taken in this session … he could just as easily sell and sell until the sign-ups quit coming, but then there would be too many members to get the individual attention they paid for.

That led to the nest major reason I am promoting this program … the staff. This is not some little ‘one man band’, ‘read my eBook’ kind of effort. It’s a well put together realisitic training program, that, if you chose to work using the principles you learn here, you can definitely succeed.
Our Faculty
- Daniel Scocco Online Marketing
- Michael Gray SEO
- Neil Patel Linkbuilding
- Yaro Starak Email Marketing
- Chris Garrett Online Communities
- Tamar Weinberg Social Media
- Hamlet Batista SEO
- Zac Johnson Affiliate Marketing
- Courtney Tuttle Keyword Research
- Nathan Rice Web Design
How’s that for a “who’s Who of online success stories?

I’m also promoting it because I’m a member … and I believe in eating my own dog food … I don’t usually sell any product or service I haven’t looked at personally, and this one is well worth more than the asking price.

(FTC required disclaimer … I didn’t purchase this course, I won it in a contest … but I pronmise I am giving you the unvarnished truth, no matter how much I actually paid. I also, as you may have guessed, recieve a commission if you buy. Again, I don’t need any of these sort of programs to live, I make a very nice income without promoting anything … if I promote it, I consider it worth your time.)

Here are 10 reasons you really ought to consider digging into what this course has to offer:

10 Reasons to Work from Home Online
The Internet is the largest socio-economic phenomenon of our century. It changed the way people communicate, collaborate, and live. It also created a whole new type of worker: the online worker. Those are people who work full time on the Internet. Some make money through their blogs, others leverage affiliate marketing, others yet focus on providing services over the web.

Regardless of the business model, there are many reasons that make working online exciting. Below we’re going to cover some of them.
1. No more wasted time on commutes
Even if you live relatively close to your work, you’ll still waste a good amount of time commuting back and forth every day. For example, if your workplace is 30 minutes away from your home (either by car or by public transportation), you will waste 60 minutes per day, which translates into 240 hours every year.

What if instead of wasting those 240 hours commuting you could use them for something productive? You probably could read dozens of books, learn new things (i.e., how to play an instrument), exercise more and so on with all that time available.
2. You can work on your own terms
Imagine being able to wake up without an alarm clock every single day. If you work on the Internet you can work any time you want. Do you feel more productive at night? Then work at night. Do you want to take Wednesdays off to practice a sport? Go for it.

Working on your own terms also means that you can structure your working environment as you please. That is, you can wear some comfortable clothes instead of the annoying suit, listen to music while you work if that makes you more productive and so on.
3. You can work anywhere
We say “work from home,” but in reality you can work anywhere, and this is a great advantage. The only requirement is a reliable Internet connection, but you can get one virtually anywhere these days. You could work from cafes, parks, and even from the beach if you grab a wireless modem.

For the matter of fact you can even travel to other countries and still work on your websites as you would do if you were sitting on your home office (and many people do just that).
4. You can network with a lot of people
Online networking is certainly not as effective as face to face networking, but the fact that you get to interact with thousands of people certainly compensates.

By working on the Internet you’ll be able to meet and work with people from all around the world, from all fields and with all sorts of interests. Initially your relationship with those people will not be as strong as with local co-workers, but over time it might.

There are hundreds of cases of people who got hired, found partners and launched successful projects over the web without meeting the other side physically.
5. It is flexible
A great benefit of working online is the flexibility. You can create all sorts of websites, explore different niches and try different business models every single day.

For example, you could start with a blog on a topic you are passionate about, and after a while you could experiment launching an online store on the same niche offering some products to your visitors.

This flexibility makes working online both fun and profitable.
6. It might be less risky
Many people work 9 to 5 jobs because they believe it is a safer option. A regular job sends a pay check every month, after all, while an online business has many ups and downs.

To a certain extent this is true, but under many aspects having your own online (or offline for the matter of fact) business is actually less risky. For example, if you work for a company you could get fired any day. Sometimes even top performers are fired because the company needs to cut costs.

If you have your own business, on the other hand, no one will be able to fire you. Sure, the business could still go wrong, but that is a risk under your direct control.
7. You get to be your own boss
It would be tough to find a person who never had an annoying boss, right? Even if your boss is a nice guy, taking orders from someone else sucks.

By working online you’ll solve this problem for good. You’ll still have customers, readers and advertisers who will demand your attention, but the level of stress in dealing with those is significantly lower when compared to having a boss.
8. You get to develop business skills
Every website that is built with the purpose of making money can be seen as a small business entity. You will have to manage resources (e.g., web hosting, domain names), people (e.g., web designers, writers), clients (e.g., readers or customers) and so on. You’ll also need to plan the business model, the marketing activities and so on.

