Hey everyone, thanks so much for joining us today on Facebook live we're here to
talk about Veera today so this is our Facebook live Veera Q&A session and my
name is Allen Perry and I'm a federal benefit and retirement specialist with
my fed benefits and what we're going to do today is try to help you with your
questions about the early-out opportunity it's often referred to as an
early out and just love to take your questions and get some feedback from
everyone so please feel free to ask your questions as we go along and I'm going
to try to follow along with you here and take your questions as they come in so
welcome tonight and we're glad to have you
so as we let people join in there's some folks joining in thanks so as we let
folks join in just want to talk to you a little bit about what Veera is so Veera
stands for voluntary early retirement Authority and it is something that is
offered to federal agencies and right now the one that we're talking about is
the one that's offered to the United States Postal Service so what we have
right now is a unique situation that's happened a few times and over time and
some people are excited about this opportunity and others just have a lot
of questions about it but what what Veera is is an opportunity for those
that may not have been otherwise eligible to retire to be eligible to
retire sooner without penalty so there are some pros and cons about taking a
Veera or the opportunity of a Veera and that's what we're here to address today
and we're looking forward to taking your questions as we go along but the the
basic crux of everything is that this is going to give folks an opportunity to
leave their place of employment right now without having to suffer any
penalties so under a normal retirement scenario people have to either qualify
for retirement in a few different ways so the first one would be by attaining
minimum retirement age and 30 years of service for FERS employees and for civil
service employees or reaching age 60 with at least 20 years of service or 62
with five years of service so often a lot of folks will be uninterested in
leaving early because the penalties for taking a retirement without hitting one
of those benchmarks is going to be something that's going to negatively
financial impact them for a period of time and so this early-out opportunity
gives people the chance to to leave early without suffering a penalty to
their pension so I've been helping folks and with their retirement and benefits
my whole career but in recent years with federal employees
and so I've been able to work with a lot of folks that work with different
government agencies over the years and in recent years I really focus a lot on
helping people that work within the postal service so love to take your
questions if they come in one of the things that I think is important to
realize is that you can reach us through our Facebook page and you can also reach
us through calling our office so as I'm looking to the side all the time I
realize that everyone said well it looks like I'm not looking at the camera but
it's because I'm looking at your comments so take a look around at that
we'll talk about some things here so what we've had is a lot of folks that
have had a lot of questions about the early opportunity and and so it is
coming to a time where there's not going to be an opportunity to take this once
the month of March has ended so there are some specific deadlines coming up in
March so what you have to do if you're still interested in accepting this veera
offer and retire from the post office sooner than you may have thought is that
you do have to have all of your paperwork submission received by shared
services by no later than 8:30 p.m. on March 23rd of this year so you don't
want to push that deadline but it is certainly an opportunity for you to
still have some time to take a look at it a lot of folks will be taking a look
at this that are between 50 and 60 years old is what the range is generally going
to fall in so the requirements for being eligible for the early opportunity are
to be at least fifty years old with at least twenty years of service and be a
clerk or a mail handler for the United States Postal Service if you don't meet
that requirement you can also have at least twenty-five years of service and
be any age now you should have received a packet that would allow you to
understand that you're eligible for this early ad opportunity if you're eligible
now the one thing that might have gotten in the way for you is that if you didn't
get one it might mean that the post office doesn't have your updated address
on file so if you haven't gotten why you've moved in recent years you may be
eligible for the Veera and not realize it because you didn't get the
documentation to show that you were so if you have moved in recent years and
you think you might meet those minimum qualifications for the early-out you may
still be eligible for it so give us a call or send us a Facebook
message if we can if we can be of assistance to you looks like I've got
some strange lighting going on here but I'll try to leave it just like that and
see if that works for us alright so we're going to be on here for the next
little while to talk to you a little bit about your questions and let's see if
we've got any coming in yet that I can notice over here
so we've got a question that asks if there is a penalty for using your thrift
savings plan before fifty nine and a half so one of the biggest
