For Gen Z military families, navigating life in their early-to-mid 20s means wading their way through unique challenges that can get overwhelming pretty quickly. Between frequent relocations, long deployments, unpredictable life schedules and limited early-career earnings, financial planning is more than a good idea — it’s essential for long-term stability.

According to the Congressional Research Service, 40% of active-duty military personnel are age 25 or younger, right within the Gen Z age group. Yet these same service members face the brunt of frequent moves, deployments and today’s rising cost of living.

This guide is designed specifically for Gen Z service members and their spouses, helping them understand their financial situations, insurance options, avoid common financial pitfalls and build stable careers, all while dealing with the real-world pressures of military life.

Financial pressures Gen Z military families face

While budgeting, insurance and retirement planning are critical, it’s also important to get a real sense of the actual financial stressors younger military families are grappling with:

• Living paycheck to paycheck. Even with basic allowance for housing and basic allowance for subsistence, many junior enlisted families still find it hard to keep up with rising living costs. This becomes even more of a precarious situation when you add in dependents.
• Delayed reimbursements during permanent change of station (PCS) moves, creating short-term cash crunches.
• Limited emergency savings. The Military Family Advisory Network’s (MFAN) 2023 survey found 22.2% of military families had less than $500 in savings.
• Predatory lending, with high-interest auto or payday lenders near bases disproportionately targeting young servicemembers.
• Military spouse underemployment, leaving household income vulnerable when frequent moves disrupt career continuity.

MFAN also found that nearly 80% of respondents spend more on housing than they can comfortably afford, and 57% experienced a financial emergency in the past two years. These aren’t abstract concerns that most young servicemembers and their families can just ignore, hoping that they’ll never be impacted; these are everyday realities for Gen Z military families.

Insurance best practices

Adult life is just getting started in your 20s, and navigating insurance options can feel overwhelming. But taking the time to learn your choices will set your family up for a secure financial future.

• Life insurance: Most servicemembers are automatically enrolled in Service Members’ Group Life Insurance (SGLI), with Family Servicemembers’ Group Life Insurance (FSGLI) extending coverage to spouses and children. Review coverage annually. Also, compare options across SGLI, FSGLI and trusted military nonprofits to find what fits your family best.
• Disability insurance: Often overlooked, this protects your family if an injury prevents you from working, even off-duty. Supplemental private coverage can be wise if your lifestyle expenses exceed your military pay.
• Renters insurance: Essential for families who move often; it protects your belongings through relocations.
• Healthcare: TRICARE provides strong coverage, but learn the details on copays and referrals, especially when stationed overseas.

Common financial missteps and how to fix them

Mistake #1: Overbudgeting and lack of budgeting

BAH and BAS are designed to offset housing and food costs, not fund lifestyle inflation. Stick to a budget that keeps fixed expenses well below your income. Free tools from Military OneSource can help track spending.

Mistake #2: Not saving for retirement

Retirement may feel far away, but starting early has an outsized impact. Contribute at least 5% to your Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) — a military contribution retirement program similar to that of a 401k — to secure the full Defense Department match. Even small contributions now can grow into hundreds of thousands later.

Mistake #3: Misusing credit or loans

Predatory lenders near bases often target young servicemembers. Try to avoid any predatory or misleading lenders. Instead, consider a secured credit card or an on-base credit union to build credit responsibly. Always be sure to pay your balance in full.

Mistake #4: Skipping an emergency fund

PCS moves, car repairs or medical costs can’t always be predicted. Start small: Even $10 to $20 per week automatically transferred to savings helps to build a safety net. According to MFAN’s 2023 survey, enlisted families with children that have undergone recent PCS moves are most likely to face financial hardship, making an emergency cushion critical.

In addition to avoiding pitfalls, here are realistic strategies to strengthen your finances:

• Tap military relief organizations like Army Emergency Relief (AER) or Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society (NMCRS) for interest-free loans or grants during emergencies.
• Plan for post-military life: Keep in mind that SGLI and other benefits change once you leave active duty. Compare nonprofit alternatives early to avoid gaps.
• Leverage nonprofits you can trust: Some offer competitive life insurance, savings products or financial counseling designed for servicemembers’ long-term interests.
• Budget with inflation in mind: Rising costs are hitting Gen Z hard. Nearly 48% say they don’t feel financially secure, and over 40% say they’re struggling to make ends meet. Prioritize life’s essentials and be realistic about what you can afford outside of them.

Maintaining a career as a military spouse

Frequent relocations are undoubtedly disruptive, but they don’t have to end career growth. Military spouses may want to focus on careers that can easily move around with them, like healthcare, education, IT or freelancing.

Take advantage of programs like MyCAA, which offers $4,000 in tuition assistance for career training; Military OneSource, which offers resume assistance, free career coaching and financial counseling; and Hiring Our Heroes, which offers networking opportunities and job placement assistance for military spouses. These programs can help reduce underemployment and strengthen household stability, especially during tempestuous times like during and after a PCS move.

Putting it all together

Starting adulthood, a military career and a family all at once is an incredibly challenging undertaking. The financial pressures are real, but with the right knowledge and proactive steps, Gen Z military families can turn instability and uncertainty into long-term security.

By understanding insurance options, making smart money moves, tapping into military-specific resources and planning ahead for life after service, families can not only weather the unpredictability of military life, but also build strong financial foundations for the future.

Alejandra Cortes-Camargo is a brand marketing coordinator at Armed Forces Mutual.

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Learn the benefits, risks, and smart next steps of outsourcing IT support to improve efficiency, reduce costs, and scale securely.

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Bipartisan lawmakers are seeking to secure a 35% federal pay raise for correctional officers at the Bureau of Prisons, in an effort to address longstanding staffing shortages across the agency.

The Federal Correctional Officer Paycheck Protection Act, which both House and Senate lawmakers introduced this week, would implement a 35% increase to the base pay rates for BOP correctional officers in the 0007 job series, as well as certain correctional officers on various other government pay scales.

“Persistent and often dangerous staffing shortages at federal prisons nationwide cause safety concerns for BOP personnel and incarcerated individuals alike,” Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), one of the bill’s original cosponsors, said in a statement. “Our bill will help to ensure that staff within our federal prisons are paid adequately for the critical work they do across this country.”

A bipartisan companion bill in the House comes from Reps. Rob Bresnahan (R-Pa.) and Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.), who said that pay rates for correctional officers fall short of other similar federal law enforcement personnel. In turn, that leads to low staffing levels, coupled with excessive use of overtime to try to compensate for the vacancies.

“This strains workforce morale, disrupts inmate programming and creates unsafe conditions inside Bureau of Prisons facilities,” Bresnahan said in a statement.

The new bill comes shortly after BOP correctional officers received a 3.8% federal pay raise, as part of President Donald Trump’s orders for a larger 2026 pay increase for certain law enforcement personnel.

The American Federation of Government Employees said it “appreciates” the 3.8% raise for law enforcement, including BOP correctional officers. But AFGE added that for the BOP, “the one-time pay bump simply isn’t enough to make up for decades of pay disparity.”

Brandy Moore White, national president of the AFGE Council of Prison Locals, expressed support for the new legislation.

“This reform is critical. It will align BOP compensation with federal law enforcement standards, stem the loss of experienced officers and attract qualified applicants in an increasingly competitive hiring market,” Moore White said in a statement. “Most importantly, it will help restore safe staffing levels across federal institutions, reduce violence, protect staff and ensure mission readiness.”

The introduction of the bill also comes shortly after BOP Director William K. Marshall III announced upcoming retention-based pay incentives for certain correctional officers and other BOP positions seeing consistent staffing shortages. The new pay incentives, which are expected to take effect in February, will give some agency employees a temporary pay boost between 5% and 25%, depending on their job position and geographic location.

For years, BOP has attempted to stave off poor recruitment and retention levels by using pay-based recruitment and retention incentives as a way to try to keep federal correctional officers in their jobs. But because the pay incentives are a temporary fix, many have advocated for a larger and permanent federal pay raise for the BOP workforce.

A Justice Department Office of Inspector General report from February 2024 said the BOP workforce uses excessive overtime hours and staff “augmentation” to try to compensate for persistent understaffing. But the OIG wrote that those factors “overburdened existing staff and potentially contributed to staff fatigue, sleep deprivation, decreased vigilance and inattentiveness to duty.”

Recent federal workforce data also shows that BOP correctional officers’ attrition levels over the last year have resulted in 1,700 officers leaving their jobs, including more than 1,100 correctional officers who have either quit or retired since January 2025. Over the same time period, the agency had about 1,200 new officers join the ranks, resulting in a net loss of nearly 500 correctional officers over the last year.

