Class of 2024

Ok, here we are again. Another class in the books. Retiring class that is. What do they have to offer you in terms of advice? What did we learn this year?

Well, for one, there are some sucky managers out there. (no surprise frankly). Job hunting can suck too. And we pretty much all wish we would have put more money into the C Fund and left it alone our whole career. Let that be a lesson to you young whippersnappers out there.

And maybe, just maybe, we might have found the first guy to regret retiring? Read on…

This thing took hours to compile! You were longwinded this year. And a lot of responses. The formatting is hard to get straight since almost every single person responded in a different font or with odd formatting. I tried to clean it up as much as I could. Each asterisk represents a new respondent’s answer.

I’ll continue to update this as I get more in.

Enjoy!

Did you retire at first eligibility or later? What were the reasons for leaving when you did?

 

Later, 3.5 years after eligibility at 51. Boosted my high 3 to the cap.

 

 

* Two weeks after first eligibility (only because my EOD was in the middle of the month). I had mostly planned on this from the beginning, and it was a good time to do so as I escaped all of the  USSS details for the election, which I had no interest in doing (sorry USSS folks, I really really didn’t want to do it). I also had a terrible Group Supervisor. 

 

* No, I retired at 56 exactly with 25 years of service. I retired because I needed the extra money for 3 college/high school age kids and also because the last two years were absolutely unrewarding. 

 

* No. I retired about 4 years after eligibility. I had several reasons. My wife (as school teacher) was still working and neither of us felt we had met our financial goals. We were not living in an area in which we saw ourselves retiring and were hoping that the agency would give us another opportunity to move (it did) and then we met our goals following that move and both retired. We both felt that our employment was becoming unhealthy due to various environmental factors and stimuli we would not be able to change. 

 

* I left 7 months after I was eligible for retirement due to being overseas, some health stuff to take care of and the timing was right. I also stayed a few more months so I could work with my daughter who had just signed on. I still had a year and a half left before I was mandatory, but I was done. There wasn’t anything else left that I really wanted to accomplish and I wanted to get out before all the crazy election year stuff hit. I was so done with Guardians! 

 

*  I retired at first eligibility because of my Boss. Tired of his Jekyll/Hyde personality and his poor leadership. 

 

* One day after my 50 th . My TSP was healthy. I set my retirement date to be just prior to the COLA cutoff of November. 

 

*  Yes. After over 30 years (20 years as an 1811) of Federal government service it was time to move on. 

 

*  I became eligible in May 2024, and the plan always was to retire at that time. However, I did agree to stay on until December 31, 2024, due to an overseas tour commitment (and to take advantage of a step increase prior to retirement). That being said, I got a lucrative job offer in private industry and retired on August 31, 2024. 

 

*  I was eligible two years ago but decided to retire now as things have changed in my life. After 10 years of my wife and I being caregivers in our home for my in-laws, they have now both past away. My wife, and then just myself, were nearly the sole income providers for ourselves and her parents. My wife retired early in order to stay home with her parents.

 

* I retired three months past my eligibility. Those three months were spent finding a replacement retirement job for the one that fell through. 

 

* First eligibility. I was in the Foreign Service and was tired of moving every 1-3 years. Plus, I was financially able to retire and I can make just as much or more money post-retirement with pension + part time/ad hoc work if I want.

 

*I anticipated retiring when I was eligible (age 49) but delayed a month to take advantage of Use or Lose time off award and my new job start. The Secure 2.0 Act fast forwarded my retirement 6 months early because it sync’d the anytime retirement for those under age 50 (25 years of service) and TSP withdrawal availability.

 

* I retired 6 months after my first eligibility because I was preparing for divorce, had too much personal decision-making at the time, and finances were unknown; I needed to slow things down a bit. Divorce = Jan 2024; Retire = Feb 2024.

 

* I left at 54, four years after eligibility from FBI. I stayed four years after being eligible because I loved the job and my co-workers. I was a street agent my whole career. By 54, I still loved my co-workers but could feel myself getting burned out. 25 years is a long time to do the same thing, go through the same annual trainings, etc. Also, going to the range and wrestling around on the ground doing defensive tactics was getting real old. Finally, I was tired of battling with the US Attorney’s Office. In truth, the USAO was the largest source of stress throughout my career.

 

* Yes, I retired on the first day I was eligible - Halloween. Driving force actually was the 2024 election 5 days later. 

 

* I was eligible in January 2024. I chose to retire in June 2024. My wife is an elementary school teacher. I chose to retire in the summer so we could take some trips and enjoy the first stages of my retirement together.  I also wanted to make sure that when I was retirement eligible I felt the same way about my decision to retire. 

 

* I retired in January 13, 2024, the end of the FY 2023 Leave Year, with 454 hours of annual leave and 19 months of sick leave. I had special retirement as a 23-year wildland firefighter. At age 54 I left my firefighter covered position to take a regular GS FERS position with my agency. I stayed until my 66 th birthday, because I was doing a job I loved with people I liked in a spectacular landscape close to my wife’s and my family. I retired when I felt ready. Someone years ago told me it would become apparent when I was ready for retirement. I finally felt ready to retire about eight months before I did. That interim time between knowing I was ready to retire and actually retiring was valuable for us, as it gave us time to prepare our move after we were ineligible for our government housing. 

 

* BLUF: Found a job with salary/benefits and location which made sense for retiring. 

Background: Delayed retirement approximately 15 months after eligible. I was an FBI SSRA living in a small town in northern CA. While I started looking for jobs when KMA, I was very particular in what I looked for. I had several opportunities for jobs in the $120- $150 range, which would require relocation, but my wife is a therapist and we did not want to relocate unless it made sense to do so. Those salary ranges did not make it worthwhile. In July (one year from mandatory), our adult children relocated from east coast to southern CA. Simultaneously, a job opportunity arose that would allow us to be in the same town. The combination of these factors is what led me to retire. 

 

* I retired at 62 just three months after I hit my five year mark. 

 

* No, I stayed for an additional four years past my eligibility. I still enjoyed the job and colleagues, so I just kept rolling. However, I started preparing for retirement before I was eligible by getting a resume together and being active on LinkedIn. I left when a good retirement job offer came along. 

 

*  First eligible on Nov 7, 2024 at age 50. Retired at the end of the month of November 30 to hit the double whammy of exact end of month and end of pay period. 

 

* It depends on how you define ‘first eligibility’. The way I look at it, that was my MRA, and I stayed several years beyond that (I’m non-SCE). I retired about six months after becoming eligible for an immediate unreduced retirement, however. Before 60, I closely examined MRA+10. Why leave when I did? I knew I’d be gone by 62 at the latest, so I was really just focusing on the 60-62 interval (once I reached age 60). And I also knew that with the FERS annuity plus the supplement, I took an effective three-grade pay cut the day I turned 60. I ran the numbers and decided that the 0.1% per year boost at age 62 wasn’t worth waiting around for, especially since my agency was steadily increasing the in-office requirement (and I live about 85 miles from there). 

 

* I retired from the Border Patrol after 25 years (48 y/o), two months after eligibility mainly because I was burning through my S/L and because June 29 th was the end of the pay period. The reason for leaving is probably self-explanatory……due to the agency I was  with. 

 

* I retired at the end of the month, after my 50th birthday. I was more than ready to leave when I reached 20 years (2 years prior). Over the last few years, the change in how the public views law enforcement and lack of support from our leaders made the job even more stressful. It often times felt like we had a target on our backs. 

 

What was the exact financial reason (and moment) you decided to retire, if you can point to one thing?

 

When I crossed $750k 

 

* Day 1 of my second position within the US Gov (early 2000s). I always wanted to retire at a young age. A few of my relatives were caught up in having to work in their 60s and 70s and that was not something I wanted to ever have to do. I retired at eligibility  because I knew I could afford it. 

 

* My credit card debt was going through the roof and with two children in college, I could not just keep up with the larger bills. Also I believe that inflation and the cost of living took a big chunk of what I needed. 

 

* Once we were moved the last time by our agency, we were able to pay off our house and property without giving up on savings and investments. We met our savings goals and felt this gave us the financial security to retire. Additionally, the agency was changing the rules for its required service at our Headquarters. This change would have meant a forced move to Northern Virginia leading to excessive debt and stress with no personal  reward as I was nearing mandatory retirement age. 

 

* For the last several years, I have been updating the spreadsheets, reading the FERS guide and following the updates. I also ran the predictions that my agency provided on their HR site. Right before I came back from overseas, it became clear that I could really do it. I had to see it though in the math from the FERS guide, the spreadsheet on the Barfield site and the computations from my HR site together. 

 

*  Actually, I went through your Retirement Estimate Service (don’t remember exact name) in 2020 at age 58, and learned I could retire based on my numbers. Your analysis and follow up phone call gave me confidence that my DIY financial management skills and numbers were on track. Thank you Chris and C Fund (S&P 500). 

 

* My TSP had grown more than I had hoped, despite my mediocre job of investing in the beginning of my career. It reached $1M a few years prior to my retirement eligibility. By the time I was eligible, it had grown significantly more. I was financially able. No point breaking my body further running around chasing bad guys. 

 

* Financially, I have done well, so it was more of a personal choice. I have been following your newsletters and content for years and realized it made no sense to stick around after eligibility. The exact moment though was the aforementioned new job offer. 