In other words, you’ll develop important business skills along the way, and this is something very valuable.
9. It might grow into a big business
Most websites start as a hobby. If your idea is good and you put enough work on it, however, it might grow into a big business. Just consider blogs like Tech Crunch. It started as a one-man show, and today it employs several writers, editors, and it generates millions in revenues every year.

And you don’t need to go to the very top to see this pattern. There are hundreds of web design, affiliate marketing and consulting firms that were started as a hobby and turned into profitable businesses over time.
10. Your work will go into something you own
We believe there are no shortcuts to success. Whether you work for a corporation or have your own small business, if you want to succeed you’ll need to work your butt off.

The difference of the two scenarios above is quite a big one, however. On the first one you’ll be putting your heart and soul on someone else’s business. Sure you might get a good salary in exchange for that, but the fact that someone else owns the whole thing and will collect most of the profits remains unchanged.
Here Is What You’ll Get Access To
- 1. Training Material
- You’ll get access to all our lessons (both in text and audio format), video tutorials, case studies and interviews. Combined they amount to over 130,000 words worth of content! We also add new stuff regularly, and you’ll get access to all new content without the need to pay anything extra.
- 2. Tools SectionWe have compiled a list with all the web tools that you can use to manage your domain names, optimize your website for search engines, leverage social media, optimize your web design and so on.
- 3. Resources SectionInside the Resources section you’ll find exclusive downloads for Online Profits members. These range from keyword lists to WordPress theme and CSS landing pages. We also have many lists to specific types of sites (e.g., dofollow blogs or affiliate networks).
- 4. Content LibraryYou’ll get access to a library with over 500 ebooks that you can download and read for inspiration. Most of these ebooks also come with “Master Resale Rights,” meaning that you’ll also be able to resell them.
- 5. Social ClubsOnline Profits members can join two social clubs to help them get more traffic and exposure for their websites. The first one is focused on Twitter, while the second one works around social bookmarking sites like Digg and StumbleUpon.
- 6. Private Forum
- Members can interact with each other on the private forum. Additionally, you can ask any question you want and we’ll answer it for you. This is to make sure that no blank spots will be left on the training material.
So, that was a lot of words. Were they worth it? The only jusdge of that is you, the reader. And the only way you can vote is to do nothing and pass onto yet another opportunity, or to decide now that, for once, you will take action and try something. The place to begin your journey to online profits sucess is here.

There is no risk, you don’t like, don’t buy. I recommend this course and the staff throughly.
Copyright © 2010 Retired Pay World. This Feed is for personal non-commercial use only. If you are not reading this material in your news aggregator, the site you are looking at is likely guilty of copyright infringement. Please contact legal@retiredpay.com so we can take legal action immediately.
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January 15, 2010
21:54
Thinking About Online Profits?
» ‎ Retired Pay World
Some of you may be thinking about the Online Profits training and support program I have been talking about the past few days. You have questions, I’m sure. Here are some answers:

Welcome to another edition of the Online Profits newsletter.

As you probably know we are opening the doors to new members next
Monday, January 18. Many of you sent us questions about the
training program, though, and we would like to answer them before
the official launch, to make sure you have all the information
you need to make your decision (especially because we’ll have a
limited number of spots available).

Below you’ll the 5 most common questions we received:

Q) What exactly will I get if I enroll myself in the training
program?

A) First of all you’ll get access to our training material, which
is composed of text lessons (they can be download as MP3 as well
so you can listen to them on your MP3 player), case studies, video
tutorials and interviews. Second, you’ll also get access to a
private forum where you can interact with other members and get all
your questions answered. Third, you’ll get access to our “Tools”
and “Resources” section, with a selection of tools from around
the web and exclusive resources to our members (e.g., templates and
keyword lists). Fourth, you’ll get access to our Content Library,
which has over 500 ebooks you can download and even re-sell. Fifth,
you’ll get access to our social clubs. One of them is a social
bookmarking club, to help you get more traffic from social
bookmarking sites like Digg and Stumble, and the other one is a
retweet club, to help you get more traffic from Twitter.

Q) Why should I choose Online Profits over the other training
programs out there?