Under the new legislation, the 35% pay increase would initially last for five years. Within the last six months of that timeframe, the bill would require the Justice Department OIG to assess the progress BOP has made toward improving recruitment and retention levels, as well as reducing overtime hours and staff augmentation. If that OIG assessment shows BOP has made progress as a result of the federal pay raise, the 35% salary boost would remain in place.

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• Close to 5,000 more Thrift Savings Plan participants have joined the club of so-called TSP millionaires. As of Jan. 1, nearly 195,000 TSP participants now have accounts totaling over $1 million. That represents about 2.7% of all TSP accounts. The pace of growth appears to be slowing down, though. In the previous fiscal quarter, the number of TSP millionaires rose by about 19,000.
  (Participant report by account balance - Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board)
• The Defense Department has tapped Owen West, a former energy trader at Goldman Sachs and the Department of Government Efficiency staffer, to lead its Defense Innovation Unit. West will take over the organization in March. Emil Michael, undersecretary of defense for researching and engineering and the Defense Department’s chief technology officer, has led the unit in an acting capability since Doug Beck’s unexpected resignation in August. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said West will ”bring a warfighter’s mentality to DIU’s core mission of transitioning technology to our troops.”
  (Hegseth taps DOGE official to lead Defense Innovation Unit - Social media platform X)
• The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency has gone nearly one year without a permanent leader. On Wednesday, President Donald Trump re-nominated Sean Plankey to serve as CISA director. Plankey was first nominated last March. His nomination was held up by multiple procedural holds. His nomination is widely supported by the cybersecurity industry. Plankey is a Coast Guard veteran who led Energy Department cyber efforts during the first Trump administration. His nomination is widely supported by the cybersecurity industry.
  (Nominations sent to the Senate - White House)
• The Department of Homeland Security’s watchdog said DHS needs to improve its hiring practices. DHS law enforcement components are looking to recruit thousands of officers in the coming years. But the department’s inspector general said DHS’s fragmented and inconsistent hiring practices could trip up those efforts. In a new report, the IG warns that a lack of centralized hiring at DHS results in duplicative efforts, higher costs and slower onboarding. The report comes as Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Customs and Border Patrol and the Secret Service are all undertaking their own recruiting blitzes.
  (Watchdog urges DHS to address ‘fragmented’ law enforcement hiring - Federal News Network)
• When Congress authorized over $5 trillion in pandemic-era relief programs, fraudsters cashed in with bogus claims. But now, data from these pandemic-era relief programs is being used to train artificial intelligence-powered tools meant to detect fraud before payments go out. The Pandemic Response Accountability Committee built an AI-enabled “fraud prevention engine” that’s trained on over five million applications for pandemic-era relief programs. It can review over 20,000 applications for federal funds per second and can flag suspected fraud before issuing payments.
  (Pandemic watchdog builds AI fraud prevention ‘engine’ trained on millions of COVID program claims - Federal News Network)
• More than half of the Social Security Administration's frontline employees are earning less than a living wage, according to a new report. In a survey of 800 SSA employees, 17% of respondents told the Strategic Organization Center that they are working a second job. Nearly two-thirds of survey respondents said they were struggling to provide at least one necessity for their families. The recent government shutdown only deepened those financial problems. The release of the report coincides with a "national day of action" organized by the American Federation of Government Employees.
  (Majority of frontline Social Security employees earn less than a living wage, study finds - Federal News Network)
• The Defense Department is overhauling its innovation ecosystem. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the system “remains a tangle of overlapping organizations." Under a new directive, the Pentagon will consolidate its innovation efforts under the control of DoD's chief technology officer. Hegseth designated the Silicon Valley-based Defense Innovation Unit and Strategic Capabilities Office as the department’s “field activities” under the CTO supervision. Hegseth said the DIU director will continue to report directly to him. The defense secretary also disbanded the Defense Innovation Steering Group, the Defense Innovation Working Group and the CTO Council as part of the overhaul.
  (Hegseth overhauls DoD innovation offices, centralizes authority under CTO - Defense Department)
• Agencies have some new resources to help them jumpstart the “rule of many” in federal hiring. The Office of Personnel Management is answering common questions on how the new “rule of many” aligns with existing recruitment standards, like veterans’ preference and skills-based hiring. The new resource document comes after OPM’s recent finalization of the “rule of many,” which has been in the works for years. The new rule will change the way agencies rank potential job candidates, allowing them to select from a larger pool of applicants.
  (Reinvigorating merit-based hiring through candidate ranking - Office of Personnel Management)

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The Defense Department has long tried to simplify and reform the reserve duty status system, which has expanded to more than 30 separate statutes scattered across about 20 different titles of federal law. 

This complex system has created pay and benefits inequities and frequent administrative delays when National Guard members and reservists shift between duty statuses.

A new bipartisan bill now seeks to consolidate dozens of duty statuses under which National Guard members and reservists are called to service to just four.

If passed, the Duty Status Reform Act would ensure service members performing assignments in the same category receive the same pay and benefits. 

Rep. Gil Cisneros (D-Calif.), the bill’s sponsor, said the effort is his “number one priority returning to Congress.”

“With the current duty status system, service members doing similar jobs often receive significantly less benefits due to them being under different duty statuses. Currently, at any point during activation, a Guardsman can go between up to 10 different duty statuses, resulting in lapses of pay and administrative hurdles. This bipartisan bill fixes existing problems like this and puts active duty under our one category,” Cisneros, a Navy veteran who returned to the House in 2025 after serving from 2019 to 2021, said at a Jan. 8 press conference.

The current system is a product of decades of patch fixes done by Congress spanning from World War II to the Global War on Terror. And while the Defense Department has attempted to overhaul the system over the last two decades, most efforts have failed to gain traction.

“It’s been a very gradual build up process, and so over time, there have been these gaps that have been developed where a reserve component member may be doing duty of one sort right next to reserve component duty person doing that kind of duty right next to them and they’re receiving potentially different pay and benefits. Or it could be the case where they’re on one sort of duty, they come to do their next day of duty, and they’re on a different status, and their underlying pay and benefits may change,” Lisa Harrington, senior operations researcher at RAND, told Federal News Network in August.

The bill builds on a Defense Department–commissioned RAND report that recommended consolidating the reserve duty status system into four categories, including contingency duty, training and support, reserve component duty and remote assignments.

Contingency duty covers deployments and mobilizations where reservists and National Guard members are called to serve, usually involuntarily, for combat operations, national emergencies, disaster response or other missions requiring additional manpower. 

Training and support assignments include required training, administrative assignments or support to other units. 

Reserve component duty, which is most commonly associated with traditional reserve service, includes training periods, administrative assignments and support activities.

Remote assignments are designed to account for duty that can be completed virtually, such as online courses.

“Let me be clear about what this bill does and what this bill does not do. It does not create new entitlements, new pay or new benefits. It does align existing benefits so service members performing the same mission alongside their active duty counterparts receive the same rights, protections and predictability. This is about parity and fairness, not expansion,” retired Maj. Gen. Francis M. McGinn, president of the National Guard Association of the United States, said at the press conference.

It is unclear what strategy the lawmakers plan to pursue to pass the measure, but Cisneros said he has spoken with Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.), ranking member on the House Armed Services Committee, and plans to meet with HASC Chair Mike Rogers (R-Ala.).

“I think now is the time to move it forward, and we’re going to keep working to make sure that it does get over across the finish line,” Cisneros said.

Rep. Jack Bergman (R-Mich.), the bill’s cosponsor, said he is “more than cautiously optimistic on the timing that we have here.”

“When you think of a defense dollar, we don’t talk about the totals, but how do we spend a defense dollar in the right way without overspending? But also the very subtle part of this — in the end, if we do it right, it’s about our readiness, but it’s also about the recruiting and retention of those men and women who have not even yet thought about serving,” Bergman said. 

Harrington said the potential cost of the reform might be one of the concerns since accurately predicting how much the reform would ultimately cost is difficult.

“The costs we think are not something that would stop the reform from happening when people understand exactly how the costs play out,” she said.

If you would like to contact this reporter about recent changes in the federal government, please email anastasia.obis@federalnewsnetwork.com or reach out on Signal at (301) 830-2747.

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Andy’s story is an all too familiar one for many executives leaving federal service.

Andy — not his real name — found what he thought was the perfect fit in the private sector after leaving federal service earlier this year. It was with a big company, in a sector he was intimately familiar with and the opportunities across the federal sector were growing.

But less than a year into his new position, Andy is joining the ever growing number of former federal employees who are hanging out their own shingle as a consultant.

“There was a little bit of a mismatch in expectations, probably both on my part and on the company’s part. I thought the role I would fill would make use of my background and skills at a policy level. But the company was looking for someone who was more technical and could help out at the tactical level,” said Andy, who requested anonymity in order to talk about his experience with a federal contractor. “Too many times people in these private sector companies don’t actually understand how to leverage government executives and government executive expertise.”