misconceptions relative to the Thrift Savings Plan is the fifty nine and a
half year old issue so one of the questions that comes up almost every day
for me is that people believe that with the Thrift Savings Plan that they can't
access their TSP until they're 59 and a half and I believe that's mainly rooted
in the fact that with most retirement plans like a 401k or with plans outside
of the TSP fifty nine and a half really is a magic number and it sometimes can
be with the Thrift Savings Plan as well but with the Thrift Savings Plan as long
as you retire during the year in which you're going to turn 55 or after the
year that you've turned 55 you can access your thrift savings plan without
penalty at any point beyond that there's also a way that a lot of people that are
considering this early out opportunity this veera opportunity to access their
TSP and that happens even for those that are 50 to 55 years old so if you're not
going to turn 55 this year and you are thinking about the the early out for
yourself you may want to understand that there is a distribution method that is
available to folks and it's a specifically designed benefit that
allows people to access their TSP before age 59 and a half but what it is
important about it is that you understand there are some specific rules
and regulations that apply to those types of distributions that you really
want to talk to a financial professional about to make sure that they understand
how it works and that they can help you or that we certainly can do that for you
as well but like a lot of people when I ask the question do you know where 401 K
comes from 401 K is just the regulatory code that directs that type of
retirement plan and the type of just that affects people that are under the
age of 55 or those that won't be 55 this year is called a 72 T distribution so
that just refers to the governmental code or the regulation code 72 section T
that allows for a specific type of withdraw so for anyone that's eligible
for this benefit you may be eligible for a 72 T distribution of your thrift
savings plan but it's very important that you follow those rules closely and
that you make sure that you're not subjecting yourself to any unnecessary
penalties or using your TSP in a way that's not going to be beneficial to you
but basically to go back to the the original question of 59 and a half there
are some benefits if you're still employed at the age of 59 and a half
where you can take what's called an age-based in service withdraw and an
age-based in service withdraws what allows you to access your thrift savings
plan if you're 59 and a half years old and still working so it's one of the
ways that you can access your TSP and one of the only times that the 59 and a
half rule comes into effect now if you're separating from service and
you're under 55 years old and you do want to access your TSP if you don't do
a 72 just t-distribution the only way that you're going to be able to access
that before age 59 and a half is with a penalty or the 72 t distribution so make
sure that you understand those rules very clearly so let's see if we've got
any other questions coming in that we can take right now
so let's address another issue that hasn't been asked yet but I think that a
lot of you will certainly have if you're not at your minimum retirement age so
minimum retirement age is determined by the year that you were born so a lot of
people that are gonna fall into this Avira
are either going to have been born after 1953 so those that fall in the category
of 1953 to 1964 your minimum retirement age is going to be 56 years old
that would be what your retirement age would be without the veera opportunity
if you were born in 1965 it's going to be 56 years old in two months and then
add a couple months for each one of those years until you get to 1970 and
then the minimum retirement age becomes 57 so one of the questions that's coming
up regularly is will I get the supplement now what I mean by the
supplement the supplement has a few different names so sometimes the
supplement is called the special retirement supplement sometimes it's
called the FERS annuity supplement sometimes it's called the FERS
retirement supplement sometimes it's called the Social Security supplement
although it has very little well it has nothing to do with the Social Security
Administration but is a factor of a Social Security calculation so relative
to the early odd opportunity that's going on right now those that are not at
minimum retirement age yet will become eligible to receive the supplement
whichever one of those terms you choose to use for it when they attain their
minimum retirement age so to give you an example someone that is 56 years old now
and born between 1953 and 1964 is going to be eligible for the supplement
immediately if they're eligible for the early out someone who's minimum
retirement age is going to fall into one of those later dates between 56 and 57
will become eligible for the supplement when they attain that men
time and age or if they're already there they're already there and those that are
under 56 years old right now that are considering this early out for example
if you're 50 years old and you were born in 1968 that would mean once you turn 56
years and eight months old you would start receiving the supplement at that
point so it's just something that's a very careful consideration that people
have to give because your income in those early years is going to be