A) The main differentiator of our training program is the broadness
of its curriculum. We knew that there were some good courses around,
but all of them focus on a single aspect of online marketing. Some
focus on PPC, others on blogging, others yet on affiliate marketing.
We figured that if you want to work full time on the Internet,
however, you need to learn ALL those facets. That is why we created
the most complete program on the web, with 24 training modules that
cover domain names, website setup, blogging, email marketing, SEO,
affiliate marketing, PPC, you name it!

Q) What kind of results should I expect after joining the program?

A) The results you’ll get will depend entirely on your goals and
on how hard you are willing to work. Some people join our program
because they just want to create a couple of websites to supplement
their monthly income. Others want to work full time online and build
big businesses, and they see our program as a foundation for that.
Keep in mind that we believe there are no shortcuts to success
though, and we don’t offer “magic bullets” or “overnight riches”.
Building a real and profitable online business will take a lot of
work and time. Our training program complements that with the right
set of knowledge and strategies.

Q) What kind of experience do I need to join and make good use of
the training program?

A) If you know how to navigate the web you are more than qualified
to join our program. We assume no prior technical knowledge, and
that is why we cover even basic things like buying the right
domain name and choosing a reliable web hosting company.

Q) How much will it cost?

The cost of the program will be 4 monthly payments of $98 (so $392
total). You’ll be getting lifetime access to the training material
and to the members area, however, so we think it is a very fair
price. We are also planning to increase the price on the next
launch (taking place late in 2010), so if you get in now you’ll be
getting the lowest possible price.

If you have any other questions just reply to this email with it
and we’ll get back to you promptly.

The doors will open next Monday, January 18, 3am USA EST time. Only
a limited number of spots will be available, so make sure to check
the email we’ll send you once the doors are open.

Best wishes,
Online Profits Team

So can you get rich with this program? I have no idea. I know you will succeed if you work, but I sell few programs like this one becuase most people who buy into them are looking for a magic bullet instead of a working plan to succeed.

Does this program work? Absolutely. You need look no farther than Daniel himelf and the stellar team he has working on this program:

And act now. What is not a joke is that they are only taking a limited number of members on, so that you won’t be another lost fish in a huge sea. One the doors close, as they did this time last year, it’s likely you might wait a year or more if you fail to take advantage now. And yes, I do make a commission on the program … we are writing about making money online for seniors and retirees, aren’t we?
Copyright © 2010 Retired Pay World. This Feed is for personal non-commercial use only. If you are not reading this material in your news aggregator, the site you are looking at is likely guilty of copyright infringement. Please contact legal@retiredpay.com so we can take legal action immediately.
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November 10, 2009
4:10
Credit Where Credit Is Due
» ‎ Retired Pay World
Last post I was pretty disappointed in the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Defense for taking so long to “study” how they would pay veterans the money already due them.

Well I’m not totally an pessimist and as a government annuitant I certainly am grateful for the benefits I do receive. So lest everyone think I’m just a reactionary, here’s a VA benefit I just found out about that can really help in veterans, veteran’s spouses and widows. Not only is it good news, it’s another factor that needs to be considered when valuing a couple’s assets prior to divorce.

The full article is here: A short synopsis:

All wartime veterans otherwise qualified for benefits (generally this means honorably discharged or discharged with a general discharge under honorable conditions) are eligible for this benefit if they need assisted living or nursing home care.

To qualify, veterans must:

â€¢ Have served in wartime, though they didn’t have to see combat.
â€¢ Have no more than $80,000 in assets, not counting the family home, car and personal possessions.
â€¢ Prove financial need, usually by demonstrating expenses exceed their income.
â€¢ Show they need someone to help them with basic activities of living, such as bathing, grooming or eating.

The monthly benefit pays up to:

â€¢ $1,470 to a veteran.
â€¢ $945 to a surviving spouse.
â€¢ $1,743 to a couple.

Now in today’s world of health care costs these amounts, like many VA benefits are less than what’s probably needed, as as my old compadre, Freddy Furple of the friendly Furple family of Floria, Florida used to say, “They are a heck of a lot better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick.”

So if you’re a vet, the spouse or widow of a vet or a family member helping to shoulder the cost of caring for a vet, check this out.
Copyright © 2010 Retired Pay World. This Feed is for personal non-commercial use only. If you are not reading this material in your news aggregator, the site you are looking at is likely guilty of copyright infringement. Please contact legal@retiredpay.com so we can take legal action immediately.
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November 09, 2009
1:47
Making Sure Benefits Are Known
» ‎ Retired Pay World
… The ad by Government Benefits Analysts Inc. headlined with a large attention banner, explains that many veterans or widows of veterans are eligible for benefits of â€œup to $20,924 a year tax-free!â€ The ad then asks veterans to call a local phone number, where a recording asks the caller to leave a message.