 

*  When my HR Specialist (USMS – Thy Carlson) finally made me understand that over half of my paycheck was going towards deductions. That will be nearly all gone. I can retire and not have to work at Walmart. 

 

* When I first completed the input for John Gutsmiedl’s FERS Spreadsheet, It showed how little income I needed to replace and how much more I could earn! 

 

* I have known for a long time that I would likely retire upon eligibility, not because I hated my job. In fact, I loved my job. But I was ready to stop moving and settle down somewhere. John Gutsmiedl’s spreadsheet helped me many years ago to realize that I could easily retire, and retirement preparation seminars that the Department of State gives its employees helped too. 

 

* John G’s spreadsheet has always provided guidance. It shows you in easy terms how much money you leave on table, how much it takes to “feel the  same”, etc.

 

* I did not enjoy my government jobs. I started my retirement countdown when I had more years to work than I had put in! I had five different financial planners “run my numbers” and they all confirmed that I had saved well enough to retire.

 

* I got a really great job offer. Something I would like that paid a pile of money. They more than matched by GS13-10 with AVP. 

 

* I wanted my TSP to be in the $800k range so a 3ish percent monthly withdrawal would put my retirement take home pay in the ballpark that I could find a job that I only needed to make about $2k a month to have the same quality of life. I have about 

 

* My wife and I own seven rental properties. All of them were paid off in the year before I retired. We have a mortgage payment on our primary residence, but with seven rent checks landing each month, and our pensions (my wife is retired special firefighter retirement Fed as well), we have enough income to live comfortably. 

 

* Job opportunity, in an area where our adult children and grandchild reside, which made sense to pursue despite the need to relocate. 

 

* My first retirement (2019) was after I understood that I had enough saved up in personal savings and my 401K. The Federal Government retirement date was decided when I started working for Uncle Same in July, 2019! I opted to use six weeks of Annual Leave over the last 12 weeks of work. (worked a week / annual leave for a week) It increased my High 3 a little bit more and I thought of it as “pre-retirement” training. 

 

* There was no exact moment or reason but rather my repeated reviews of your papers and John G’s calculator combined with a nice TSP run- up. When I got the private job offer I realized that I’d give myself a 40% pay raise to retire for the new job. 

 

* I have two kids, ages 11 and 13 and realized that it would be incredibly difficult/stressful to afford college by staying in my current job. The ability to get a new job that pays nearly equal to my current pay plus my pension would allow me to squirrel away the majority of the pension for college costs (and a few nice vacations) 

 

* The financial reason I retired is that I was earning more than I needed. I maxed out the TSP and I was saving post-tax funds, also (earlier in my career I contributed to an IRA, but as my income rose, that stopped being an option). At some point enough is enough and the work-leisure tradeoff shifts. I did not have a single moment of decision, but I estimated that I could safely retire about18 months before I actually did.

I kept thinking of retirement “in six months,” then when I was four months into that interval, I realized I’d need to move my date out another six months because I had made no concrete plans. Finally, I set a firm date with my supervisor and put it into GRB, then moved that date by another couple of months. I decided I needed to go and stop procrastinating when I realized that work was keeping me from getting done what I needed to do outside the workplace—and some of those things are fairly physical tasks around the house. I’m better off doing those at age 60 than 65 or 70. 

 

* For me and I imagine most, the biggest factor in deciding to retire is financial. Thanks to the information in your newsletters, running the numbers and praying on it, I decided to retire at the end of last year. With Secure Act 2.0 and the changes to TSP withdrawals my decision was made easier. Just having the peace of mind that I could withdrawal, if needed, without penalty made all the difference for someone in my  position being under age 50. 

 

* After submitting paperwork to Chris Barfield, we had a discussion on the pros and cons of retiring versus staying with the FBI. Retirement won! 

 

Specifically regarding the retirement process, what would you have done differently? (Retire earlier/later, save more, learn more, file earlier, talk to more people, get more estimates, etc.)

 

Nothing, i think I did it right with you and Jamisons help. 

 

* I would have invested more aggressively in the earlier part of my career. Luckily, I always put in at least 9% and increased my allotments with every GS level & annual raises. Also, I got educated on the TSP funds and what they were about 8 years before  retirement. Never looked back since. 

 

* There isn’t much that I would do different except maybe to look for a job a year or two earlier that I did; however, that was at the height of Covid and things were not panning out in that quest. 

 

* I would not have changed anything. I used several agency and non-agency tools and professionals to get estimates. I spoke to several retirees who had stayed in law enforcement agencies a little longer or a little shorter than I. The time was ripe and I left about 6 months earlier than I planned and about two years and eight months before mandatory. 

 

*   Retirement process was smooth. Wouldn’t have done anything differently. I did my research, talked to dozens of retirees, read whatever I could get my hands on and it all happened pretty much like everyone said. 

 

* I wanted to submit my application at 120 days prior to my planned retirement date, as suggested by my agency HR, but I submitted at 90 days prior. I’ve talked with a lot of retirees (old and new), read articles (OPM, Barfield, Jamison, etc.), attended government retirement seminars, so I was good (in my mind) on that front. 

 

* This may not be the right section for this comment BUT: Having watched A LOT of YouTube videos on preparing for retirement, one topic is not mentioned enough by my Favorite YouTube stars: at age 59.5, start moving money, take your hits on taxes while you are making money, and get your retirement portfolio allocated between Pre Tax, Post-Tax, and Roth settled before reaching age 63. This is the age when ugly IRMAA enters the equation. 

 

* I would have started paying attention sooner, rather than later, to the retirement process. If I’m being honest, I didn’t really know or understand our retirement system until I started reading your newsletters and content about 5 years ago. I think that the average employee thinks about retirement as ‘so far away’ that they don’t really consider it in any of their career decisions and financial planning along the way. I’m thankful I found your and Dan Jamison’s information, because that essentially was the mic drop I needed to realize I actually could retire at first eligibility, and why I really needed to! 

 

* Retire at first eligible. I had made up a ton of excuses in my head because I could not retire. I was wrong.  * Nothing. I feel like I researched it thoroughly with you and with Dan Jamison’s book. Calculating the numbers did wonders to ease my mind during the transition. I spoke to half a dozen collogues and got their advice. I wouldn’t change a thing. 

 

* No changes. I was well prepared by the Department of State’s continuous access to retirement preparation seminars.

 

* Following Jamison and you along with prior knowledge gave me all I  needed to feel comfortable.

 

* I was scammed by an insurance salesman (under the guise of a non- profit who wanted to educate government employees about retirement). The man capitalized on my fear of running out of money and my strong desire to address long-term care. The man was introduced to me by HR via an email announcing a free retirement seminar. I assumed these guys were vetted. BE CAREFUL...many of these people are NOT acting in your best interest. They know you have a lifetime of savings sitting in your TSP and some only have the goal of convincing you to place as much of it as you are willing into their care so they can make commission on product sales (insurance/annuity) or 1%-2% to manage it. We have two annuities: pension+Social Security; do you really need a third?

 

* I wouldn’t change anything about my timing. I wasn’t ready mentally to go a when I turned 50. Any longer would have been too long. So I am very happy with my timing. I wish I had been more in C fund early in my career. I used a way too balanced approach back then. For the last ten years of my career, I followed Dan J and you and stayed educated, so I ended up with a large pile of money in my Thrift but it could have been significantly  bigger.

 

* I followed most of the guidance from my friends who stayed past their first eligible date. They said the same thing, get out. As noted earlier, I wanted out prior to the election, so my dates matched up well leaving at exactly 20 years. 

 

* Save more. If I could go back to the starting days of my career, I would have contributed more to the TSP. I would have also kept the money in the C Fund for the duration of my career. I do not have a financial background and was scared to lose money in the stock market. In the first two or three years of my career, I kept the money in the G or F Funds. Looking back that was a foolish decision. 

 

* It would be the easy answer to say retire as soon as you think you are ready and able, so I’ll say that. Pay attention to your financial situation, what your monthly expenditures are, and dream about what you want to do in retirement. Then figure out how much money you will need to live comfortably once you erase work Zoom and Teams call out of your life.

 

* BLUF: Nothing significant / Network more.  Left on 09/21/2024 with 245 hours of leave. While I was over the salary cap, I didn’t take advantage of the LWOP option. Wish I had done that. As I’m sure most would say, I wish I could have max’d TSP out sooner. For the first ten years of my FBI career, we were a single income household. Did the best we could. TSP balance at retirement was $1.2m. Thankfully I have a 401k from prior employment that is $1m+. 

 

* I am completely at ease with my “Five Year Plan” program. 

 

* The only thing I wish I’d done better with is the TSP. I lacked discipline and tried timing the market. However, I got lucky and retired near the double comma mark. If I had set it and forgot it I’d probably have a larger chunk in there but I still feel fortunate to have a decent balance. 

 

* Reading your newsletter is an absolute must. I work in a small office that has 5-7 people retire annually and is staffed with senior agents. Retirement is always a discussion topic and your newsletter has been the guiding light. If I could have fixed anything it would have been to max my TSP from day one instead of 10 years in after a conversation with a senior agent convinced me. I also would have gone whole hog with “C” fund instead of a C,S,I mix. 