Andy’s story likely will be repeated by hundreds of federal executives over the next year.

If you’ve spent any time on LinkedIn over the last month, you may have seen what seems to be a constant stream of executives leaving federal service. Whether they’re retiring or they took the deferred resignation program or it’s just through normal attrition, the exodus of federal executives feels more acute than ever before.

Just take a look at the numbers:

There are 551 fewer Senior Executive Service (SES) members in 2026 than in 2025, according to the Office of Personnel Management’s new workforce data website. The number of SESers dropped to 7,336 as of Jan. 8, 2026, from 7,887 in August 2024.

Meanwhile the pipeline of people at the General Schedule, or GS-14 and GS-15 levels, who are in line to become SESers, also saw significant one-year reductions.

The reduction of employees at the GS-14 level comes after years of growth. For example, in 2019, agencies had 117,600 GS-14s, but the 8,000 drop between 2024 and 2025 basically erases all the growth since 2023.

The changes to employees at the GS-15 level are less dramatic, but still erases growth, albeit smaller growth, since 2021.

The reduction of senior leaders isn’t all that different than what agencies saw across the board last year. There are 219,000 fewer federal employees in 2025 than in 2024.

Interestingly enough, OPM says the median age of the federal worker remains at 47 years old, but the percentage of federal employees who are eligible to retire dropped to 13.5% from 15%. The Small Business Administration and NASA have the largest percentage of employees, more than 25% respectively, who are eligible to retire.

OPM says 105,858 retired from federal service in 2025. The Defense Department saw the largest number of employees leave via retirement at 31,689, while the departments of Veterans Affairs, Homeland Security, Agriculture, Justice, Treasury and Health and Human Services all saw more than 6,000 employees leave via retirement.

Pipeline of future leaders narrows

Concerns over the impending retirement wave isn’t new. Good government groups and employee organizations have been highlighting their concerns for decades. But with the combination of retirements, employees taking the DRP, the administration firing probationary employees and people just plain quitting, there is more concern than ever about the pipeline of current and up-and-coming federal managers.

Michelle Sutter, the director of the Senior Executives Association board, spent over 15 years in government before leaving last year under the DRP. Sutter said the one-year reductions in SESers, as well as GS-14s and GS-15s, is worrisome for several reasons.

“In conversations with our members, a consistent theme that we hear is that we have executive-level employees that are literally, at times, doing the jobs of three to four people, and that’s unprecedented, because it tells us that regardless of whether you’re at the operational level or the executive level, you’ve got people functioning in roles sometimes that are outside of their daily operations that they would normally do,” Sutter said in an interview with Federal News Network. “The effect of this is it puts stress on the leaders. It makes it difficult to focus on mission delivery. If you’re having a tough time focusing on mission delivery, it makes it difficult to provide services to the American people. It also creates a stressful situation and leads to burnout because leaders are in a position where it’s difficult to lead effectively when you’re trying to manage daily operations, doing multiple roles yourself, and then you’re expected to lead teams and manage programs and make sure that you meet the needs of the agencies.”

Sutter said GS-14s and GS-15s, who are more at the operational level, are facing similar challenges.

While these GS-14 and GS-15s may now have more opportunities to step into acting or temporary roles that would help them prepare to move into the SES, burnout, cuts to training and education opportunities and the need to deal with constant change remain a big challenge for these employees.

Sutter said the pipeline of senior managers who are ready to move into the SES has also been narrowed.

“We need to really focus on our career senior executives. I think over the next year, success is really going to depend on stabilizing leadership teams being disciplined about the use of different roles, whether they be acting or permanent, and really investing in executive development and recognizing that executive effectiveness is critical to mission delivery,” Sutter said. “This is not about routine federal leadership as it was in the past. How agencies support career executives now will absolutely shape continuity, performance and leadership capacity well beyond the transition.”

Sutter added that SEA was pleased to see OPM coming out with new training and education programs. She said SEA hopes agencies have the funding and give employees the time to take advantage of these courses.

Advice for those joining the private sector

For those executives jumping on the wave of leaving federal service, the private sector may be just as challenging. But the experiences of Andy and others demonstrate what executives need to consider as they move into industry.

“The job market is pretty tough for a lot of people today. It’s flooded. It’s kind of a buyer’s market at the moment,” Andy said. “It’s easy to say, you really need to make sure that, that you’ve got the right fit. But for somebody who really needs a job and needs the income, that may be easier said than done. But I would say, ideally, you really should be conscious about that fit aspect. The one thing that I found as I talked to other government executives, who had worked with industry, is they made a similar comment that they thought part of the challenge was that a lot of times people in these companies don’t actually understand how to leverage government executives and government executive expertise.”

Tim Teal, the CEO and founder The Bellwether Group and a former National Security Agency and U.S. Cyber Command official, posted some solid advice on LinkedIn about what federal executives should keep in mind as they are leaving government.

Teal said most of the exits he’s seen were not about competence. They were about mismatched expectations. “The executive thinks they are there to advise and shape strategy. The company expects immediate impact,” he said. “In government, authority is derived from role, statute, and mission. In industry especially government contracting sector, authority is derived from revenue, margin and growth.”

Another rule of thumb Teal highlighted was about reputation. He said if you think your reputation will protect you from layoff or other challenges, you are incorrect. Teal said reputations open doors. Performance keeps them open.

“The most successful former government leaders I know didn’t cling to status. They learned the business. They tied their value to outcomes. And they never confused respect with immunity,” he wrote to Federal News Network in an email. “The biggest mistake I see is people negotiating the title before they understand the business. If you do not know how the company makes money, who buys from them and where they are hurting, you are walking in blind. Don’t accept roles with vague charters. If no one can clearly explain what success looks like in six months, that role probably will not last six months.”

As for Andy, who is now going out on his own as a consultant, he said while his experience was definitely eye opening, he doesn’t blame the company or himself for things not working out. But he does offer one piece of advice: “Trust your gut. I did have some sort of ticklish feelings in my gut, like, that’s not the answer that I was looking for.”

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The Federal Bureau of Prisons is offering retention-based federal pay incentives to correctional officers and other critical frontline positions, in an attempt to address longstanding understaffing across the agency.

The upcoming retention bonuses will take effect in February, according to an all-staff message BOP Director William K. Marshall III sent Monday.

“These retention incentives are about keeping the experience in our institutions while we throw everything we have to deliver reinforcements and bring relief to an exhausted workforce,” Marshall wrote in the Jan. 5 email, viewed by Federal News Network.

The BOP for years has faced significant workforce challenges, including persistent understaffing and high use of overtime. The Government Accountability Office once again named the management of the federal prison system as an item on its 2025 high-risk list, in part due to the workforce issues at BOP.

Retention incentives are one way federal agencies can try to address challenges with keeping employees in their jobs — and it’s a tactic that BOP has used for years. Generally, agencies provide the pay incentives to federal employees in positions that are considered hard to fill. The pay increases are distributed over a certain time period and up to a certain percentage, as long as the employee meets the incentive requirements.

“We will continue to pursue special salary rates for hard to fill positions where they make sense and will have the greatest impact,” Marshall wrote.

Using retention incentives is a temporary pay fix — federal regulations state that agencies must review the bonuses annually to determine if they are still needed. Agencies are required to terminate incentives when the conditions that warranted the incentives in the first place no longer apply.

Because the incentives are susceptible to being revoked, some have advocated for larger pay fixes for the BOP workforce. A representative with the American Federation of Government Employees, speaking anonymously for fear of professional retaliation, called for the implementation of an across-the-board, permanent federal pay increase for all frontline BOP staff.

“While the retention incentives are appreciated, it’s doing nothing for us long-term. You’re attracting them, but you’re not retaining them. Within two years, they could say, ‘I’ve met my requirement,’ and then leave us to go to a different agency,” the union representative told Federal News Network. “We have to fix the pay structure to incentivize people to stay.”

The new incentives also come as BOP correctional officers are expected to receive a 3.8% federal pay raise, as part of President Donald Trump’s orders for a larger 2026 pay increase for certain law enforcement personnel.

But the AFGE official said that leaves other critical BOP positions, such as psychologists and nurses, with the smaller 1% raise — something that will likely sow tension among the frontline employees.

“The agency is putting a divide in our workforce — a lot of people in the field are just genuinely frustrated that the agency would take one group and pay them a certain amount and not the others,” the union official said. “This causes such a wedge.”

The upcoming federal pay incentives are a departure from BOP’s actions last March, when the agency reduced, and in some cases fully removed, retention incentives for certain correctional officers and other BOP staff. At the time, BOP said the decision to remove the incentives was made in an effort to address budget shortfalls. But the resulting pay cuts led some employees to leave their jobs.