directly related to your pension your supplement and whatever method you use
to distribute your thrift savings plan so in the early years for those that are
under minimum retirement age you've only got two channels of that distribution to
think about one of them being you're one of them being you're sorry I lost my
train of thought there for me so one of them being your pension or your FERS
annuity and the other one being your TSP so without the supplement it's often a
careful consideration that have people have to give and let's see here
looks like we've got a couple people here so so David what is Veera in the
early out so we started talking about this early on but the very early out is
an opportunity for certain clerks and mail handlers who meet minimum
eligibility requirements which are age 50 with at least 20 years or 25 years of
service at any age to be able to leave their employment sooner than they might
have thought so it's an opportunity to exit the post office on an unreduced
pension retirement so no penalties for retiring at this point that is what an
early out is and it looks like we've got a couple questions too
so also one of the things that you want to keep in mind is that over here on the
the right side of this chat window is some information so you can always use
the my Fed benefits Facebook page to send us a message and we'll be happy to
call you back and help you with any questions specific to your personal
situation you can also call our office at eight seven seven seven four one one
two five four you can also email us at info at mfb help.com info at MFP help
calm there's also a way on there that you can find someone in your local area
so we've got a spot on our web page where you can click on your state
wherever you're watching us from today and we've probably got someone that will
be able to take care of you locally and if not we'll certainly have someone that
can take care of you by phone so mister hit if you'd like someone to contact you
we'll be happy to do so just send us an email or shoot us a message on Facebook
or give us a call at eight seven seven seven four one one two five four and
someone will be happy to help you so what other questions do we have out
there today
so you're a carrier with 36 years of service and 64 so David you are eligible
for retirement you don't you don't need the early-out
to retire so it's 64 years of old you only had two you only had to have five
years of service to be eligible to retire so you're eligible and it would
make a lot of sense for you to just go ahead and take a look at what retirement
would look like today or what retirement would look like down the road for you
and if you give our office a call we'll be happy to help you with that
we'll be happy to see if we have someone in your local area that can sit down
with you individually to go over anything with you as well so yeah you're
you're completely eligible if you've got the thirty-six years of service and
you're 64 years old so we'd love to help you take a look at it you might be ready
to go you never know it's funny I talked to a
lot of people about retirement and a lot of folks don't realize that they're
ready for retirement most people realize that they're emotionally and physically
ready for a retirement but a lot don't realize that they're financially ready
for a retirement and so it's just really good idea to understand when you will be
and what it would look like and feel like if you did right now i see your
comment david yeah most people that I work with have had plenty of the post
office at this point so it used to be that most people tended to enjoy their
job but at this point it tends to be more like they're ready to go and if the
numbers make sense and they can enjoy retirement financially that they'll be
ready to go so we're looking forward to talking to you David now we've got a
question how long do you have to take advantage of the early opportunity so
that's a great question the opportunity to take care to take advantage of the
early out ends on March 23rd so if you have not submitted your paperwork at
this point you definitely want to think about doing it soon all the paperwork
has to be received by shared services by 8:30
p.m. on March 23rd if your paperwork gets there late you will not be able to
take the early out and I imagine they're going to be very strict about that time
line so it's something that you definitely want to take advantage of
soon to find out if it works for you so I'll talk to you a little bit about some
folks that it's worked for let's see here well actually what happens if I
don't have my nal chp for the required five years before retirement
so zona that's a great question let's take that one real quick first of all
one of the questions that comes up at the time of retirement for a lot of
folks is how do I continue my health insurance into retirement well as long
as you have been under a federal employee health benefit plan for the
five years prior to retirement then you're eligible to continue your
benefits into retirement one of the misconceptions is do you have
to have the same plan for the last five years so maybe you're under the NALC
plan or maybe you're under the blue cross national plan or maybe you were
under the combination of the two as long as you were under a plan that fell under
the Federal Employees Health Benefits umbrella which encompasses all of the