 

* I am too early in the process to determine if I should’ve retired earlier—or later (estimates are fine, but I don’t have enough history as a retiree at this point to see if my forecasts are good or bad [even though those forecasts are replete with data and means/variances/interquartile ranges]). Saving more early in my career would’ve been helpful, but if I run out of savings at this point, it will mean the economy has crashed and we’re living the plot of The Mandibles (an economic horror novel). I retired later than expected just because of the drama associated with leaving—I rescheduled my departure date repeatedly, and easily could’ve bumped it another few months in response to job demands. They’ll always have to adapt and scramble when someone retires. People should retire when they’re ready, not when the job is ready for them to leave—that might never happen. 

 

* I like to believe I was fairly well prepared with the exception of my TSP balance. When I started there wasn’t much talk about which funds to have it in. If would have know then what I know now about the C Fund things would have been different. 

 

* I wish I knew to put everything in C and let it sit there. I was provided advice when I was a new agent to protect my investment by putting it in G. Thankfully I found Barfield Financial in 2020 and made some changes. 

 

How is actual retirement compared to how you envisioned it to be? (Better/worse/more boring, etc?)  TBD 

 

* Retirement is awesome and so much of a stress relief. I am busier than I thought I would be. I also thought I’d have more time to do nothing. I work part time now (when I want) and I like the money, so I find that I am pretty busy still. Sure is nice not having to  request time off anymore! 

 

* Retirement is wonderful although I am still working. Like you say, no more government phone, no firearms, no mandatory fit test, no young kid telling me that I am not doing defensive tactics correctly, when I have made more arrests than I am sure they will over our careers. 

 

* Although I feel healthier (BP is down and my blood work is better) I find it a little worse. A friend yesterday said, “It is like eating appetizers and never getting a meal.” I miss many of the people I worked with and the challenges that were posed by the investigative work that gave me a reason to get out of bed every day and work hard. I do not miss the bureaucracy and the constant fighting between agencies to try to achieve the agency missions and what should have been the various agencies’ similar goals. Attempting to obtain federal prosecution of violators  became an absolute joke and was killing morale of my unit, me and my subordinates. Leaving that behind was healthy. While I have several hobbies I do not feel as fulfilled as I did while working yet I have not found anything that I feel nearly as passionate about as I did working almost 32 years in law enforcement (combined local and federal). 

 

* No commute. No extra phone, gun, cuffs, creds, handcuff key, worry about being available 24/7. Flexibility, flexibility, flexibility is so awesome. It is better. I am definitely not bored. I couldn’t have envisioned it any better. Reality is stupendous. I volunteer, contract work when I feel like it, help with grandkids and in-laws and am available for almost anything when it pops up. So love the freedom and flexibility. Do miss the car sometimes.

 

*  Retired on 31 Oct, so it has been just 16 days since I left the Pentagon. Nothing to offer…so far. 

 

* I had a practice run of retirement before I officially retired, by taking a lot of time off leading up to my retirement. It’s been nothing less than spectacular. More time with family. Can’t replace that. More time to do what I want/need. Can’t replace that either. Not having to drop what I’m doing to get ready for my shift; priceless.

 

 * It’s great. The daily stress is no longer there. 

 

*  I did not have much time between retirement and starting this new job to really analyze how my retirement life would look. I do wonder if I should have taken an adult gap year and just traveled around and enjoyed myself before going back to work full time. But also, I know that had I done that, I may not have ever gotten back into a rhythm and a groove of working full time again. There was a brief period of 2 months prior to starting this new job, where I got a taste of what my retired life would be, and I have to admit I found it quite boring. There are only so many runs to Costco and Publix that one can make in day. But I was also not getting into a lot, as I had to get my retirement condo sorted out before moving back overseas to report to my new job. 

 

*  I’ll know in a few weeks. I am already feeling better. Stress has gone way down. 

 

* Retirement (from federal service) has been great. I took the opportunity to reinvent myself and am now serving in a corporate environment doing federal contracting. Working from home is fantastic.

 

* Same as I envisioned. I’m plenty busy.

 

*In my situation, I had to relearn how to work. I had a pretty dramatic change of daily duties going to what I do now and being in private sector. I was an expert at my job in the G. Now it is an absolutely different day, different pace, different people, different expectations. Some good, some bad. Just different. I wasn’t ready for how I still feel six months in. All your reputation/credibility/work knowledge has to be built from scratch.

 

* I should not have worried about not knowing what to do...I’ve not stopped being busy over the past 8 months. My theory: If you tend to be busy prior to retirement, you will likely have a tendency to stay busy after retirement. You shift from being busy with the job to being busy doing what you want! I love sleeping in and not forcing myself out of bed each morning because I have to go to work. I love being able to travel to see my family and friends without feeling I must return to work. I love the possibilities of engaging in different communities of people without the office drama or politics...we can get together just to have some fun. 

 

* It is better than I imagined in most ways. Financially, I’m making a lot more money. My job has significantly less stress and I am re-energized doing something new. I really miss the comradery of working on a squad with friends. My new job is more solitary and I work from home a couple days a week. I’m trying to get used to having more disposable income. I’m still nervous about spending  more even though I can afford it. 

 

* I’m only two days in at time of writing. 

 

* Retirement has been better than I thought. The time freedom is great. I also do not miss the govt. phone tied to my neck. 

 

* I have been retired for 10 months and the time has flown by. After my last day, we had a week moving ourselves and our household belongings three states away. Then, a week in Puerto Vallarta, two weeks of mountain biking in Arizona, golfing on the Monterey Peninsula during the Pebble Beach Pro-Am, a half marathon on Channel Islands National Park, a week long backpack expedition across the lava fields of Idaho’s Craters of the Moon lava fields, a month long auto trip around the entire United States(to visit friends and relatives we had promised to visit once we were retired), attended my family reunion and golf tournament in Central California, trips to visit wildland fire historic fatality sites in northern Idaho (1910 Big Burn) and central Montana (Mann Gulch), a trip to Santa Ynez Valley wine country, 28 days in Spain, and hanging out for the last two months either at our home in Montana or my wife’s father’s house in the San Francisco Bay Area (hint: where mountain biking was born).

We are spending the next two months planning 2025 adventures, for sure a return to Spain as well as Portugal in March, and France in July. 

 

* Started a new job/career with only 16 days of being retired. Looking forward to the eventual day I retire down the road. 

 

*  My last day was October 19 th , and I’ve been keeping busy every day since. Since I was in retirement training since July – I have the new routine down. 

 

* I transitioned directly into a full-time retirement job, so it was a bit stressful for the first couple of months. It’s still busy but I’ve got the hang of things and relaxed a bit. It took some time for me to realize that I don’t need much income on top of my annuity/supplement to pay the bills. 

 

* I’m still collaborating on some projects that were unfinished before my departure. So in some respects, being retired is often just like working, minus the pay (I don’t think I’m doing this right…) 

 

* Retirement is great. It’s definitely taking some getting used to. I echo your sentiment of it feeling like being on leave for an extended period and having in the back of my mind about having to go back eventually. I say it took me a good three months and a couple  of trips to get past that. 

 

* Actual retirement is WAY better than I even imagined. I was looking forward to retirement, but was still nervous about going through with it. I have zero regrets!

 

If you don’t mind sharing, what was your exiting TSP balance?

 

$1.2M 

 

* 1.2 million 

 

* My TSP balance was $1,380,592 on my retirement date of 7/31/2024. I took out $50,000 and my balance right now as of 11/20/24 is $1,434,463. 

 

* $1.5 Million 

 

*$840,000. I was a single income provider with 5 kids. I was slow with TSP at first because I couldn’t afford it, but made sure I always put in what they matched. At 50, started doing the make-up. Retired with no debt except the house, put three kids through college and one left to go. 

 

* A tad over $1.5M 

 

* TSP balance was approx.$431K on last day. Referencing my earlier response about ugly IRMAA and the two-year look back, I transferred half my TSP funds to a Fidelity Traditional IRA. So my overall retirement assets (TSP/IRA) was $901K. This accumulation was over 20 years. 

 

*  It was around 1.3M. It’s more now, and I have not taken any distributions yet. That 1.3M is after I took 2 TSP loans throughout my career (paid back years ago), and for a period of time (I can’t recall how long that period was), I only contributed 5%. I was 70C/30G my entire career except for the last 5 years or so, because that’s what someone told me to do when I was first hired on. I wish I would have had better advice at that young age and gone 100% C my entire career, I’d have a much higher balance. 

 

*  The final balance of my TSP will be approximately $650,000. Should be much more, but like an idiot, up until 2010, I did not understand TSP and only put in about $250 per paycheck. That is embarrassing to say. I cannot go back and beat myself up, but I do think about what could have been. 

 

* $385,000. Single income in high costs of living areas takes its toll.

 

* $1.25M + $400k Roth IRA that I only started contributing to when I was hired. I feel IRA contributions should be emphasized more to new employees because they supplement the TSP nicely even for high wage earners. Many high earners don’t know about back door Roth and think they can’t contribute after they become ineligible to contribute directly. 

 

* I made two major mistakes. Never touch your balance. Put in C when you start, don’t mess with it!!!!!!!

 

*  $875,000- I feel I would have been easily over $1 million if I didn’t get scared and conservative following 2008 

 

*  I was just a normal government worker. I started as a seasonal GS2 firefighter in 1986 and retired in Feb 2024 as a GS12. At retirement, I had just entered the millionaire club. I also had an outside ROTH, mutual funds, and two rental houses. 

 

* $1.2M * $1,202,840 

 

* $970k. I was in a L2030 for a large portion of my career, not going 100% C until maybe my 10 year mark. I also went a little more conservative on my last year so as to keep more in the tank. 