Now, the value of the upcoming retention pay incentives depends on the employee’s position and location, as well as the staffing levels at that specific BOP facility. BOP defined three “tiers” of institutions, based on staffing levels, to determine the size of the bonus.

“Tier 1 and tier 2 institutions represent our most critically understaffed locations and will receive the strongest support,” Marshall wrote.

For instance, correctional officers at “tier 1” institutions will receive a 10% pay bonus, while correctional officers at “tier 2” institutions will receive a 5% pay bonus.

Meanwhile, all mid-level practitioners and psychologists — regardless of location — will receive a 25% retention bonus, the BOP email shows. All lieutenants, registered nurses and special education teachers will receive a 10% bonus.

Any BOP employees who are eligible for a new retention incentive, but who are already receiving an incentive, will maintain only the higher of the two values, at least until the end of September.

In his all-staff message, Marshall encouraged more BOP staff members to become correctional officers, saying that “those who choose that path will be eligible for the same special salary rates and location-based incentives while gaining the critical skills necessary to strengthen the security of our institutions.”

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If you’ve been reading about Roth conversions lately, it probably sounds like everyone should be doing one—and doing it soon. Roth conversions are often presented as a silver bullet for retirement taxes. But for government employees, especially those nearing retirement, the decision to convert pre-tax TSP money to Roth deserves a slower, more thoughtful approach as we head into 2026.

The rules changing in 2026 don’t eliminate Roth conversions. They simply make the planning more nuanced. And when taxes, pensions, and long-term income are involved, nuance matters.

Before rushing to convert, here are several important realities federal employees should understand.

The tax bill from a Roth conversion is immediate and permanent

One of the most overlooked aspects of a Roth conversion is that the tax cost is immediate—and irreversible. When you convert money from a traditional TSP to a Roth account, that amount becomes taxable income in the year of the conversion. Once it’s done, there’s no undo button.

For many government employees in higher pay grades, this can be a problem. GS-13s, GS-14s, GS-15s, and SES employees are often already in peak earning years. Adding a large Roth conversion on top of salary can push income into higher tax brackets.

Consider a GS-14 earning $155,000 who converts $75,000 from their Traditional TSP to Roth in 2026. That $75,000 doesn’t replace income—it stacks on top of it. The result may be a higher marginal tax rate, increased Medicare premiums later on, and more of their future Social Security benefits becoming taxable. The issue isn’t paying taxes—it’s paying more tax than necessary at the worst possible time.

Many federal employees retire into lower tax brackets

Federal employees are unique compared to much of the private sector. Retirement often comes with a predictable pension, continued access to FEHB and a drop in taxable income—at least initially.

This creates a valuable planning window: the years immediately after retirement but before required minimum distributions begin. During that period, many retirees find themselves in lower tax brackets than they were in while working.

If that’s the case, converting large amounts of TSP money while still earning a full salary may mean voluntarily paying higher taxes today than you would need to pay later. A simple but powerful question to ask is: Will my tax rate be lower after I retire than it is now? If the answer is yes, waiting may be the smarter move.

The 2026 Roth catch-up rule already raises taxes for many employees

Starting January 1, 2026, many federal employees aged 50 and older will be required to make catch-up contributions as Roth contributions if their income exceeds the threshold. That change alone increases taxable income and reduces take-home pay.

For those affected, 2026 may already be a higher-tax year without doing anything extra. Adding voluntary Roth conversions on top of mandatory Roth catch-up contributions can compound the tax impact and leave very little room in your tax bracket to maneuver.

In other words, some federal employees may already be “doing Roth” in 2026 whether they planned to or not.

Roth conversions can trigger costs beyond the IRS

Income taxes are only part of the picture. Roth conversions can quietly trigger additional costs that many government employees don’t expect.

Higher income can lead to Medicare IRMAA surcharges, increasing Part B and Part D premiums two years later. It can also cause more of your Social Security benefits to become taxable. Depending on where you live, state income taxes may apply even if your retirement income is later exempt. In some cases, higher adjusted gross income can also phase out deductions or credits you were counting on.

These secondary effects can significantly reduce the real benefit of a conversion.

How you pay the tax matters just as much as the conversion

A Roth conversion only works well if the tax is paid smartly. TSP funds cannot be used to pay the taxes. If you tap into emergency savings, you may weaken your financial safety net. If you borrow, you introduce interest costs and risk.

For government employees approaching retirement, preserving liquidity can be just as important as tax efficiency. A conversion that looks good on paper can feel very different in real life if it drains cash reserves.

Federal pensions change the Roth math

A federal pension provides stability—but it also fills tax brackets automatically. That steady income reduces flexibility and can make large, early Roth conversions less efficient.

For many federal employees, smaller, partial conversions spread over multiple years are more effective than one large conversion. Converting too much too soon can waste lower tax brackets later and limit planning options when flexibility matters most.

RMD planning requires strategy, not fear

One reason Roth conversions get so much attention is fear of future required minimum distributions. RMDs can create tax challenges—but reacting to them too early can backfire.

Effective RMD planning is about timing. It often involves gradual conversions during lower-income years, coordinated with pension and Social Security decisions. Rushing into conversions without a multi-year plan can lead to inefficiencies that are difficult to unwind.

Roth conversions are optional—not mandatory

Perhaps the most important thing to remember is this: no federal employee is required to do a Roth conversion before 2026. Roth conversions remain available long-term, and for many government employees, the best conversion years haven’t even started yet.

The goal isn’t to convert more money. It’s to convert the right amount, at the right time, at the right tax rate.

The bottom line

Roth conversions can be powerful tools, but for government employees heading into 2026, they should be used with intention—not urgency. Hesitation doesn’t mean avoidance. It means planning.

Before converting, federal employees should think carefully about current versus future tax brackets, mandatory Roth catch-up contributions, pension and Social Security timing, Medicare impacts, cash flow needs, and long-term flexibility.

In many cases, the smartest strategy isn’t an immediate conversion—it’s a well-timed, multi-year Roth plan built around retirement income, not headlines.

This material is for informational and educational purposes only. It should not be interpreted as tax, investment, financial, or legal advice. Roth conversions involve complex considerations, and individual circumstances vary widely. Readers should consult a qualified tax professional, financial advisor, or other licensed expert before making any decisions related to Roth conversions or their broader financial strategy.

The post Why government employees should think carefully about Roth conversions going into 2026 first appeared on Federal News Network.

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Seasoned federal employees who survived the turmoil of 2025 might be thinking: Should I retire in 2026?

You should make this most crucial and personal of decisions on the basis of where you want to be in life in terms of work and family. Essentials of a quality retirement include regular social interaction, activities that give a sense of meaning and purpose, and maintenance of good health.

Still, it also takes money. Also essential, therefore, is that you take steps to optimize your other decisions with the best possible financial arrangement.

Practical matter A concerns your government pension payments, known in federal parlance as your annuity. Retirement applications go to the Office of Personnel Management. You apply online, but there’s a lot of documentation to accompany your application. One virtue of an online application: You can check its status online to find out what’s holding it up.

And that’s the rub. In a perfect world, you would retire Friday, say this June 26^th, and you find your first annuity check deposited July 6, the first Monday of that next month, or whichever day of the week is on your (former) agency’s schedule.

In reality, OPM takes weeks, sometimes months, to calculate a person’s annuity. The current average runs around two months. The agency has been under stress from its own reduction in force and from the spike in retirements caused by early Trump administration workforce policies. Plus, many agencies have had RIFs in their own human resources ranks, potentially slowing down the movement of paperwork and information.

Keep in mind that the more you’ve moved among agencies, or in an out of government, throughout your career, the more complicated the calculation of your retirement pay.

In the meantime, you do receive an estimated annuity. It generally errs on the low side so you won’t be stuck having received overpayments. You can make a rough estimate of your Federal Employee Retirement System (FERS) annuity from these OPM formulae.

The upshot: Plan your spending activities in advance so you don’t outrun your annuity while OPM figures out the final amount.

Roth or not?

Of course, your FERS annuity is only part of your retirement financial picture. For many retirees, withdrawals from their Thrift Savings Plan accounts will form another piece of their income.

A new option from the TSP board this month, on the 28^th to be precise, lets account holders convert regular accounts into Roth accounts.

Quick review: You pay into traditional TSP (or individual retirement accounts) with pre-tax dollars. Contributions therefore reduce your tax obligation in the year you make them. You pay taxes at the point of withdrawal – presumably in retirement, on the assumption you’ll be in a lower tax bracket.

Roth contributions are paid in after-tax dollars, so there’s no tax benefit during the year when you contribute, but also no tax later, when you withdraw the funds.