plans available to you then you are eligible to continue those benefits into
retirement so my question for you zona would be have you had any health plan
under the federal employee health benefit umbrella for the five years or
have you only been on a health benefit plan through the FE HB umbrella for less
than if the answer to that question is you've only been on it for less than
five years total under that Fe HB umbrella then health insurance is going
to be a very important consideration and may actually be a reason to extend your
employment but if you've been under one of those plans under the fe HB umbrella
then that wouldn't be one of the most important considerations now another
interesting topic relative to your health benefit plan
is what happens in retirement so zona I see yes you've been with Atma for 15
years in the NALC for two so as long as both of those plans fell under the fe HB
umbrella and you got them through your employment with the post office then
you've met that 5-year requirement even though you've been under the nal see
plan for only two years so if that is what you needed to hear to clarify your
decision for retirement then I hope that's good news for you but yeah if you
haven't had that plan for five years it's definitely something that you want
to take into consideration because in some cases like let's say maybe you were
covered under a spouse's plan for the few years leading up to now and then
once your spouse retired you started with the fe HB benefit plans it's
sometimes a reason to extend employment for a period of time to make sure that
you do have the ability to continue that employment and especially if you're
younger I mean considering this early ad opportunity which I know zona you
wouldn't be because I'm guessing you're a letter carrier since you're covered by
the NALC plan but if you're considering this early opportunity and you're you're
younger then certainly the continuation of health insurance is going to be a
very big deal so let's see we've got another question I'm a PSE been at the
post office for five years now I think it's a PTF but not sure how I can ever
retire and Leslie thanks for joining us today first of all I'm glad that you're
taking a look at your benefits early on in your career and yeah those PSA years
those certainly won't count towards your pension but as a PTF you are making
contributions into the retirement system and you're starting to build a plan
that's making you eligible for retirement so at some point in the
future as long as you continue on the path that you are on you are going to be
eligible to retire from the post office and you are going to be eligible for a
pension and the benefits that come to retirees so what I would encourage you
to do Leslie is to make sure that you are maximizing your benefit
because when you became a PTF you probably received a very thick blue
booklet and unfortunately very little support to go along with that so what is
really important is that you understand how all your benefits work how your
FEGLI benefits work how your TSP works and and really have something in mind
because working for the working for the the post office can be an incredibly
rewarding career but I see that you're not a PTF yet so if you're still a PSE
hopefully you get to PTF soon but even if you're a PSE what's important is that
you make sure that you are helping yourself
towards retirement at some point because even though you're you're a PSE you may
have some things that you can do that would be beneficial for you to help you
through the way so let's see gut Terry Nick I call our messaging that if
divorced in your former and spouse is a mail carrier opting for early retirement
and divorce order split pension what is required of the former spouse of the
USPS so so first of all I'm confused about that question a little bit because
the mail carrier wouldn't be opting for the this early out but if you're asking
the question in general terms if he's going to take an early retirement
the the Office of Personnel Management or OPM who administers all retirement
benefits for retirees from any federal agency is going to look at your divorce
decree and determine the actual calculation of benefits now if that
individual is retiring early it's going to potentially reduce their pension and
it's also going to decrease the amount of benefit that that former spouse is or
that that ex spouse is going to receive for lack of a better words I hope that
answers that question but again if you have any specific
questions about your specific situation especially when it comes to divorce and
everything like that it's really important that you speak with someone
that's knowledgeable about it and our benefit and retirement specialist all
around the country are happy to help you with that and Sylvia is the post office
going to offer this to any other groups so over time there have been this offer
made to other groups certainly so this specific offer is only for clerks and
mail handlers that meet the certain eligibility requirements so I'm asked if
I'm going to have information about early outs and this early out took
everyone by surprise including the American Postal Workers Union the mail
handlers Union a lot of folks didn't even realize that it was coming so often
there's very little notice that there's going to be an early ad offered there's
always almost always a rumor that there's about to be and there's
certainly often a hope for a lot of people that there's going to be but