 

* $521,000 

 

* Just barely reached the double comma club. And have watched it grow since, without me doing a thing. 

 

* I started as a GS5 and retired as a GS9. My TSP is $50,000. I’ll probably shut that down and roll over everything to my personal Fidelity Accounts before the end of the year. 

 

* $977,936.00 

 

*$904,000, man I wish I had been in C and maxing…

 

* About $675K, but I also have a Roth IRA that predated my FERS job, and additional post-tax non tax-advantaged savings. My TSP allocation was always more conservative than is commonly recommended; the IRA was 100% in stocks. The IRA grew much more over the years on a percentage basis. I understood the tradeoffs I was making, and I’m satisfied where 

 

*  At my retirement date I was at $600,000. 

 

* 1.6 million

 

*     At the time of retirement, I had $883K. As I’m writing this response, my balance is over $1M (no withdrawals). 

 

I know we could always use more money, but specifically, do you think your annuity, supplement, and TSP are covering your expenses ok? 

 

TBD 

 

* I live in a high cost of living area and could live on my annuity/supplement, but it would be tight. I could only do this because I have no car payment/other loans except my  home mortgage and the usual expenses.  Because I like living how I was when working for the gov, I pull out a measly 2% (actually slightly less) per month out of my TSP. I work part time to give me something to do and to splurge on something I may want. I feel very secure with my income  streams. 

 

* I don’t have enough data yet, but I believe I will be fine. I am working so hope to not access the TSP only for pleasure expenses going forward. 

 

* Yes. While I am not saving like I was prior to retirement, I have had no reason to dip into my TSP to supplement my current take  home. 

 

*Yes. I haven’t started taking TSP yet but could if I needed to. Just don’t need to yet. 

 

* Not able to answer after 16 days out of the govt sector. I will however be able to share an opinion in next year’s Survey. 

 

* Haven’t started receiving my annuity/supplement/TSP withdrawal yet, but my calculations say I’ll have enough to sustain my desired level of expenditures. 

 

* Yes. I don’t even plan on touching my TSP for the foreseeable  future. 

 

* Yes, I feel like the 3-prong approach to retirement is adequate to support my daily life. Granted, I am in a very different personal situation than the average retiree, in that I am single with no kids, and no bills (and no regrets! LoL). That being said, I do have 3 mortgages - my retirement condo and 2 overseas properties, so I am not 100% debt free. But even  with the three mortgages, I would have been completely fine with my post retirement salary and monthly TSP withdrawals. This new job definitely helps, and the goal financially is to get these mortgages paid off ASAP, so I can fulfill my real dream of becoming an international gypsy, spending 4 months in each location. 

 

* With my annuity, supplement and TSP, I think I will be just fine. All my major financial obligations are gone (with the exception of mortgage and owe less than $120,000 on a piece of property that is worth just over $1 million. 

 

* My annuity and supplement cover my expenses minus paying off consumer debt. I’m three months post-retirement, and 90% of that debt is paid off with my annual leave payment and new income. After next month, I will maximize retirement account funding for the next few years before retiring. My TSP balance is not included in my retirement income until after age 65 or so.

 

 * Yes: I tracked my expenses for three years on a monthly basis, so I have a pretty good understanding of how much I’ve been spending. I do not expect to be drawing anything out of the TSP and other savings for a while, and if / when I start, it should be comfortably under 4% per year. The foregoing is my human brain talking. The lizard brain feels like a pioneer about to cross the Great Basin Desert in a covered wagon, wondering if the water sloshing in the barrel will last.

 

*  Yes. But my wife and I both have post-retirement employment. I’m not taking TSP withdrawals yet, but I’m not afraid to do so when the time comes. I’m a “Die with Zero” follower. 

 

* Being young and retiring changes this statement. Unless you have no bills, the annuity likely wouldn’t be enough retiring at 50 or earlier without taking on a new job. I think if you retire at 55 or older, it would be just fine in most circumstances.

 

* They would not cover my expenses because I have one kid in college and another in private high school who will be going to college in a couple years. My wife works full time, so we could make it work with just the pension, but funding college would be  much harder.

 

* I believe they will afford for me to get a job that makes me happy to do that I don”t have to worry about the money. My quality of life will stay the same as I was at a GS13-10. 

 

* Yes. We have been living on the pension, supplement, and my wife’s salary. Before I retired we didn’t have any debt except a mortgage and car payment. We haven’t touched the TSP. I purchased a new vehicle recently as a reward for surviving twenty-eight years as a local/federal LEO. I will be taking a one-time partial distribution in the near future from my TSP balance to pay off my wife’s car. 

 

* So far, we are doing well without tapping our TSP’s or collecting social security, largely due to our income from our rentals. If we were just living pm our government retirement three legged stool, life would be a bit more restricted. 

 

* No. For the lifestyle we want to live (which is not extravagant) the supplement and annuity ($77,079) are not enough. I could start drawing from TSP to bridge the gap, but am still able to work, and can’t think of sitting in the rocking chair at this point. View age 56-65 as still prime earning years and am looking to start a new 401k and increase overall retirement savings in the upcoming years. 

 

* I wish my retirement would have been enough to cover my FEHB monthly payment, but it is what it is. That 4.4% contribution bites a little bit, compared to those only contributing 0.08%! 

 

* Yes. I had a general idea of my monthly budget before I retired but now I have a clear number and my annuity/supplement covers the basics. If I incurred larger expenses for travel, vehicle purchase, etc. I’d have to obtain that from part-time work or I just tap TSP. And both are viable options so life if good. 

 

*  My father and brother are both retired law enforcement from the state of California. Obviously, their retirements are structured differently, but they take home basically the same pay being retired as they did while working. This is was what I looked for as far as numbers for myself in retirement. With my annuity, supplement and if I were to draw from TSP, I could meet that goal and take-home close to the same amount. Retirement  seemed like a no brainer to me.  

 

* I have not made any TSP withdrawals because I have a retirement job which is covering expenses. 

 

*     If you are in the private sector (or looking to get into the private sector), how did you find/are you finding the experience of job-hunting? Did you hire a resume service, or some sort of job placement consultant?  I did not and am finding how underqualified I am for anything  other than LE. 

 

* I learned that despite my credentials from my old job, it was harder to get a post- retirement job (I wasn’t already looking for one before I retired). I hired out for my resume because I didn’t feel like doing it, it was not expensive and was worth it. I have found jobs on Indeed and also from retired coworkers who are already in the business I’m in now part time. I’ve also learned that many post-retirement jobs out there will disappoint you with the pay they offer. 

 

* The job hunting was not fun. No on the resume and consultant. Used LinkedIn and a lot of word of mouth.  * I wrote several resumes myself based on positions I thought I would enjoy. I was offered a part time position as an instructor but the company failed to make good on its promise of scheduling therefore the job never came to be realized. When I discovered that additional pay was not at all necessary based on my actual take home, I decided not to pursue any further employment. 

 

* Job-Hunting was awful. It was not fun at all. I looked, networked, applied and even had some interviews. I did not hire a resume service, but several colleagues provided examples and I modeled it after theirs. Since the annuity, supplement and TSP would be enough and I wanted to maintain my flexibility, I ended up finding some contract work through networking and do substitute teaching when I want. I really want the flexibility instead of another big income, commute and headache of another career. Here is advice I received from others: Resume

 Some hire it done, some get ponies from those who have already gone before and modify as such

 Algorithms and AI’s screen most of the resumes, so having key corporate words are important  Match the resume to the vocabulary in the job posting

 Have multiple resumes depending on what you are applying for

 Key terms to highlight depending on what sector you are applying for: economic espionage, training, public speaking, policy, workplace violence, active shooter, cyber. 

 Don’t just put worked investigations, but highlight important ones to stand out  For most companies try to keep it at 2 pages max

 Make sure your wife can understand it Networking

 EVERYONE said this is key.

 When applying to a company, see if there is already someone there who is retired from your agency or federal LE and contact regarding your application.

 When applying to jobs at the six-month mark, let your network know you are available and looking.

Types of Jobs  Security  Contractor  Consulting  Investigations  Overseas Instruction  INL Overseas  ICITAP Overseas  Own business  PI  Smaller Private University Teaching  Own/Manage Real Estate/Home Inspections  Nuclear Lab  BICS  RSP Things to

Consider  Geography, where you want to live  How stressful of a job do you want to have  Research your next job as if it was your job (put in the effort)  Quality of life you want to have  How many interviews are you going through…will you have that many bosses?  Pick the “what” of the job over the amount of money to be received  It’s not all about the salary, as much as the total compensation package  Think of getting an outside coach to prep you for interviewing for corporate  Do what you want, look at things outside your experience or wheelhouse  Identify what you want, what you need to get it and then do your best to get it  Research companies and their culture  Take every interview  Avoid telling a salary requirement 

 

* I was fortunate to receive and accept a job offer in the private sector a couple of months before retiring. I did utilize Eric Vento  (Government to Private) to assist with my resume. 

 

* I was contacted by a former colleague who knew I was retiring and who recommended me for the job I’m currently in. I applied for a LOT of jobs not only in private sector, but also quasi-government (UN, NATO, INTERPOL, EUROPOL), etc, and was constantly getting generic rejection emails for jobs I knew I was OVERLY qualified for. It was frustrating, but more so, it was extremely HUMBLING. I can honestly say that most retired FEDS that I know got their fancy private sector jobs by either knowing someone or getting really really lucky. My advice would be to start networking early on and make those connections. Our experience/expertise is valuable, but does not translate quite the same, or into what we think it should, in the corporate world. I did use a resume service to help to tailor my GOV experiences into private sector language for this specific job. 