Younger employees or those starting out in their federal career should consider at least a portion of their contributions going to a Roth account from the outset. You’ll pay full taxes each year on income that includes Roth contributions but have peace of mind later when whatever you withdraw won’t be taxable.

But conversion from traditional to Roth comes with the tax due now, on the amount you transfer. Each, say, $10,000 that you convert adds $10,000 to your taxable income in the year you convert. That could be a hefty chunk for the IRS. So why should you consider an in-plan conversion?

As with so many financial decisions, it depends on many questions. For example:

• Might you find yourself in a higher tax bracket when you retire? Then balance future liability by converting now when you pay taxes within a lower bracket.
• Because Roth IRA’s do not have required minimum distributions, you might deliberately keep your retirement income a bit lower to avoid creep in Medicare Part B premiums, which rise with income. (Credit to certified financial planner Art Stein for that insight.)
• Do you have enough extra cash around outside of your TSP to cover the tax levy from the conversion?

While it offers conversion, the TSP managers neither recommend nor discourage it. What they do urge: Consult a tax professional before you proceed.

What’s your high 3?

FERS annuities derive from each employee’s three consecutive three years of highest pay. Typically, those are the final three years of a career. But not necessarily.

That’s why if other life and financial factors weigh in favor of retiring during the coming year, it may be wise to proceed with that plan rather than inch the high-3 forward and wait until 2027. The 2026 pay raise proposed by the president is a mere 1%.

On the other hand, allowable TSP contributions are also up in 2026, from a limit of $23,500 in 2025 to $24,500 this year. Standard contributions may go into a traditional TSP plan, a Roth or some combo. Plus, the catch-up contribution for those over 50 jumps from $7500 to $8,000. So $31,000 to $32,500.

And if you are 60, 61, 62, or 63, you can make a so-called super-catchup contribution of $11,250. But if your individual income exceeds $145,000, catchups must go in as after-taxes Roth contributions. (Check out this STWS article detailing 2026 contribution options.)

All this means your decision on whether to retire requires you to balance a potential increase in your FERS annuity, your tax liability and the final size of your TSP account before you cease making large annual contributions.

Again, retirement is not solely a financial decision. Once you’ve decided it’s time, though, make the effort to fully understand the financial implications so you go in with eyes open.

Securities offered through Raymond James Financial Services, Inc., member FINRA/SIPC.
Investment advisory services are offered through Raymond James Financial Services Advisors, Inc. Serving Those Who Serve is not a registered broker/dealer and is independent of Raymond James Financial Services.
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The post Tips for a 2026 retirement planning first appeared on Federal News Network.

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• Federal wildland firefighters would keep their higher pay rates under the latest congressional appropriations package. The spending “minibus” maintains funding for wildland firefighters’ permanent pay raise, as well as job updates that were initially included in the 2021 infrastructure law. The new appropriations package also would not adopt President Trump’s plan to combine wildland firefighting forces into a single agency. According to the legislation, wildland firefighters from the Forest Service and the Interior Department would remain separate.
  (Interior, Environment FY 2026 appropriations bill - House and Senate Appropriations Committees)
• Leadership at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency faces an uncertain future. The Senate has returned the nomination of Sean Plankey to the White House after lawmakers failed to vote on it last session. President Trump nominated Plankey to serve as director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency in March of last year. But his nomination was held in the Senate over multiple issues and he ultimately wasn’t included in a slate of nominees that received confirmation late last month. Plankey has broad support from the cybersecurity industry. But it’s unclear what happens next with the CISA director position.
  (Sean Plankey nomination - Congress.gov)
• The State Department's $50 billion IT contract vehicle called Evolve is facing yet another protest. Alpha Omega Integration filed its second protest about being excluded from Evolve on Monday with the Government Accountability Office. GAO dismissed Alpha Omega's initial protest of the multiple award contract in August after State took corrective action. But Alpha Omega contends State still misevaluated the firm's proposal. GAO has until April 15 to decide the case. Evolve has so far survived five other protests over the last six months.
  (State Dept. IT contract, Evolve, faces new protest - Government Accountability Office)
• The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is reinstating former probationary employees it already fired twice. NOAA sent an email to about 40 former employees, informing them that their April 2025 termination is being rescinded, and that they have the option to return to their jobs. Employees who received reinstatement offers had until Monday to accept the offer and will return to work next week. These employees will receive about nine months of back pay regardless of whether they opt in for reinstatement.
  (‘A fresh start.’ NOAA reinstates some probationary employees it already fired twice - Federal News Network)
• Federal retirees can now securely access some of their tax forms online. The Office of Personnel Management updated its delivery method for 1099-R tax forms. The update will allow retirees to view their forms digitally, rather than waiting for them in the mail. OPM said it’s a faster and paperless way for retirees to access important documents. Retirees who still want a paper copy can opt into receiving a mailed version, or request one directly from OPM.
  (OPM announces faster, paperless options for federal retirees - Office of Personnel Management)
• President Donald Trump put defense contractors on notice. Trump said his administration is capping executive compensation at defense contractors at $5 million dollars and prohibiting stock buybacks or dividends. In a post on Truth Social, the president said executive pay in the defense industry is exorbitant and unjustifiable given how slowly these companies are delivering vital equipment to the military. In a second post on Truth Social, Trump also took aim at Raytheon, threatening the defense giant that the government will stop doing business with it until it invests more money in plants and equipment manufacturing. Trump signed an executive order codifying these changes Wednesday evening.
  (President tells defense contractors to invest more, pay execs less - Federal News Network)
• The Federal Communications Commission is looking for a new organization to lead its cyber labeling program. In a public notice released Wednesday, the FCC said it’s accepting applications to be lead administrator of the Cyber Trust Mark program through January 28th. Last month, UL solutions withdrew as lead administrator of the cyber trust mark. The FCC launched the voluntary program last year to label consumer smart products that meet cybersecurity standards.
  (FCC announcement on Cyber Trust Mark program - Federal Communications Commission)
• A bipartisan group of lawmakers wants the departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs to use a single credentialing and privileging system for medical providers. Currently, DoD and VA rely on separate credentialing and privileging systems to approve their clinicians. But those approvals don’t transfer between the two agencies, forcing providers who switch facilities to restart the approval process. The legislation would require the Pentagon and the Department of Veterans Affairs to jointly select a single credentialing and privileging system by January 2027 and notify Congress that the system is operational by 2028.
  (Bipartisan bill seeks to create joint DoD–VA credentialing system - Federal News Network)
• The Senate has confirmed Lt. Gen. Christopher LaNeve as the Army’s next vice chief of staff. President Donald Trump nominated LaNeve for the role in October. He will succeed Gen. James Mingus, who has served as vice chief since January 2024. LaNeve currently serves as senior military assistant to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. Hegseth called LaNeve a “generational leader” and said he will “help ensure the Army revives the warrior ethos, rebuilds for the modern battlefield and deters enemies around the world.”
  (Senate confirms new Army vice chief of staff - Congress.gov)
• The Department of Veterans Affairs said it’s chipping away at a backlog of veterans waiting for benefits. VA Secretary Doug Collins said the backlog is down 60% since the start of the Trump administration. VA’s Veterans Benefits Administration reinstated mandatory overtime for its employees last year. The VA has relied on mandatory overtime under several administrations to reduce claims backlogs. But VBA briefly ended mandatory overtime in July 2024.
  (VA benefits backlog - Social media platform X)

The post Federal wildland firefighters would keep higher pay rates under minibus first appeared on Federal News Network.

© The Associated Press

Interview transcript:

 

Mike Meese When you think about it, [2025] had as many changes for the federal workforce and for military service members as we have had almost in the last 60 years that was not during wartime. You know, if you think about it we had massive changes after 9/11, an external crisis. We had massive changes after the 2008-2009 Great Recession; another economic crisis and obviously massive changes after COVID. But here we had the election of President Trump, and in a lot of ways that he came in was adjusting for the expansions of government that took place during the last three crises, where he peeled back a lot of that. People may agree with it, people may disagree with it, but it certainly had a huge impact on people in the military, people that were veterans that were serving in the civilian workforce and many other aspects of government.

Terry Gerton Give us a couple of examples of things you saw there at Armed Forces Mutual.

Mike Meese A lot of our members, a lot of our folks were former military, they end up now working for the federal government and were given the option of the early retirement. Consequently, many of them had to go through very rapidly and assess, what is my financial situation? How much longer can I work? If I take this fork in the road, so to speak, is my family going to be secure? Again, without knowing the unknown of what happens if you leave federal service, are there going to be jobs that are going to be out there within the economy? At the same time, you had other pretty radical changes. It wasn’t an economy that you knew that you were jumping out into. There was the liberation day, so to speak, on the first of April when the tariffs were put in place, and there was substantial economic uncertainty. So it was, there’s one government train that you were on that you might want to step off of, and if you recall back earlier in this year, many economists felt that we were going to go into a recession. Fortunately, we managed to avoid that. The market continues to do well. The economy actually seems to continue to be doing well in spite of some of the mastications of a lot of economists.