until one is announced and until one's been formalized it's always just a guess
we we tend to get information very quickly when they can't they come out
but knowing in advance of them coming out rumors or rumors and we don't like
to speculate on the possibility that one might be coming because we found that
that rumors often aren't true and so keep your eyes open if you're in a group
that's not covered by this early-out and you're looking for it so let's see here
we've got a question that I resigned in 1989 had 19 years and eight months as a
clerk now 67 and just retired from doing 20 on another job private sector how do
I apply for that time or is there somewhere I can go talk to someone so
Jesse you may have some retirement Ben it's available to you and without trying
to understand your situation through a facebook chat what I would encourage you
to do is contact our office at eight seven seven seven four one one two five
four or email us at info at MFP help calm or shoot us a message on Facebook
and we would be happy to address your personal situation specifically because
if you've got some retirement benefits out there available to you we would sure
love to help you get them and we've certainly been able to do that for
people before so that would be great if you would give us a call so we can
understand your situation specifically let's take another question here and
says if I've added a plus one to my health benefit plans just this year and
I retire now are they covered throughout retirement or they have to be on my plan
for a certain length of time zona if you're eligible for retirement benefits
and you've got someone on your plan right now then they will also be
eligible for retirement benefits
all right let me see if there's any last-minute questions that we can take
but as you're taking a minute to do this thanks Roy we appreciate you chiming in
we're happy to help you any time if there's anything we can do for any of
you let me know so we're at our allotted time actually a couple minutes over so
let me just kind of wrap this up again the way we started so if you are
eligible for the voluntary early retirement or what most is commonly
referred to as the early out you should have received a thin blue booklet I know
everything's a blue booklet but you should have received a thin blue booklet
and separate from that you should have received an offer letter which included
what's called an annuity estimate they would have showed you some of your
retirement numbers if you didn't receive that and you think that you are eligible
for it then make sure that your address is updated with shared services and if
your address isn't updated with shared services we can even help you understand
if you're eligible and with all of the paperwork that you would need to accept
the early-out even though you haven't received what
you think you would probably need for it but again this earlier applies to clerks
and mail handlers that meet certain minimum eligibility requirements which
are age 50 with at least 20 years of service or 25 years of service in any
age as long as you you fall into that clerk or mail Handler group and it is
something that you really want to take a good look at and decide if it's right
for you or if it's not right for you and that's what my fed benefits does for
people every day in fact probably every day since around the 12th of January I
think it was that this was made available to people I've spoken with
someone and that includes Saturdays and Sundays my my phone is rang every day
since this early odd offer came around and it's been a pleasure to help all of
you and it does make sense for Salomon it doesn't make sense for others but
what's important is that you understand your specific situation and you make
sure that if this is right for you that you take it by March 23rd and when I say
take it by March 23rd I mean make sure that your paperwork is submitted to
shared services in time for them to by no later than March 23rd at 8:30
because you'd hate to miss this offer if it is right for you and even if it's not
right for you what's really important that you do is spend a few minutes
before you get to the point where you might retire to really understand your
own personal retirement situation and make sure that you're doing everything
you can to have the most enjoyable retirement possible and you know then
just to close it out you know for all the people that I speak with make sure
that if you can get out of the post office and you're ready to that you go
ahead and do it so I think there is no other questions that we have an answer
today but it's been a pleasure to talk with you all today and again I would
encourage you to contact our office if we can do anything for you at any point
and and don't wait till the last minute because they're just limited resources
the longer you wait so the best phone numbers to reach us at are eight seven
seven seven four one one two five four or contest contact us at info at mfb
help.com or shoot us a message on facebook and look at our Facebook page
for more of these live sessions coming up in the future and it's been a
pleasure to to have you again zona one last time the ages again are age 50 with
20 years of service or any age with at least 25 years of service so contact us
if we can be of any help to you it's been a pleasure to talk to y'all today
and have a great one thank you so much bye-bye
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