 

* I will retire Dec 28, 2024. I am going to take a few months and just relax. I have already signed up to help deliver meals with Meals on Wheels. I have planned a few trips. After, I may find something part time.  * I joined LinkedIn and upgraded to one of their paid subscriptions. 

 

* I am in private service. The job hunt was ruthless. I applied for approximately 150 jobs and did not receive a single interview. I hired a very helpful resume service. Despite my best efforts, I could not translate government law enforcement experience into anything corporate.  Initially, I struggled with what I wanted to do after leaving government service. Deciding and targeting an industry was the best thing I did. I connected directly with recruiters and backchanneled my way into my job. Those efforts landed me around 20 interviews and an accepted offer. In the end, I replaced my GS salary, resulting in my getting a 40% net pay raise to retire.

 

* Job hunting for a traditional job isn’t easy for me despite nice prep by the Department of State. In the final two months of employment at the Department of State, employees can take a “job search/retirement transition” training course that includes financial advisors and one- on-one consultations with a job placement consultant who helped me nicely with creating a professional CV and LinkedIn profile. I have found that past networking helped me get post-retirement gigs so far. I have only been retired for a month but I am now working as a visa consultant for immigration law firms, which is keeping me surprisingly busy and is surprisingly lucrative. I am also preparing to be an independent contractor doing U.S. government background for the State Department.

 

*  The job search was awful and I started early than most. It has simply been brutal since late 2023. Competition is so fierce, that unless you have a pull from the inside of the place you are applying, you are likely to not even get past the application phase. I hired a resume person who was expensive but was focused on LE transitions. Was it worth it, who knows. I got a job, he did “coach” a little. But the price was high. I tell guys, just ask me for  the template and buy me a pop.

 

* I don’t want to work right now. I don’t need to work. I’m making up for lost time with my family and friends. I will volunteer in the future. 

 

* I wanted to live on my annuity and supplement only. I set a budget based on monthly expenses including supporting my two youngest sons with room/board while going to community college. The budget took all of my annuity and supplement. I did not expect multiple large lump sum payments such as home/auto insurance, taxes, medical bills, etc. Those routinely happened for the first 6 months of my retirement and broke my budget each month. I supplemented with rental income and have been fine. I have not tapped into my TSP which continues to grow at a crazy rate. 

 

* Getting job interviews was a lot harder than I thought. I have a law degree and 25 years at FBI. I applied for jobs that I was clearly qualified for and got no response, which I found surprising. I got an interview at the job I took, partially because I knew someone who knew someone. It seems like that the way most people get the better jobs. I didn’t hire anyone to do my resume. Instead I got a bunch of resumes from other retired agents and took a little from each.  

 

* I tried some of the LinkedIn stuff for a bit, but found it cumbersome. I actually found a job being a high school JROTC instructor more by divine intervention than anything else. I think word of mouth job searches are better than a paid service (if you are only looking for happiness vice a golden parachute). 

 

* I recently began job searching. Finished the resume’ with the help of my son who has a MBA and works for a financial institution. 

 

* This past week I just turned down a contractor position offered to me. I was tempted, but my retirement mantra this first year is “I will not fail at retirement.” 

 

* Was hired at private sector company, Southern California Edison. Experience was more difficult than I expected. Used a resume service – wasn’t very impressed. Having a point of contact at the company is by far the most important factor! While I applied for numerous jobs, it was typically only the ones in which I had some 

 

* I am fortunate to help a high school friend in his tax business. I’m helping him with tax prep and a little Quick Books work. 

 

* I retired to take a private sector job. About five years prior to that I hired an outfit to frame up a private resume and a LinkedIn profile. Then I used some of the newer job search/resume tools (i.e. Teal) to further adjust my resume and help manage the job search. I was eventually recruited via LinkedIn for my current role. I applied to no more than ten jobs and had very few interviews. It was a slow process which I thought was going nowhere then out of the blue an opportunity appeared. 

 

* I wrote my own resume using samples from other retirees. I have been on Indeed and LinkedIn and had several successful interviews with large companies to where it was between me and another person for salaries that were high enough they made my head hurt. I am still interviewing but find that there is no pressure for me to take any job. I have, on several occasions, realized that a job I was interviewing for didn’t make me happy and just bounced. There is no reason for me to do something that doesn’t interest me and make me excited to come to work for my third career… (Army, FBI, private sector) 

 

* I’m not looking, but I know that I could have a private sector job in my field if I wanted it. However, I have zero interest in doing that much work and travel. I’m retiring because work interfered with what I want to do. For many fields, using a consultant to help in your job search would probably be helpful if you don’t have connections that you can leverage on your own. 

 

* I have not started doing anything just yet, kind of waiting to see what happens and  enjoying the retired life. 

 

What would you tell those considering retiring in the next few years? 

 

Do so as soon as you can. 

 

* Invest aggressively. Then invest some more, especially if you’re over 50. Make it a priority to take care of yourself financially. Stop buying things to keep up with the Jones’ and incurring more debt. You can buy almost whatever you want with your TSP when you’re done working. Also, network like crazy as you never know who you may rely on in the future. 

 

* Retire when you are ready. If it means getting out at 50 then do so. If your situation is good then stick around a little. The retirement process is not that hard so don’t be afraid of it and the money on the retirement side is good. 

 

* If you are still enjoying it, stay as long as you want. If you have those two bad days in a row it is lost time – leave to enjoy the little time on Earth you still have. Be prepared to figure out rewarding  ways to fill your days. 

 

*Do it. Take the Leap of Faith. Plan. Do it when it feels right for you. Only you can answer when that is and what you do next. When looking at what you want to do next, make sure it is something you WANT to do and not for $$. 

 

* Run your numbers. Have someone else run your numbers. Take seminars to become familiar with the retirement process and the after-(work)life. Save cash for the few months of no income post-retirement. Stop messing with the TSP funds (keep it in C, don’t panic). Maybe implement the Barbell strategy to feel better. Try to pay off big debts. Try to not take on new big debts. All basic stuff. Take up/reconnect with a hobby that is sustainable and could flourish in retirement.

 

 * Be prepared ahead of time. 

 

* Do your homework, crunch the numbers. John Gutsmiedl’s spreadsheet that you can download from Chris’s site is eye opening! It is a great way to run your numbers, and create different TSP scenarios, to see that you really can (and should) retire when you are eligible. You’ll never be more valuable in the private sector (if that is your goal) than you are at first eligibility. Also, as mentioned above, start making those connections if you want to work post-retirement. Don’t rely on the fact that you are a SAC or GS-15 to land you a job. And start thinking dynamically about the way you handle scenarios, as I notice that interview questions are no longer “tell me why your experience makes you the best candidate for this job” and more like “tell me about a time when you had to resolve a conflict with a teammate” etc….. 

 

* I will tell them that your agency doesn’t need you as much as you think they do. Someone will fill in your spot and they will keep moving without you. Loyalty is no longer rewarded. 

 

* If you plan to work after retirement, start on your resume and build those relationships with others who have recently retired. Networking with the private sector and other retirees will do more for your job hunting than a paid job placement service. 

 

* Decide what you want to do and use your current government service to give you experience in the afterlife. I did a three-month TDY to an administrative service of the FBI, which directly resulted in my obtaining a great offer of employment. It's not very exciting but very insightful and valuable to outside entities. 

 

 

* Educate yourself on finances or hire a professional. Max out TSP, max out IRA.

 

* If you like your current job, then stay. Don’t stress about to stay or not to stay. However, NO ONE has ever regretted retiring that I know of. You simply are leaving money on the table if you stay. Start the job search (definitely prep) 6 months prior to your retirement date, if not earlier. Only the few have it work out perfectly of new job/retirement same time. Know your exact sick leave/time off award balance and then start tracking when you need to take that (if at all) so it can occur

 

* Max out the TSP ROTH. Open an outside ROTH. Get out of debt. Stay out of debt. Fund your emergency fund. Plan ahead so you meet the 5-year health insurance rule. Retire when eligible and if you need money, go get a part time job you love. Consider your ability to “self- fund” long-term care.  

Before taking money out of the C fund with the intention of reducing risk during retirement, consider how much time you have in retirement. I retired at 57 years old. I have another 30-year “career” worth of time to ride the up and down waves of the market. I feel it is too early for me to have to “minimize risk” just because I retired, especially given my lifestyle allows me to live comfortably on my pension+supplement, social security, and rental income.

Upon retirement I diversified within the TSP funds at the advice of my adviser but remain heavily invested in the C fund. I also diversified outside investments and have the diversity of two rental houses.   Do what is best for YOU, not what you think the government needs from you. You are replaceable, you will eventually be replaced, your replacement will do the job the way they want to do it; no need to hang around to make sure the new employees understand the job and it is highly unlikely there will be any job shadowing/overlap/mentoring between you and your replacement.

 

* Start networking now. Keep in contact with all the retired Agents you know who went on to other jobs when they retired. Reconnect with high school friends, college friends, fraternity brothers, extended family etc. One of those people might help you find a job. Start getting your resume together and start a Linkedin page. On the other hand, if you plan to start your own business or doing something else in retirement, start working on the plan now. 

 

* I don’t think I can be a good voice for this just yet. 