Terry Gerton Were there any changes you saw in the past year that you’d want to make sure continue?

Mike Meese Well, I think being able to be respectful of government workers and giving them the options wherever you did. The people in the Department of Veterans Affairs talked very rapidly about that they were going to try to take down 80,000 workers. Most of those have tended to be by voluntary separations or not hiring new people, and it’s had an impact on the workforce. But as much as possible, respecting the wishes of government workers and being able to do that has been a positive thing. Also, it will be very interesting because, as sort of a studier of this from a public policy perspective, the president has really stretched the bounds of executive power, and now courts and increasingly the Congress are peeling that back. One example was when the president adjusted the collective bargaining rights of many federal workers, Congress has recently started to peel that back. And so the question is, are many of these changes that were done unilaterally by the executive going to stand the test of time as a powerful president doing things? Whether you agree or disagree with them, unless they become institutionalized, we will tend to revert back to where we were before.

Terry Gerton That’s helpful insight. Certainly one of the things that marked the calendar year 2025, the beginning of fiscal year 2026, was the government shutdown, the longest lapse in appropriations ever. I think so many folks don’t understand the tenuousness of many service members and veterans’ financial status. And whether they missed a SNAP payment or they missed up a paycheck, many were really significantly impacted. Talk us through that and what you saw at Armed Forces Mutual.

Mike Meese Yeah, it’s unfortunate, but somewhere in between a quarter and a third of service members are just one or two paychecks away that if they had a $400 extraordinary expense, that would really set them back. And so consequently, although fortunately, the shutdown was resolved and no military paychecks did not take place, there was a heck of a lot of uncertainty in that. For Armed Forces Mutual, for example, we have a lot of people that pay us their insurance payments by allotment. Normally we get those allotments four days before payday, or we get the information from the Defense Finance and Accounting Service four days before payday. We actually did not get them until about 12 hours before payday. So it literally was the federal government putting things together right before the 31st of October to be able to get things done. And that anxiety for us, and I’m sure every other military-supporting organization, all the banks and everybody else, were working right at the last minute. Service members were postponing vacations. The biggest issues that we saw was people that were literally in the middle of a permanent change of station and the funds either would not come through for that, or maybe they were supposed to go into government quarters, but it was not an essential person that was going to inspect those government quarters. So they’re living on the economy having to pay for a hotel bill while they were moving into those quarters. And so although it did not affect everybody across the board, there were selected pockets where people ended up with some very extraordinary expenses that they might not have been prepared for.

Terry Gerton Mike, there was some proposed legislation that would perhaps mitigate this in the future. What’s your sense of its possibility?

Mike Meese The good news was, and I think we talked about this when we talked in October, everything in the law says that people that were going to be furloughed were in fact going to get back pay. And when this passed, part of the law was for individuals to get back pay. That ought to be permanently part of that law so that you remove the uncertainty and the potential threats that people are not going to get paid on that. In fact, what we really ought to do is find a way for Congress and the executive to work together to get all 13 bills passed by the end of the fiscal year. And that way, you don’t run into this challenge. In fact, this shutdown is probably a good example because I don’t think, whether you’re on one side or the other, anybody hugely politically benefited from this one way or the other. People will write op-eds about it, but nobody outside of Washington cares about that. They just know that government didn’t function for almost a month and a half.

Terry Gerton I’m speaking with Mike Meese. He’s the president of Armed Forces Mutual. Mike, what lessons do you want to make sure that service members, families and veterans take from 2025?

Mike Meese Well, the first is, just following up on the shutdown, some people, especially federal civilian workers, they got lump sum pays in November, at the end of November, where they deferred going out to dinner, deferred vacation or deferred other spending in October. When you get that lump sum pay, that’s actually a good opportunity because you can’t go back out to dinner like you were going to in October. Save that money, set it aside in an emergency fund. Prepare for future potential shutdowns and put the money toward your long-term goals. So that, I think, would be a very important thing. The second thing is, be prepared yourself, always. And that’s keeping your skills up, keeping your resume handy, keeping that LinkedIn profile there. I don’t know what will happen in the future in terms of other federal government shutdowns or opportunities for a deferred retirement system, but it’s always something that people should bear in mind that, especially since we have seen that government jobs that they thought were going to be permanent may not be permanent, you’ve got to be able to have other options.

Terry Gerton Well, speaking of that smart financial planning, any advice for folks who are navigating financial stress through the holidays or perhaps just after?

Mike Meese Well, that is always a challenge. What I tell people, we sometimes have gotten a little bit of a habit; back during COVID when you couldn’t travel, you tended to get more extravagant gifts for the family that you were not visiting. Now that you’re visiting and traveling to them, recognize that just being there is part of that gift, so you don’t need to be quite as lavish on the expenditures. The other thing that I talk with military families, there was one Christmas where I had five members of our family, it turned out that visiting two sets of relatives, we actually flew on Christmas day. And if you fly on Christmas, it’s actually a very cheap fare. It’s kind of strange being in the airport on Christmas but all the flight attendants and pilots are wearing hats and singing Christmas carols. They have to work that day and it turned out to save us a lot of money for a family of five. So there are ways that you can get deals even during the holidays.

Terry Gerton And as you turn your attention to 2026, what legislation or policy changes will you be watching for as the new year begins?

Mike Meese Well, it’ll be very interesting what happens with federal government workers as well as the military. Currently in the National Defense Authorization Act, the military pay increase is going to be 3.8%. And so that is actually ahead of inflation. For me as a military retiree, my pay increase as military retiree and Social Security age is only 2.8%, so the military is doing a little bit better. Federal workers, on the other hand, are going to get a 1% increase, except if they are in federal law enforcement positions, like the FBI, Customs and Border Protection, Secret Service and any other federal border law enforcement. The proposal is for them to get a 3.8% increase, the same as the military. So when you do get that pay increase, whether it’s 1% as a civilian worker, well you’ll be a little bit behind inflation, or 3. 8% in the military or law enforcement, be sure to use that judiciously and maybe put some of that away into savings because you don’t know what will end up happening in 2026.

The post From paychecks to policy shifts, 2025 tested military families. How will they fare in 2026? first appeared on Federal News Network.

© The Associated Press

 