The ad was placed in The Daily News by Charles Whitehurst Jr., a Jacksonville insurance agent who works for Blue Water Insurance in Wilmington….

What Whitehurst is doing is legal. But Amelia Grissett, Onslow Countyâ€™s veteran services director, said veterans with questions about benefits are better off coming to her office… Full Article Here:

An interesting news item. I’ve been studying VA benefits for years now, since I’ve been eligible for some VA benefits for nearly 40 years. I’ve never heard of the benefit highlighted. Does this tell you something about the state of the average vet’s knowledge? I think so.

It also seems to say a lot about the ability of the services and the VA to actually inform veterans of program which are available. In my opinion, based on personal experience, the VA is one of the worst government agencies for educating the citizens they are chartered and funded to serve. Sad.

In my own experience the VA actively cheated me out of a portion of my educational benefits due to an error on their part which they readily admitted (after I researched and pointed out to them) but refused to make good on the unpaid allowance. I’ve seen incidents like this thousands of times with fellow vets.

Contrast, for example, with the much maligned Internal Revenue Service. Twice in recent memory I made errors on my tax forms which resulted in overpayment of taxes. The IRS checked the forms, sent me a letter to point out the errors and even corrected the error and sent me a refund of the excess. What a difference in performance between two similar agencies.

The thrust of the highlighted news article is the debate over a commercial insurance company using the lure of possible pension benefits to draw in potential clients who may or may not also become customers for the company’s commercial offerings. I can see the potential for abuse, but even though I don’t know the efficiency of the county VA assistance officers who are complaining I hesitate in criticizing the insurance company for making the effort. In general the sate of education of our veterans (and, be default the state of education of divorcing veterans and non-veteran spouses and their attorneys) is woeful.

So why is this article here today?
- If you are a potential retiree (most of us are), make a special effort to learn what all your possible VA benefits may be. Don’t take the perfunctory briefings you may have received upon separation from the service as the whole truth.
- If you’re the attorney for a veteran, or a veteran’s spouse, make darn sure you do your due diligence. You wouldn’t want to come back to court someday when the other side claims you missed a $20K per year pension in doing the property division validation, would you?
- Strongly consider joining and actively participating in a veteran’s organization such as the American legion or the Veterans of Foreign Wars. Sad to say the US government (especially after nearly 16 years of draft dodger’s in the White House) is doing all they can to see that past and current veterans get nothing unless they can dig through the mass of laws and fend for themselves.
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November 08, 2009
13:43
Catch 62 and Valuation and Division of Assets
» ‎ Retired Pay World
I’ve written about “Catch 62″ several time here already, but judging by the search engine traffic it seems to still be a very popular subject. (See here and here for some previous information)

Based on some recent conversations with military/civil service retirees the subject still seems to be widely misunderstood, so perhaps it’s time for a short primer. There are a few other legal issues floating around out there that also have “62″ in their names so let me be specific. This primer is referring to the “Catch-62″ provisions of Public Law 97-253.(9-82).

In essence these provisions may apply to any person who has served in the active components of the US military and who has also been employed in the US civil service, so the number of folks possibly impacted is a lot larger then the knowledge base on this subject seems to be.

In particular, personal conversations and perusal of lawyer’s web sites gives me the feeling that a lot of lawyers out there who may otherwise be very expert in divorce procedures also don’t have a comprehensive understanding of this legal speed bump. I’ll write more at a later date date on some of the finer points of valuation and division of marital assets and Catch 62, in this article I’ll just cover the basics of how it affects most potential retirees … even though you almost certainly need competent legal assistance for a divorce, you need a basic understanding of the points that your attorney has to consider, at the least.

In simplest terms the Catch 62 (I’m sure this term was adapted from Heller’s “Catch 22″ novel, especially since the novel, in some cases, makes more sense than the law) attempts to give employees with combined military and federal civil service time a way to get credit for all their years of government service, while at the same time insuring that their time in the military (which counts toward any potential military retirement benefit) is ‘paid for’ in the applicable retirement system (CSRS or FERS) that the civil servant retires under.

There are major differences in how Catch 62 applies to CSRS and FERS employees. I’ll cover the FERS system first, since the rules seem to be the simplest there and the potential pitfalls for the employee don’t seem as fearsome.