 

* Do your own research from a financial standpoint. If you love the job stay with it. If you wake up in the mornings and dread going to work, it may be time to retire. Being a LEO is dangerous enough when you’re fully committed.  * Same thing you say Chris, max out TSP contributions in the funds that are acceptable to your level of risk (I left mine in the C fund. In fact, they are still there, though I am considering the G fund as a haven during this crazy election time. 

 

* Maximize your Annual Leave balance so your buyback helps with expenses during the transition. 

 

*  Make sure you’ll understand your monthly cash flow once your paycheck stops. And make sure you’re paying estimated taxes to avoid surprises in April! 

 

* If you are retiring to another job consider building in some time off between the two. Also, give some serious thought about whether you need to work full or part time. I’m working full-time but I now realize that I’d do fine financially with a part- time role while also doing more of the things I enjoy. 

 

* Start planning now. Run your numbers now. Mark on the calendar 8 months out from your retirement date and get all your professional items dealt with at that point.. ie, LinkedIn account, resume, etc. Make sure you are reading the Barfield newsletters!!! 

 

* Start tracking your spending (all of it) if you aren’t already. I’m not saying start budgeting, but you have to know what you are spending to make an informed projection of what retirement will be like for you financially (and you may realize you need to work a little longer). I saw a Reddit post from someone who retired with $600K in his TSP, but he was pulling about $60K per year out. You don’t want to be that person. Retire TO something, not FROM something. Seriously game out what you’re going to do with your life when you retire: six months after you zero out your salary, you don’t want to be sitting watching daytime TV trying to remember what day of the week it is.   

 

*  Do your research. Run your numbers, either on your own or through RABAS. This will give you peace of mind. Keep contributing to your TSP. You’ll know when the time is  right for you, but if you can, go when you’re eligible. 

 

What would you tell those 20-somethings that are just starting their federal careers? 

 

Feed the TSP and learn about your pension and benefits. 

 

* Again, invest aggressively until it hurts a bit. Then invest a little more. Put more $ into that TSP with every step increase and raise. Make it a priority to take care of yourself financially. Invest in equity funds in TSP. Keep your social media clean and respectful, you never know who is watching now or who will watch you in the future. 

 

* Work hard and enjoy the job. There are not many jobs that can give you the experiences that Federal law enforcement can give you. TSP: ALL C FUND and as much as you can afford early in the career to maxing out when there is a little bit more money. 

 

* Be darn sure you know what you are getting into before applying. Once hired, aggressively maximize your investments (specifically your TSP). Take advantage of your agency (to include all training and travel opportunities), earn your pay but don’t let the agency  take advantage of you. 

 

*Try different things. Navigate your own career path. Talk to veterans to learn more about how and what they did. Figure out what makes you happy and go for it. Don’t be discouraged when your first, second and third plans fail. Keep swinging because sometimes it takes until plan 15 until you get what you want. Always try to improve yourself. Don’t stale. TSP from the get go and let it ride. 

 

* Invest in Roth until Uncle Sam takes it back 

 

*  Max out the TSP—ASAP. Put it in C. Keep it there. Don’t panic. Don’t mess with it. Don’t take out TSP loans, unless it’s an absolute must for life/home/food. If the loan is a must, then pay it back in 5 months or less. And for the love of all that is good, don’t take out “penalty-free” withdrawals, just because the government let’s you, to buy a new car/swimming pool/living room set. 

 

* Max out your TSP in the C Fund and let it ride through the good and bad years. There will be far more good years than bad. 

 

* Set and forget your TSP at 100% C and leave it alone. Learn about the FERS retirement early on, rather than wait until you are 5 years out. Start getting Chris’s newsletters now. 

 

*  Always have an end game. Max out your TSP and implement a strategy that you are comfortable with. Look at other investments opportunities as well. Make sure you put yourself and family first and not your job. Do not abuse your leave. I am retiring with just over 2,900 hours of Sick Leave. My first supervisor told me that Sick Leave was like an insurance policy. You never want to have to use it unless you really need it. I used a week of Sick Leave back in 1998 when my father was ill and suffered from cancer. That was the last time. 

 

* Max out as soon as you can and leave everything in C. 

 

* It goes by fast. Invest in the TSP early and aggressively. Enjoy your service but be ready to walk away.

 

 

* Max out TSP (100% C), max out IRA, control debt. Understand your retirement system from Day 1. Join LinkedIn early, take networking seriously, at least starting in mid-career.

 

* C Fund 100%. Try to max it early and let it go untouched. Get 30 year term life now when rates are low (private company, not the G insurance). Enjoy a stable employment for your career without  fear of being laid off.

 

* Use the “Barfield Method”: max out the TSP in the ROTH C fund and let it sit. Be intentional about career development; don’t stay in one place too long without an upgrade; unless you truly love your job. If you choose to stay out of Management, understand the younger employees who like to climb ladders will be your boss because you opted out of being theirs. If you opt out of Management, you forfeit being able to complain about Management.  Don’t climb ladders too quickly...start at the bottom, become a competent and well-rounded employee, study leadership, then move into Management.

 

* Get all your money in the C fund and leave it there for at least the first 10 years, maybe longer. Take advantage of all the opportunities that being and agent permits (e.g. SWAT, ERT, foreign travel, medic training, pilot training, special events, TDY’s.). These all make for a more meaningful career and give you lots to talk about in post government interviews. 

 

* I have been telling a GS-7 OST to get to at least employer matching contributions in her TSP. She is only contributing 1% as she doesn’t have a lot of money. 

 

* Ask questions. Specifically, ask questions of management. Make sure what you are being told is correct. If something doesn’t seem right from a legal or tactical position get a second or third opinion. If something goes wrong, executive management will not have your back. If it’s your case or operation, you own it! Have hobbies or things you enjoy away from work. Spend time with your family. Your family will be there when you retire. It is a job not your identity! Have a faith system. The horrible things you will see and experience in a twenty-year career is difficult. My faith in Jesus Christ kept me grounded. I may not understand everything but He does. Financially, invest as much as you can afford into the TSP. You don’t have to live in the nicest house or drive the newest car. Keep debt down to a minimum. 

 

* Have fun. Take care of the people around you. Develop relationships to last a lifetime at work, church, professional associations, golf courses, trails, volunteer opportunities, and especially in your family. Max out your TSP, all in on the C Fund, and leave it there. Consider putting part or all of it in a Roth. Exercise and eat healthy foods. Moderate your alcohol intake or quit altogether. Subscribe to Barfield Financial newsletters and follow along on YouTube and Facebook 

 

* Develop a deliberate plan to fund TSP. While it may be tough in the beginning, ensure you start with no less than 4% to take advantage of the match. Be diligent to work towards maxing out. Again, may not be immediate, but develop a plan to get there at some point. Avoid Lifecycle funds. Go 100% into combinations of ‘S’ and ‘C’ funds only, with majority in ‘S’. Ignore chasing the market, subscribing to TSP advisory services. Don’t try to actively manage to ‘beat’ the market. Take advantage of the relationships you develop throughout your career. Well before KMA, talk with retirees about their retirement journey and what they like about the jobs they are in. If there is a company/position you are interested in, find a way to make a personal connection within that company. Having an informal sponsor will significantly aid in the application/interview

 

 * Put aside as much as you can afford in a Roth TSP. If you don’t feel comfortable going all in the C fund, use the Lifecycle fund matching your 67 th birthday. At least you’ll be capturing a lot of 30-year stock market growth! Oh, and buy the High Deductible FEHB insurance and try to save the maximum HSA amount annually so you will have enough saved up in case of an emergency later in your career. (Triple Tax Savings) 

 

* Feed your TSP and protect your biggest asset – your job. Do good work and pick a lane (i.e. cyber, financial, training, etc) that interests you and excel at it. This not only opens doors for you and mixes things up while on the job but could result in a decent retirement job, if that’s what you want.  * Mazimize your TSP, leave it all in C, don’t touch it again until retirement. None of us should ever have to work after retiring from the govt. Is feels like black magic when you see what your financial situation looks like upon retirement and you realize how little you have to do for the rest of your life to live comfortably. 

 

* Find a way to save early in your career. The automatic 5% to TSP helps, and you should definitely not opt out of that. Increase it as soon and as much as you can. Over half of TSP accounts have less $50K in them, and 85% have less $250K. You need to rise far above the norm. Don’t be discouraged by the slow increase in your balance initially. It took me 13 years to cross the $250K threshold; after another 8 years I passed $500K, and by then saving outside the TSP was soaring, too (I didn’t max out my contributions at first; I just put in enough to get the full match). Most of the growth in your savings will happen decades from now, but you need to get the seeds in the ground ASAP to realize the harvest later. It is very easy to put off serious saving until tomorrow, but then tomorrow never comes (h/t Garth Brooks). Knowing what your expenses are is empowering, because it enables you to see what you’re spending money on and identify possible areas to cut. 

 

* TSP, TSP, TSP!! This is basically the biggest variable that you can control with respect  to your income in retirement. 

 

What resources did you use to get retirement/post career guidance? And would you recommend it to others?

 

You and the FERSGuide. 

 

* Barfield Financial, Dan Jamison (buy his annual book on Amazon!), John Gutsmeidel (amazing and very helpful spreadsheet—I kind of miss doing it now). These three guys I credit to allowing me to retire when I did (thank you!!!). Online publications such as FedImpact and already retired friends/coworkers. I also consulted with my HR person & used my agency’s online retirement platform to get a rough estimate (I can’t even remember at this time what it’s called!). I’d recommend ALL of these resources and have done so ad nauseum to my prior coworkers. 