• The federal retirement inventory has reached yet another new high. The Office of Personnel Management now has over 50,000 applications still awaiting a finalized annuity. The increase comes after more than 13,000 retirement applications entered OPM’s systems in December. It's taking OPM about 67 days to process a retirement case from start to finish. But OPM's numbers don’t include any retirement cases still pending with agencies. Some retirees report major delays in receiving their payments, months after separating from government.
  (Retirement inventory update - Office of Personnel Management)
• The U.S. DOGE Service is looking for new hires. The White House-based tech shop is looking to fill positions within its core team as well as roles that work directly with other agencies to support their digital services. USDS doesn’t have traditional position descriptions. It’s encouraging candidates who are experts in their fields to apply and that USDS officials will match them to a position that’s the right fit. USDS is looking for candidates with backgrounds in engineering, product design, procurement and more.
  (U.S. DOGE Service is hiring - US DOGE Service )
• The General Services Administration has kicked a Hampton Inn in Lakeville, Minnesota out of its FedRooms program. GSA removed the Hilton property from its lodging and travel systems after the hotel canceled rooms reserved for employees of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Hotels participating in the federal travel program agree to honor government rates and accommodate travelers conducting official business. GSA said the Hampton Inn's decision to deny service based solely on an individual agency affiliation is not aligned with federal standards. In 2025, there are over 11,000 FedRooms properties available in over 3,000 markets around the globe.
  (GSA takes quick action to remove hotel that cancelled ICE agents' reservations - General Services Administration)
• The Secret Service wants to hire thousands of new staff over the next two years. The Secret Service is aiming to hire 4,000 new officers and staff through 2028. That would swell the agency’s ranks to 10,000 total employees, including 6,800 law enforcement officers. The Secret Service has struggled to recruit and retain agents and officers in recent years amid an expanding, high-profile mission. To meet its goals, the agency said it’s streamlining the recruiting process through accelerated hiring events. And it’s also offering many retirement-eligible staff retention incentives to keep them around longer.
  (Secret Service touts hiring goals amid major law enforcement recruiting push - Federal News Network)
• The CIA has a new top lawyer. Josh Simmons has joined the spy agency as general counsel after being confirmed by the Senate late last month. Simmons previously served as principal deputy general counsel at the State Department. He also served stints as senior advisor and attorney advisor in State’s Office of the Legal Adviser. Simmons joined the CIA as the Trump administration faces persistent questions about the legality of its military actions in Venezuela and the Caribbean.
  (DCIA John Ratcliffe welcomes Josh Simmons as CIA general counsel - CIA)
• The Office of Federal Procurement Policy’s requests for new ways to improve federal acquisition regulations is closing soon. There are five days left for industry, agencies and others to comment on the next steps for improving the Federal Acquisition Regulations. OFPP's call for public comments closes on January 12. So far, OFPP has received 86 different ideas for how to continue to modernize and improve federal acquisition processes. These range from ensuring the “rule of two” remains in place for small businesses to expanding oral presentations and streamlined source selection beyond IT acquisitions to limiting the flow down requirements to small business subcontractors. Additionally, OFPP Administrator Kevin Rhodes held a series of roundtables last month with contractors, industry associations and others to gain their perspectives of the FAR overhaul.
  (86 comments so far on ways to further improve the FAR - Office of Federal Procurement Policy)
• Marines, civilians and industry experts will be able to test generative artificial intelligence tools against real-world challenges in early March at a now-rescheduled Marine Corps GenAI workshop. Originally scheduled for November, the service had to move the event due to a lapse in federal funding. The workshop will now take place March 9 through March 12 at Quantico, Virginia. Officials said the event will help the service identify high impact use cases for AI and develop the Marine Corps “North Star” to guide rapid AI integration. Participating commands are being asked to register Marines and civilians with “demonstrated expertise in AI and AI-related fields.”
  (Marine Corps schedules its generative AI workshop for March - MARADMIN message)
• Senators warn the IRS workforce may be stretched too thin in the upcoming tax filing season. The IRS lost about 25% of its workforce last year through voluntary separations and retirements. A recent watchdog report found these staffing cuts will make it more difficult for the IRS to detect fraud, process tax returns and provide tax help over the phone and in-person at its Taxpayer Assistance Centers. Seventeen senators asked top Treasury and IRS officials what steps they’re taking to assist taxpayers during this year’s filing season.
  (A huge test for the IRS.’ Senators warn shrinking workforce may hamper upcoming filing season - Federal News Network)
• The Army has launched a new platform designed to modernize how it manages soldiers’ training data. The Army Training Information System replaced the legacy Digital Training Management System. The platform gives soldiers and commanders real-time visibility into training records, unit metrics and training schedules. The system was built using agile software methodologies and developed with continuous feedback from soldiers at all echelons. Army officials said the platform is designed to reduce time spent on administrative tasks to give soldiers more time for actual training.
  (New Army platform modernizes soldiers’ training data - U.S. Army)

The post Federal retirement inventory reaches another new high first appeared on Federal News Network.

© Amelia Brust/Federal News Network

Enjoy the chilly winter with this soul-satisfying and comforting tomato egg drop soup to warm yourself up while watching your favorite series from your cozy couch! A healthier and high protein alternative for your munchies!

When life gives you tomatoes, make tomato soup! Not just a regular everyday tomato soup, but the very special tomato egg drop soup!

If you want to give something really satisfying to your soul while nourishing your body at the same time, then a hearty soup is exactly what you need immediately!

So, after my super-popular chicken noodle soup, I have returned with one more high protein soup that will be a delight for all egg-lovers out there!

The very flavorful tomato egg drop soup which is full of fresh flavors from ripe red tomatoes, spring onion and cilantro (if you like it as much as we do!).

What is tomato egg drop soup?

Simply put, tomato egg drop soup is a Chinese inspired homestyle tomato soup with beaten eggs slowly poured over it to create beautiful egg clouds or egg flowers!

This is a very quick-cooking soup where blanched tomatoes are gently sautéed in garlic flavored oil for a couple of minutes and then simmered in vegetable broth or plain & simple water.

Once tomatoes are nicely softened, smoothly beaten eggs are poured over the soup moving your hand slowly in circular motion to create beautiful soft egg curdles inside the soup.

That's the uniqueness of any egg drop soup which you may already know. The combination of fresh ripe tomatoes with soft eggs proved to be incredibly addictive which is why I am sure you will make this on repeat this winter!

The post Best Ever Tomato Egg Drop Soup | Comforting High Protein Tomato Soup for Winter first appeared on Flavor Quotient.

 

• The Thrift Savings Plan's I fund continued its year-long positive run in December, posting a month-over-month increase of more than 3%. That, by far, was the best performing TSP fund in the final month of 2025. For the year, the I fund saw a return of more than 32%, which was more than 10% higher than any other account. Overall in December, 13 of 15 funds came back in the black. Only the F and S funds posted negative returns in December as compared to November. For the year, 12 of 15 TSP funds returned more than 11%.
  (TSP's I fund remains top performer for 2025 - Thrift Savings Plan)
• New data shows just how many employees left the Agriculture Department in the first part of 2025. The Forest Service lost more than 5,800 employees in the first six months of 2025. USDA's office of the secretary lost the highest percentage of employees, about 67%, from January to June 2025. These are among the findings from the Agriculture Department's inspector general in a new report detailing the impact by bureau, office and state of more than 20,000 employees leaving the agency. Of those employees who left USDA, 15,000 left via the Deferred Resignation Program. Texas, California and Washington, D.C. were the places hardest hit by employee attrition with more than 1,000 employees leaving USDA offices in each of those areas.
  (More than 20,000 employees left USDA in the first 6 months of 2025 - USDA IG)
• The Department of Veterans Affairs is under scrutiny for using technology that's inaccessible for people with disabilities. In a new letter to the VA, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) asked how the agency plans to improve its procurement of accessible IT systems. The letter references a recent inspector general finding that out of 30 critical IT systems at the VA, only four met accessibility requirements. The IG report found there was inadequate coordination between different VA offices and a lack of Section 508 training for agency acquisition professionals.
  (Sen. Gillibrand letter to VA on Section 508 - Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.))
• Insurance options for plan year 2026 are now in effect for the Federal Employees Health Benefits program. FEHB enrollees who made changes to their health plans during Open Season will now see those changes reflected in their benefits. FEHB participants are also facing an average of a 13% premium increase in the new year. Any enrollment changes for dental, vision and Postal insurance options are also now in effect for all program participants.
  (2026 plan options now in effect - Federal Employees Health Benefits program)
• The Department of Health and Human Services needs to collect better data on how well people with disabilities can access health care. That’s according to a new report from the Government Accountability Office. Currently, GAO said people with disabilities face barriers in health care technology, communication and facilities. Once HHS starts collecting data on those barriers, GAO said the department should then create a plan to address the challenges.
  (Health care accessibility: Further efforts needed to address barriers for people with disabilities - Government Accountability Office)
• The Department of Homeland Security has a new human capital leader. Jason Nelson is joining DHS as deputy chief human capital officer. Nelson was previously associate administrator of human capital at the Transportation Security Administration. He also has previous experience at the Federal Highway Administration. Nelson joins DHS’s human capital office in the middle of a major recruiting campaign for Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, Border Patrol agents and other law enforcement positions.
  (New chief human capital officer at DHS - LinkedIn)
• The Army is creating a dedicated artificial intelligence and machine-learning career field for officers. The service will roll out the new career field in phases. Army officers interested in transferring will be able to apply through the service’s Voluntary Transfer Incentive Program, beginning Jan. 5. Selected officers are expected to formally transfer into the new career field by October 2026. Selected officers will undergo graduate-level training and “gain hands-on experience in building, deploying and maintaining” the service’s AI-enabled systems. The Army is also considering expanding the specialty to include warrant officers in the future.
  (Army launches AI and machine-learning career path for officers - Federal News Network)
• The Defense Department is expanding secure methods of authentication beyond the traditional Common Access Card, giving users more alternative options to log into its systems when CAC access is “impractical or infeasible.” A new memo, titled “Multi-Factor Authentication for Unclassified and Secret DoD Networks,” lays out when users can access DoD resources without CAC and public key infrastructure. The directive also updates the list of approved authentication tools for different system impact levels and applications. While the new memo builds on previous DoD guidance on authentication, earlier policies often did not clearly authorize specific login methods for particular use cases, leading to inconsistent implementation across the department.
  (DoD expands login options beyond CAC - Federal News Network)

The post Thrift Savings Plan I fund continues year-long positive run first appeared on Federal News Network.

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The past few years have shaken the idea that federal income is always steady. Shutdown threats, a shutdown, hiring freezes, delayed backfills and outright job cuts have reminded people that a long federal career does not guarantee a smooth landing into retirement.

That uncertainty has pushed more federal employees to ask a simple but uncomfortable question: How do I build income I can count on once the federal paycheck stops?