Catch 62 and FERS: For those employees hired under the FERS (Federal Employees Retirement System) the required contribution is 3% of the base pay received during their active military service. The employee must pay the contribution in order to receive any credit for their military time. Thus, the vast majority of FERS employees will have already paid the contribution. In spite of some (in my opinion) nonsensical claptrap advice an employee will always be ahead of the game by paying this contribution. It seems smart to pay it during the first three years of employment when their is no interest penalty, but even when an employee has delayed payment and interest has begun accruing I can’t see any circumstance where the decision to pay would be wrong … unless the employee plans to die early. if an employee still decides not to pay there is no pitfall awaiting him or here. The employee will simply retire with a smaller annuity than s/he would have been entitled to had the contribution been made, and life goes on.

Catch 62 and CSRS: Now, as Shakespeare is alleged to have written, here’s the rub. For military time served before 1956 the employee is ‘home free”. The time is added to the employee’s total service time, his or her annuity is calculated and … life goes on.

For military time accrued after 1982, the same rule as the FERS program applies. The employee must make a contribution (7% in this case) and if s/he chooses not to, the military time disappears for purposes of annuity calculation.

Those CSRS employees with military time between 1956 and 1982 (which includes a great many CSRS employees coming up for retirement) are the ones that the “goofiness” of the law puts most at risk. The employee gets credit for the military time as if it were “good” civil service time. If he or she retires before age 62 the annuity will be calculated using the “real” civil service years and the military years. If the employee failed to consider Catch 62, however, a time bomb is ticking … the employee’s 62nd birthday. Since a person eligible for Social Security retirement may choose to begin collecting their retirement benefit at age 62 the law assumes that they will … regardless of the amount of money involved and regardless of the advisability of taking “early” Social Security retirement. An ignorant or careless employee will find their Civil Service annuity pay reduced … recalculated to exclude the unpaid years of military service. This can be a significant cut in pay … reductions of $1,000 a month or more are common. At the same time, employees eligible for Social Security not only find that their reduced age 62 benefit doesn’t match the amount they have lost from their civil service annuity, but that the Social Security benefit they are entitled to may be further reduced by the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) which many of us subject to the provision are convinced should be referred to as the WEPT. Basically, for a federal retiree who had service for which Social Security Tax was not deducted is determined to have received a ‘windfall” by being eligible for both CSRS annuity and a Social Security annuity and the Social Security benefit is reduced … by hundreds of dollars per month in many cases to eliminate this so-called “windfall”.

Bottom line? Every federal civil service employee had better learn about the Catch 62 rules before retirement and CSRS employees in particular must make some very important decisions as early as possible. Unless you think a surprise reduction of a thou or so per month won’t affect you. And if you’re a potential divorce candidate looking for an attorney and the prospective attorney gives you a blank look when you mention Catch 62 … run, don’t walk to find a different lawyer. You’re playing around with huge sums of money over a lifetime and decisions that once made can be irrevocable … don’t take a chance, know before you light the fuse.

Disclaimer

As always remember that this site, although written by a retiree with substantial experience in the school of hard knocks, it is for personal, lay opinions and informational purposes only. If you have a legal question you should seek help from a legal professional. If you have questions involving current or future values of pensions you need an actuary or competent pension valuation expert. If your questions are tax-related, seek a competent tax advisor. In other cases, I recommend the base chaplain.
If you really need an accurate reading on a case involving these issues, Iâ€™d suggest you call Bill â€” 719-475-7529
Copyright © 2010 Retired Pay World. This Feed is for personal non-commercial use only. If you are not reading this material in your news aggregator, the site you are looking at is likely guilty of copyright infringement. Please contact legal@retiredpay.com so we can take legal action immediately.
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1:43
Gray Area Retirement Primer
» ‎ Retired Pay World
Some may have noticed there have been no posts here for along time. I’m not apologizing, I was busy with a big move … Colorado to Marilao in the province of Bulacan, just north of Manila, Republic of the Philippines. Some of course might ask why and my answer is family reasons, personal desire (I’ve lived in Asia many years) and last, but not least, the fact that my retirement dollar is going to go a long way here. I suppose this means, after many years, that I am completely retired … except for blogging that is.

How many years? Well according to one yardstick I retired with over 20 good years from the USAF Reserve in 1992. But even in the Philippines the pension I drew then wouldn’t have covered my living expenses … it was zero. How do you retire and have no pension at all? Welcome to the “gray Area” of the US Reserve Component.