 

* Barfield Financial was one of the biggest for retirement. Thank you for all you do. 

 

* Other than the financial guidance I referred to above, I received no professional guidance. I only spoke to other retirees. 

 

*  I interviewed over 30 friends who had retired. I sent them about 4-5 questions and then they either sent me responses, we chatted, or went out to lunch. It is geared toward FBI retirees, but there are nuggets here for everyone.

This is what they said and it helped me a lot:

1 year to 6 months out

 Fersguide (Read it, know it, live it)

 Chris Barfield’s website (review for best practices and financial information), barfieldfinancial.com

 Attend a retirement seminar

 Join Society of Former Special Agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, socxfbi.org or whatever organization for your agency

 Join, attend meetings and download directory for FBINAA, fbinaa.org

 At the end of your calendar year before you retire, ensure you are at the cap for AL

 Last year before you retire, try to use SL as much as possible

 Max out the catch up on the 401k

 Have a resume or CV ready to go at the six month mark

 Start applying to jobs at the six month mark

 Drop paperwork between 60-90 days out

 Download/Print: HR file; pay stubs if you want; yearly evals; training records; SOPs, ponies, etc.; phone numbers.

 Get any and all certificates you might want in the security, cyber, compliance realm before you get out.

 Volunteer to help the Public Outreach with presentations. Don’t solicit jobs, but approach it if someone asks as you are retiring soon.

 Pay attention to your military time, if you paid it back to ensure accuracy

 Build up savings in case you need it if you are not replacing income with another job due to OPM time delay, unless you are counting on using your AL payout.

 Know that OPM doesn’t always take out the State tax on your pension, so plan accordingly.

 Getting the AL payout may change your tax bracket, plan accordingly.

 Keep under wraps within the BU, as much as possible, when you are leaving. 

 

* Chris Barfield Retirement estimate, YouTube, and personal spreadsheets. My agency was cheap about hiring a real person to talk about retirement. Instead, our VERY senior leadership uninterestingly pushed us to watch TSP videos on theTSP website and to attend the occasional and topical TSP webinars. Boring, scripted, and you get what you pay for. 

 

* Articles by Chris Barfield, Dan Jamison. Attended agency provided retirement-planning seminars. Talked to actually knowledgeable retirees and current employees. 

 

* Barfield Financial. I would highly recommend Chris’ services! 

 

* EVERY AND ALL THINGS CHRIS BARFIELD, and I purchased Dan Jamison’s FERS Guide many years before that. Also, John Gutsmiedl’s spreadsheet was GOLD! (available on Barfield’s site) 

 

*  There are a lot of resources out there. Need to make sure not to look things up for yourself. Find a trusted co-worker to bounce things off of. Find a trusted investment advisor. 

 

* There are a lot of resources out there. Need to make sure not to look things up for yourself. Find a trusted co-worker to bounce things off of. Find a trusted investment advisor. 

 

* I hired Al Malinchak with Eclat Transitions. He offers a package that provided resume services and interview preparation. He did an amazing job and is likely the reason I got the private sector job. 

 

* Your newsletters and website! Also, great resources from Department of State retirement seminars. Everyone should attend any retirement or financial seminars offered by their agency.

 

* Dan Jameson, Chris Barfield, other retired agents.

 

*  Talked with as many LE retiree’s as possible. They’ve gone before me – why not learn from their journey? 

 

*  Your website and articles. Dan Jamison’s FERS Special Category Employees book. John Gutsmiedl’s FERS Spreadsheet. I recommend these wholeheartedly. I also used a resume coach who also coached me on tweaking my LinkedIn profile. Both were very helpful. It was the best $1000 I could have spent. I used Summit Resume Service: https://www.summitresumeservice.com.  For post-career guidance, my advice is to try to reinvent yourself. Sure, you could get a RSP job, but, ugh, who wants to do that? It is more of the same with a marginal (IMO) increase in pay. Set your sights high and know your worth.

 

* You have to start networking way outside your comfort and friend zone months before you want to retire. This is tough at an old age as we think we know it all. Talk to everyone you can, even strangers, about their job search, tips/tricks and referrals if they can help. You will be surprised about how many people will talk  with you to pay it forward. 

 

* I took one government mid-career retirement course. Five years prior to retiring, I started taking free retirement seminars as I saw them in my government inbox – take the information but be very cautious about buying services or products. Don’t give 1-2% to a financial advisor, pay for an independent fixed-rate adviser to develop a plan for you. Remain in control of your money as you implement your customized plan. I finally found a fixed-rate independent financial advisor who was not selling anything other than financial advice. I found your newsletter to be very helpful and wished there had been something like it from day 1. Thanks for your service to us all! 

 

* I have been following you and Dan Jameson prior. 

 

* A retirement estimator spreadsheet, Barfield’s monthly newsletters/advice, and opinions from a CPA co-worker. Yes to all three. 

 

* Throughout my career I took advantage of all the retirement webinars I could. I talked to other people, both in and out of government, about investment strategies. I read a lot of GovExec.com articles (especially Tammy Flanagan), joined NARFE a couple years before retirement, and started subscribing to Barfield Financial newsletters once I learned of its existence. 

 

* I took the Late Career Retirement Seminar offered at work. It helped me understand the intricacies of all the government programs. One resource I learned at the end of that seminar is that there is a great financial guy at Barfield Financial. (That’s the truth, the presented suggested visiting your web site and I am glad I did.) 

 

* Barfield Financial, Dan Jamison’s book. 

 

*  The Jamison FERS Guide is good and authoritative, as are the articles at Barfield. Many web resources and calculators have subtle inaccuracies, so one has to be careful when looking for information online (this is particularly true for things like MRA +10, immediate and postponed). The OPM chapters are the final word, but (as of this writing) they were last updated in the late 1990s and they are not tremendously user-friendly. Don’t necessarily take statements from co- workers at face value: as I was heading out the door I had conversations with a number of people, and I learned there are a lot of misconceptions. I had some myself early on. 

 

* Honestly your website and newsletters having been my biggest source of information. I am constantly telling others to use the free info you put out there and to educate  themselves. 

 

What advice do you wish people would have given you when you  first started your government career? Read and understand the FERSGuide.

 

 * Invest your TSP with the equity funds and stay out of the others and leave it alone. Max out as soon as you can. 

 

* C Fund with no deviation 

 

* Keep a diary. Keep every name and phone number you are ever offered in order to build a network. Don’t be lazy – you will be remembered for your work ethic. Ask questions and find an effective mentor – even if he or she is an angry old curmudgeon  (my best teachers were). 

 

* TSP advice would have been helpful. When the market goes bad, don’t go to G. 

 

*  Max out the TSP—ASAP. Put it in C. Keep it there. Don’t panic. Don’t mess with it. Don’t take out TSP loans, unless it’s an absolute must for life/home/food. If the loan is a must, then pay it back in 5 months or less. And for the love of all that is good, don’t take out “penalty-free” withdrawals, just because the government let’s you, to buy a new car/swimming pool/living room set (I didn’t do this last part, but I know plenty of people who did). Yikes. 

 

* Set and forget your TSP at 100% C and leave it alone. Learn about the FERS retirement early on, rather than wait until you are 5 years out. 

 

*  When I started with GSA-OIG in 1989, all the folks in the office were nearly twice my age. There were a bunch of old school auditors and investigators. They were all a miserable bunch. But, I wish they would have told me to work to live, not live to work. The job is not the most important thing in your life. 

 

* Even if you think you will stay until mandatory retirement age, also consider financial preparations as if you are leaving at eligibility. 

 

*  Seek counseling. I experienced many things over my career that no one should ever experience. It is cumulative. It is corrosive. It will change you. The goal is to leave federal service and spend time with the ones you care about. You owe it to them to be the best version of yourself. Go to counseling. Take care of yourself. 

 

* Max out TSP (100% C), max out IRA, control debt. Understand your retirement system from Day 1. Join LinkedIn early, take networking seriously, at least starting in mid-career. 

 

* Enjoy the ride. You will do stuff almost 95% of people will never do in travel/work/personal. Life comes at your hard and too quick. Maximize your potential/advocate for yourself in training and opportunities. Don’t wait for someone to make it for you. 

 

* Government TSP “rules” are different than outside government retirement rules (i.e., the maximum contribution in TSP is far more than the $6500 or $7000 allowed for outside government IRA/ROTH). Start investing a minimum of 10% into TSP and increase the percentage every year. Invest heavily in C fund and DO NOT MOVE IT; DO NOT TAKE A LOAN FROM YOURSELF. Manage your career very intentionally.

 

* C fund only for first decade. Do TDYs and foreign assignments as early as possible. They are much harder once you have a  family. 

 

* I actually had really good people leading me throughtout the process. I hope I did as good of a job. 

 

* Feed the TSP and leave it in the C Fund. Get everything in writing or electronically. If it’s not on paper, it didn’t happen. 

 

* I did get the advice to max out my contributions to the TSP. I was not told to put it in the C Fund and leave it alone. Had I done that, I’d have a lot more money in my TSP now.

 

 * Can’t think of anything pertaining to retirement which I wasn’t already tracking. 