“When a Guardsman or Reservist has completed at least 20 “good years”, that is years when s/he has earned enough retirement points, the Reserve Component member may request transfer to the Retired Reserve. The catch is, Congress, although it seems to think nothing of sending Reservists to Iraq year after year and keeping them on active duty as long as it pleases, hasn’t thought enough of “Citizen Soldiers” to afford them any retirement pay until they reach age 60 …if they reach age 60. Thus, from an average age of say 40 to 45 the member enters a state of limbo. They are entitled to pay and full retirement benefits at age 60 but they don’t draw a nickel until that magic birthday. Since the term ‘limbo’ has religious connotations the practice over the years has been to call these neither fish nor fowl service members ‘Gray Area’ reservists.

If a couple gets divorced before or during the ‘Gray Area’ there are a number of considerations that must be taken into account regarding the equitable division of assets.
- Retired Pay: Obviously if a retiree is in the ‘Gray Area’ s/he can’t be immediately ordered to divide his/her retired pay with a spouse who has earned a share. But the asset certainly becomes ‘real’ at the 60th birthday so it can be used in many different ways to fill in amounts due in the future.
- Reserve Component Survivor’s Benefit Plan: A gray area retiree can provide for his family’s future income during this time by enrolling in the Reserve Component Survivor’s Benefit Program. This costs money, of course, but Congress has allowed the program to be funded in arrears … that is reservists under the program get the protection of survivor’s pay for their dependents for free … and if and when they reach age 60 they get to pay double. That is their retired pay is ‘taxed’ for the standard cost of the regular retiree Survivor’s Benefit program and also a fee to cover the ‘free’ converge they had from the time of their transfer to the retired rolls until they reached age 60. In round numbers, this will work out to approximately 10% of the gross retirement benefit. Since the Defense Accounting And Finance Service (the agency who will issue the paychecks) will not divide the cost for survivor’s benefits … they are deducted from the gross available retired pay before it is divided, this cost must usually be apportioned by awarding a larger or smaller percentage to a spouse’s share after the proper division percentage is established.
- Commissary and Exchange Privileges: In some cases a separating spouse may be entitled to a continuation of military shopping and base recreational privileges. The scope is narrow and too complex for this article, but if a spouse can qualify it may make a difference, at least in terms of non-financial negotiations.
Anyway, there’s a brief summary of the Gray Area to give folks a few thoughts about plans they might need to make or actions to take. Please feel free to comment or ask questions on points I may not have covered as well as you wished.

Disclaimer

As always remember that this site, although written by a retiree with substantial experience in the school of hard knocks, it is for personal, lay opinions and informational purposes only. If you have a legal question you should seek help from a legal professional. If you have questions involving current or future values of pensions you need an actuary or competent pension valuation expert. If your questions are tax-related, seek a competent tax advisor. In other cases, I recommend the base chaplain.
If you really need an accurate reading on a case involving these issues, Iâ€™d suggest you call Bill â€” 719-475-7529
Copyright © 2010 Retired Pay World. This Feed is for personal non-commercial use only. If you are not reading this material in your news aggregator, the site you are looking at is likely guilty of copyright infringement. Please contact legal@retiredpay.com so we can take legal action immediately.
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November 07, 2009
13:42
More Details on TRICARE Plans
» ‎ Retired Pay World
When I mentioned the possibility of substituting TRICARE for commercial or Federal Employee Health Benefits (FEHB) I thought it was amore cut and dry proposition. But comments and questions I’ve received indicates to me that a lot of military and retired military who out to know and TRICARE, one of their major benefits, don’t. And of course if they are involved in something requiring an attorney, they can’t possibly give their attorney enough information to form a good legal strategy.

So here’s the skinny (and some of my opinions) on the commonly available TRICARE plans:
TRICARE Standard Coverage
No enrollment: TRICARE Standard is the basic TRICARE health care program, offering comprehensive health care coverage, for people not enrolled in TRICARE Prime. (Active duty service members (ADSM) must take action to enroll in Prime, and many other beneficiaries choose to enroll in Prime also.) Standard does not require enrollment.

This is perhaps one of the most overlooked areas I’ve seen, so far. When I speak to retirees about their TRICARE benefits they often respond with, “I didn’t sign up for that plan and now I have nothing. Well, if they retired from the US military, either active duty or reserve component (reservist drawing retired pay) then they almost assuredly are covered and the plan needs to be factored into all retirement planning and in particular, divorce settlements where health insurance is an issue.

Fee-for-service flexibility: Standard is a fee-for-service plan that gives beneficiaries the option to see any TRICARE-certified/authorized provider (doctor, nurse-practitioner, lab, clinic, etc.). Standard offers the greatest flexibility in choosing a provider, but it will also involve greater out-of-pocket expenses for you, the patient. You also may be required to file your own claims.

Apparently the “file your own claims” issue is a very big negative factor. None of us likes to fill out forms. However many health care professionals will file TRICARE reimbursement forms, and if the member has to do it on his/her own the process is not complicated at all. Just because TRICARE Standard may require some minor effort on a member or former spouses part one shouldn’t throw the baby out with the bathwater.

Costs: Standard requires that you satisfy a yearly deductible before TRICARE cost sharing begins, and you will be required to pay co-payments or cost shares for outpatient care, medications, and inpatient care.

The most important feature of TRICARE Standard is that there is no subscription cost. It’s hard to find a plan that costs less than zero. To user any provider a plan participant simply goes to the provider of choice, pay for the services received and TRICARE reimburses 80% of the allowable costs after an annual $150 per person/$300 per family deductible. Of course the issues comes up that even 20% of the costs can add up to a lot over the course of a year. TRICARE Standard has a catastrophic cap provision that limits a member’s costs to not more than $3000 per year. So the most a person could owe, regardless of the medical condition/treatment needs is $3,000 or let’s look at it as $250 a month. I know of a lot of commercial health plans that cover much less that cost a lot more than $250 per month … and if you don’t need the medical care, you won’t have to pay even that much. Worth a look.

Program details: For more information about the Standard benefit, see the TRICARE Handbook.

Disclaimer
As always remember that this site, although written by a retiree with substantial experience in the school of hard knocks, it is for personal, lay opinions and informational purposes only. If you have a legal question you should seek help from a legal professional. If you have questions involving current or future values of pensions you need an actuary or competent pension valuation expert. If your questions are tax-related, seek a competent tax advisor. In other cases, I recommend the base chaplain.
If you really need an accurate reading on a case involving these issues, Iâ€™d suggest you call Bill â€” 719-475-7529
Copyright © 2010 Retired Pay World. This Feed is for personal non-commercial use only. If you are not reading this material in your news aggregator, the site you are looking at is likely guilty of copyright infringement. Please contact legal@retiredpay.com so we can take legal action immediately.
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1:39
TRICARE Flavors and How To Taste Them
» ‎ Retired Pay World
Several days ago I wrote about the possibility of military retirees using the DoD TRICARE program to take care of their own medical insurance needs as well as the coverage they might be required to provide ex-spouses. We should look at this idea in a little more detail since it won’t be the best for everyone and there are some who can’t even use the program. here’s at thumbnail description of the various levels of TRICARE and how they might fit into your plans. I urge all who haven’t yet to go to the primary TRICARE site, www.tricare.osd.mil and study the easy to use TRICARE Handbook and TRICARE Fact Sheets there. The guide can be used on line or downloaded.

TRICARE Background: Prior to the 1980s, there were basically two ways for military personnel, retirees, and family members to receive military health care. Military members received treatment at military medical facilities, and retirees and family members received free treatment (space available) at military medical facilities, or could use a program known as CHAMPUS (Civilian Health and Medical Program Uniformed Services) to receive government-subsidized medical care from civilian providers… Read a good military medicine/TRICARE history here

TRICARE Eligibility: These are the general qualifications. For specific eligibility see here:
- Active Duty Military members, their spouses and unmarried children.
- Reservist and their spouses when called to active duty
- Retired Military members and families
- Retired reservists and families when the reservist is in retired pay status (typically at age 60 and after)
- Former spouses who meet the criteria specified in the link above … in most cases, married at least 20 years while the spouse was on duty.
TRICARE Plans: There are a number of TRICARE plans available. Her is a synopsis of a few.
- TRICARE Standard. All eligible TRICARE recipients under age 65 are covered by this plan if they are not covered by another. TRICARE Standard operates as a fee for service plan in the standard medical insurance world.
- TRICARE Prime. This is the plan that all active duty service members must be covered by. It operates in a fashion similar to a civilian HMO plan with member’s health care being overseen by a Health Care Manager.
- TRICARE For Life. This is essentially the TRICARE Standard program modified for enrollees who are eligible for medicare.
There are a number of other plans, most of which are modifications to the manner in which the plans work for active duty members. Since the thrust of our discussion will be on retirees, we won’t attempt to cover them all here. See the complete explanation of all plans on the TRICARE main page.

Next time I’ll cover the plans in more detail, including things to consider when deciding if TRICARE is a better deal for a military retiree and/or his/her former spouse.