 

*  1. Don’t be afraid of the high deductible FEHB program. 2. Start saving in the ROTH TSP. The allure of saving a little bit on taxes annually is nothing compared to have to pay taxes once that account grows! 

 

* Max out your TSP, don’t touch it after. Bet it all on C. 

 

* Be risk-tolerant with retirement savings early in your career, but be open to re-assessing that periodically (at some point, volatility becomes a factor: it’s no longer just about the expected rate of return). Save as much as you can afford, then increase it by 10%. 

 

* A class or solid advice with regards to TSP would have been a game changer. 

 

Anything else you would like to share with current employees? (please be as free as you want here. They WILL benefit from your advice).

 

I think I said enough above!  Thanks again for what you are doing. I have a son in government service and another one who may enter into service. I assure you they see your newsletters! 

 

* I had the benefit of having had a really terrible job for three years before I came to the FBI. It made me appreciate the freedom and excitement of the job. When I was having a bad day or month, I would remember how much better the Agent job was than anything I had before. It gave me good perspective. Also, don’t let being an agent be your entire life. Do and be other things  along the way.

 

* I hope retirement will be at least 80% as good as I think it will be. Thank you sir. 

 

* Ask yourself why are you doing this job. Most of us got into Law Enforcement to make a difference in our communities. If you fall into that category, congratulations. We need more people like you. If/when you get to the retirement phase of your career take a long look at where you are. If you do not have the desire to put bad guys in prison or don’t enjoy the job any longer, it is time to retire and enjoy the fruits of your labor. 

 

* One thing I heard from people who preceded me in retirement is that they are so busy in retirement they don’t know how they found the time to work before they retired. It’s true. Also consider we all have an expiration date. My motto since I’ve been in my twenties is “I’m not here for a long time, I’m here for a good time.” That has served me well so far, and I have carried the mantra into retirement. Finally, a piece of wisdom my neighbor gave me last month: “The first part of retirement is “Go-Go,” when we are healthy and able to do most physical activities. The next part is “Slow Go,” when we no longer are able to climb all those stairs or play 36 holes of golf in a day. Cruises begin to have appeal. last phase is “No Go.” That’s when travel becomes impossible, whether it is to Europe or the local post office. How much funding will we need in total and in each of those three phases? 

 

* If over the salary cap, take advantage of LWOP to supplement the use of A/L. Have a plan to retire with an A/L balance well over the cap. Throughout my career people told me I’d have ‘no problem’ finding an extremely well-paying job post-retirement. With humility, I was extremely successful in my career and bought into the notion that multiple job offers would fall from the sky. This is absolutely NOT true. Large, private sector organizations (to include big tech) have no idea how to correlate federal LE experiences to private sector. Even writing a resume using terms that fit the job description is not enough. Find a connection within the company you want to work for and benefit from the assistance they can provide. 

 

* Be kind to your coworkers, especially the new employees. They’ll need to learn the ins and outs of your job – please make it easy on them! 

 

* One of the best things I have read is from Chris Barfield, I am paraphrasing but it was – The federal government ran before you got here, and it will run after you leave. As much work and effort you put into your job, no one will remember it in 5-10 years after you are gone. (or 1 year for some people lol) I have sacrificed weekends, evenings and years of my kids’ lives to the job and in reality no one but me cares about the contributions I made. Take the time to enjoy your family because when the job goes away, your family is still there for you. One of the main reasons I am leaving at 50 is that my children have known nothing but their father being gone for 50% of their lives while traveling for his job. I want to enjoy the last 5-6 years I get with them before they go off to college and make their own memories. These are the kind of things you can’t get back. 

 

* Always live beneath your means, because you never know when your means will change (for most of you, at retirement they will). Even before retirement, you never know when a funding lapse, AKA shutdown, will occur—or some other issue might develop. Having accessible savings in addition to the TSP is important. If offered a QSI, in most cases it is worth it, even though the immediate return is smaller than a cash performance award. Being 100% in the C fund is okay when you’re 40, but it is reckless when you are just a few years before retirement. Read the barbell articles.

 

The C fund can easily be down 10% in a given year, and it does not necessarily bounce back in the next year after that. I had a friend at work who postponed his retirement because his 100% C balance dropped a lot in 2022 and he no longer felt comfortable leaving. He was okay by the end of 2023, but if it had been another down year, he would’ve had to postpone further. The last thing you will want to do when you are ready to retire is work another year or two. Always take the hard road—don’t go easy on yourself. It will pay dividends later. IYKYK. Don’t stay at work too long. As gardeners know, there is a seasonal aspect to life and growth. Some tasks, if not done on time, have to be put off until next year. Unlike with gardening, we only get one set of metaphorical seasons: don’t be working so far into fall or winter that you miss the window for important activities that you’ve been looking forward to. 

 

* Thank you for all you do, I know your knowledge helped me and I’m sure countless others. I know the agents and mission support in the Border Patrol, at least where I was in Arizona and California, could use more pre-retirement classes. I hope to share my  experience with them if I can get the opportunity. 

 

* When I joined the FBI 20+ years ago, it seemed like the Agents at that time stayed until mandatory age. Now, more and more are leaving as soon as they are eligible. If I had thought more about leaving at 50, I believe I would have made better choices (like seeking financial advice) resulting in more financial stability. 

 

*  Always remember family comes first. The job will not be there when you need them the most. I’ve seen that first hand. I am with USMS and a regular administrative employee. We have had a few folks with my division (ITD) that have passed away due to illness and one getting hit while riding his bicycle. Nothing specialist was done for their families. In fact, current DAD for ITD was more interested in how quickly their position would be filled. No condolences to the families. 

 

* Seriously, do the math, crunch the numbers and go the earliest you can. I helped several colleagues fill out John’s spreadsheet and they were amazed at how much money they will make in retirement. There are other calculators out there to run different fiscal scenarios, but this spreadsheet is the gold standard. As Chris says, retire to something, not from something. I did find that I was a little bored for the 2 months between the time I retired and started working again.

I’m still not sure if working full time is for me, I’ll reassess my life after 12 months in this job. But there is so much relief and freedom now in knowing that I do not HAVE to work if I don’t want to, and that feeling is so satisfying. Two bad days in a row, and I’m out. Yes, the extra income is nice, but I can also live well on my pension + TSP + Supplement. It is really liberating to have options now that the golden handcuffs are gone. 2 random thoughts - not a single day goes by that I miss GOV, LEO or MIL nonsense. And, if private/corporate sector is the path you take, prepare to feel completely exposed, vulnerable and uncomfortable in the beginning. There is a steep learning curve and it’s genuinely hard to start over from scratch when you have been institutionalized for 20+ years. I definitely had to check my ego at the door. 

 

* Listen to those co-workers with successful careers and very  healthy TSP balances! 

 

* It’s just a job. It may be a totally awesome job, but at the end of the day, it’s just a job. We all do it/did it to be free of it one day and have a life that we want to live. Be loyal to your coworkers in the trenches with you, as well as to your family. Can’t put the family on the back burner all the time. It’s highly doubtful your coworkers will be there to wipe you up when you’re old, frail, and messing your pants.  

 

* 1. Fund your TSP and learn. 2. Start moving money at age 59.5 to Roth or Taxable brokerage firms while you can afford the taxes. 3. Introduce ugly IRMAA topic to those under 65. Glad ugly IRMAA can only choke us for one year at a time as it looks back 2 years. 4. Leave crappy old job sooner. 5. My annual leave cash out (296 hours) was included in my last working paycheck. I was expecting this payment to be separate. Hopefully your pay agency doesn’t dork up the Fed Tax deduction. 6. Be sure to have at least $100K in cash stashed away in the bank, your safe, or in the paint can in the garage. 7. I’ll give more next year. 

 

* Bosses come and go. Sometimes they will be good and sometimes they will be bad. They will eventually move on. Always be yourself, do what is right and speak up to right the wrongs. You can’t change your organization as a whole, but you can make a difference in your sphere of influence. Be that influence. Our organizations aren’t perfect, but we an always be a part of the solution rather than the problem. Don’t be a moaner, be a doer. At the end of the day, your reputation is what you have. Don’t give that away to anyone. Remember why you joined, who you really work for and leave it all on the playing field. When you’re done, MOVE on. Let it go.

Enjoy the next phase. Do NOT neglect your family. They will be the ones that will be there afterwards, unless you neglected them. They should always be your number one priority. Learn how to recharge your batteries. A career in federal law enforcement is a marathon. Learn how to work with everyone, from the mail clerk, janitor, other agencies, lawyers, bosses, secretaries. No one is more important than anyone else. It’s like an orchestra…every instrument is needed for the music to sound good. You are expendable. Become non-expendable through kindness, expertise and diligence. Then retire and don’t look back with any regrets. Don’t burn bridges. The person below you could be your boss someday. Always look to help the folks below you move up and ahead, as well as lead up as well. Have fun. Make the job fun. If you don’t, you are doing it wrong. 

 

* Remember every bit of advice you get – good or bad – to build an effective tool box. Find a niche in your office or agency that will cause others to seek you out. NEVER make a promise you can’t keep. You will often be remembered more quickly for the dumb  shit you do than the successes you have. 

 

* Learn how to network and make friends in every arena of your job (except for the unsavory types if you know what I mean). Take care of yourself mentally, financially and physically. There’s something to be said living with no drama; and if you mess with any of those three things, there’s gonna be drama in your life. Lastly, it’s great to retire young when you can still enjoy all aspects of life.