Disclaimer

As always remember that this site, although written by a retiree with substantial experience in the school of hard knocks, it is for personal, lay opinions and informational purposes only. If you have a legal question you should seek help from a legal professional. If you have questions involving current or future values of pensions you need an actuary or competent pension valuation expert. If your questions are tax-related, seek a competent tax advisor. In other cases, I recommend the base chaplain.
If you really need an accurate reading on a case involving these issues, Iâ€™d suggest you call Bill â€” 719-475-7529
Copyright © 2010 Retired Pay World. This Feed is for personal non-commercial use only. If you are not reading this material in your news aggregator, the site you are looking at is likely guilty of copyright infringement. Please contact legal@retiredpay.com so we can take legal action immediately.
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1. More Details on TRICARE Plans When I mentioned the possibility of substituting TRICARE for commercial...
2. Medical Care Options For Divorced Military Retirees I’ve been meaning to get around to this post for...
3. Military Retirement — Special Six-Part Series — Part 5 — Spouse Benefits Previous articles are here: Introduction In return for years of...
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November 06, 2009
13:38
Medical Care Options For Divorced Military Retirees
» ‎ Retired Pay World
I’ve been meaning to get around to this post for some time now. At first glance one might winder why I am delving down into the ‘weeds’ of general entitlements when I originally intended to stick with the finer points of valuation, net present values, divorce and dissolution. Well the truth is, judging by real-world problems, the basics are where a lot of folks need help.

Not long ago a lawyer friend called me to ask advice about a client of his. The client was a retired Air Force officer who had gone into government civilian service after hanging up his uniform. Later in life, as will sometimes happen, this officer/civil servant and his wife of many years parted company. As part of the settlement the ex-officer was required to provide his ex-wife with health insurance. The client also decided to retie from Civil Service and as a matter of course kept his Federal Employee heath benefits (FEHB) insurance … because, well, everybody does, don’t they?

The issue my friend was looking for other opinions on was the fact that his client, paying for the ex-wife’s retained FEHB insurance (as an ex-spouse she can carry it but the cost is much higher) and his own FEHB policy, was paying somewhere around $700 a month in health insurance bills. My first thought was TRICARE, and it turns out neither of them have really given it any consideration.

What is TRICARE? It’s the program that the military provides for active duty and retired service personnel, their eligible family members and survivors’ healthcare, Active Duty, Reservists, Retirees and former spouses all have some potential benefits. The program itself is well documented Here:

There’s an excellent user-level handbook available: I highly recommend all those who don’t know and those who think they know TRIOCARE take a look … I can virtually guarantee you’ll learn something. I’m going to spend the next few days going through the eligibility criteria, basic programs and overseas programs that TRICARE provides.

But what about my retired officer friend … we’ve left him hanging. Turns out he was able to enroll in TRICARE Prime for a total of something under $500 a year rather than more than that per month, and cover his ex-spouse as well. He also chose to buy a supplementary commercial policy for about $50 a month that insured against any ‘gaps’ between what TRICARE paid and actual costs. So he went from about $700 per month to about $90 a month on an annual basis and he actually had better coverage for both himself and his ex. Also, and I think this is a big reason a lot of retirees aren’t making good use of TRICARE, he did not “give up” his or his ex-wife’s FEHB. The Office of Personnel Management )OPM) allows those covered by TRICARE and some other government benefit programs to “suspend” their FRHB coverage and keep it in the background at no cost. Should our friend or his ex-wife ever decide than FEHB coverage is the better deal they can re-instate their coverage during any FEHB Open Season. Thinking back over this situation I’m wondering why I didn’t get a cut … think what TRICARE meant to this fellow’s bottom line? Tomorrow …Eligibility.

Disclaimer

As always remember that this site, although written by a retiree with substantial experience in the school of hard knocks, it is for personal, lay opinions and informational purposes only. If you have a legal question you should seek help from a legal professional. If you have questions involving current or future values of pensions you need an actuary or competent pension valuation expert. If your questions are tax-related, seek a competent tax advisor. In other cases, I recommend the base chaplain.
If you really need an accurate reading on a case involving these issues, Iâ€™d suggest you call Bill â€” 719-475-7529
Copyright © 2010 Retired Pay World. This Feed is for personal non-commercial use only. If you are not reading this material in your news aggregator, the site you are looking at is likely guilty of copyright infringement. Please contact legal@retiredpay.com so we can take legal action immediately.
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Related posts:
1. More Details on TRICARE Plans When I mentioned the possibility of substituting TRICARE for commercial...
2. TRICARE Flavors and How To Taste Them Several days ago I wrote about the possibility of military...
3. Military Retirement — Special Six-Part Series Retirement Benefits and Privileges Introduction In return for years of...
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