If you want to see how these choices play out with real numbers, we’re hosting two federal-employee sessions that break down the actual trade-offs. This article lays out the core framework; the sessions delve even deeper so you can evaluate your own situation with real numbers.

As you approach the age where you can access your TSP without penalty, the stakes change. You shift from saving to asking if what you have accumulated is enough to support your retirement. Certainly, a source of stress as your working days begin to dwindle. The TSP is a strong accumulation tool, but does it answer the most important retirement question: How do I turn this balance into a predictable income stream that will last?

And this is where things get more complicated than most people expect.

The two paths every federal employee faces

Whether you have $350,000 in your TSP or $1.5 million, retirement income comes down to two basic paths:

• Path 1: Protect what you have already saved so a bad market doesn’t derail your plans.
• Path 2: Create a reliable retirement paycheck you can count on every month.

Everything else – investments, withdrawals, annuities, cash reserves, Social Security timing, taxes, wealth transfer, fits – under one of those two umbrellas.

These paths are not always obvious to most Federal Employees because the focus tends to be on investment choices and fund performance. But when approaching retirement, the conversation shifts from “How much can my account grow?” to “How do I avoid losing ground, and how do I get paid?”

Each path comes with its own rules and trade-offs. We cover both in detail in our upcoming federal-employee workshops, including how to evaluate income options inside and outside the TSP.

Most people discover that one small timing decision can change their entire income picture, which is why this stage is worth understanding before you lock anything in.

Path 1: Protecting what you’ve built

This is the path for the person who has worked too hard to let one ugly market year erase a decade or more of saving.

Protection does not always mean going to cash or abandoning your investments. Protection is about have proper strategies that prevent a bad market stretch from forcing withdrawals at the wrong time.

Federal employees often underestimate this risk.

Once you start taking monthly withdrawals, a market downturn hits you twice:

• Your balance falls, and
• You’re still pulling money out

That combination can shorten the life of a portfolio, even when long-term averages look fine.

Shifting to more conservative allocations inside the TSP is an approach used by some to mitigate this. Others use a portion of their savings (not all of it) to create guardrails outside the TSP – tools designed to reduce the impact of down years without giving up potential growth.

Retirement income planning rarely requires moving everything. Most federal employees explore options with a portion of their savings and keep the rest invested in an IRA or the TSP

Path 2: Creating a predictable retirement paycheck

This path is about building stability, not chasing returns.

Federal employees often assume their pension and Social Security will cover the bulk of their income needs, but the math might not stretch as far as expected – especially when survivor options, taxes, FEHB premiums, long term care and lifestyle decisions factor in.

At this stage, people start looking for ways to create a fixed monthly check that is not dependent on market performance. That is where guaranteed-income annuities enter the conversation. They are not investments; they are contracts that convert a portion of your savings into a defined lifetime monthly income stream without giving up full control of your money.

They can make sense for certain people and not for others.

The key is understanding:

• How the income is calculated
• What is real vs. what’s marketing hype
• Whether the income is joint (for both spouses) or single
• What flexibility you give up
• What fees or trade-offs exist

This is the part most federal employees feel under-informed about. And understandably so. No one should make a lifetime income decision based on a pamphlet or a quick online calculator.

Why timing matters once you have penalty-free access to your TSP

When you reach the age where you can access your TSP without penalty, you have more choices but also added responsibility.

This is when people start asking:

• How much can I safely withdraw each year?
• Will my portfolio last if there is a recession early in retirement?
• Should I take Social Security early or delay it?
• How do I build income without locking up everything?
• Do I need guaranteed income, or can my investments carry the load?

Most federal employees do not realize how different their situation becomes at this stage, or how the rules around withdrawals, required minimum distributions and survivor income planning interact with each other.

That’s why we’re hosting two webinars for federal employees: to walk through the decisions that matter most while there’s still time to adjust. Both sessions are free and led by experts who specialize in federal retirement planning. If you want help applying these principles to your own numbers, that’s what these sessions are designed to do.

Both sessions are free and led by experts who specialize in federal retirement planning. These are educational sessions – no sales presentations, no commitments.

 

Register here for either or both of our upcoming webinar: https://dcsofa.org/upcoming-events

• Retirement Distribution Strategies to Avoid Outliving Your Money: Tues Jan 27 at 12pm ET

People register when they think longevity risk is real for them personally, not just theoretical

• Retirement Ready? What TSP Holders 59½+ Must Know Before Buying an Annuity: Thurs Jan 29 at 12pm ET People register when they believe they might miss a key rule, misjudge a trade-off, or overpay.

The post Retirement income stability: The two paths every federal employee should understand before they retire first appeared on Federal News Network.

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The specifics of a larger federal pay raise for law enforcement officers are coming into view, following President Donald Trump’s directive to offer a 3.8% salary increase for certain positions.

In a memo Wednesday, the Office of Personnel Management established new “special salary rates” for federal law enforcement personnel, as a way to implement the bigger raise for 2026.

“These new special rates support ongoing agency hiring efforts for mission-critical law enforcement positions essential to implementing the administration’s priorities to secure the border, enforce federal laws, and protect public safety,” OPM wrote. “Without these special rates, agencies may face challenges in recruiting and retaining the personnel needed to carry out these missions effectively.”

The pay increase for law enforcement is nearly quadruple the 1% federal pay raise that most civilian employees on the General Schedule will receive, but in line with a 3.8% raise for military members. Trump signed an executive order finalizing the 2026 federal pay raise on Dec. 18.

The pay increase will take effect Jan. 11, coinciding with the first day of the General Schedule’s first full pay period of 2026.

OPM’s new memo comes after Trump directed OPM Director Scott Kupor to “assess whether to provide” up to a 3.8% raise for “certain federal civilian law enforcement personnel.”

After consulting with various agencies, OPM determined that the following law enforcement personnel will receive a 3.8% federal pay raise for 2026:

• Customs and Border Protection law enforcement officers, including Border Patrol agents, officers, criminal investigators, and Air and Marine interdiction agents
• ICE personnel, including special agents, detention and deportation officers, and technical enforcement officers
• Secret Service personnel, including security specialists, officers, investigators and technicians
• Federal Protective Service criminal investigators and officers
• Federal Bureau of Prisons correctional officers
• FBI special agents
• Drug Enforcement Administration special agents
• U.S. Marshals Service officers and special agents
• Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives special agents
• National Park Service park police officers
• Interior Department law enforcement officers
• Forest Service law enforcement officers and criminal investigators
• Agriculture Department law enforcement officers in the Office of Safety, Security and Protection
• State Department criminal investigators in the Diplomatic Security Service
• National Nuclear Security Administration couriers

The memo provides more specifics on the eligibility of certain law enforcement personnel for the 2026 raise. The pay tables for law enforcement are also now available on OPM’s website.

Like the rest of the General Schedule, law enforcement pay rates are still capped at the pay rate for level IV of the Executive Schedule, which for 2026 is $197,200.

“This statutory pay cap will prevent some covered law enforcement personnel from receiving the full 3.8% increase, but most employees should receive at least a 1% adjustment,” OPM wrote.

OPM also told agencies to request additional special salary rates for other law enforcement positions, as needed. Generally, special salary rates are reserved for federal positions deemed particularly difficult to recruit and retain.

The post Here are the law enforcement positions set for a 3.8% federal pay raise first appeared on Federal News Network.

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The Office of Personnel Management is addressing what have become growing concerns in Congress over the significant delays in federal retirement processing this year.

In a letter sent Tuesday to a group of House Democrats, OPM Director Scott Kupor touted the benefits of the new online retirement application (ORA) in helping to streamline processing, while at the same time arguing that outdated systems — not staffing levels — are to blame for the current challenges HR employees are facing.

“The main issues with federal HR, we have found, are not low staffing levels, but inefficient and outdated technology and antiquated, cumbersome regulations and processes,” Kupor wrote in the Dec. 30 letter, obtained by Federal News Network. “OPM under the Trump administration has done in a matter of months what the government failed to do for multiple generations: modernize the paper-based federal retirement system.”

Kupor’s comments are a response to a Dec. 22 letter from Democrats on the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, which raised concerns about the significant delays retiring federal employees are currently experiencing. Those delays are largely due to a surge of retirement applications from employees who opted into the deferred resignation program (DRP) earlier this year.

Now two months after thousands of federal employees separated from government on Sept. 30, some retirees have told Federal News Network they are still awaiting any retirement-related payments. Some also expressed frustrations about limited information from their agencies on the status of their applications.

In light of the challenges, a group of Democratic lawmakers last week pressed OPM for more details on retirement processing, and how OPM is helping other agencies manage the high volumes of applications. The Democrats’ letter criticized the DRP-inflicted surge of retirements as a “foreseeable and avoidable administrative failure.”

Kupor, in response, pushed back against the lawmakers’ criticisms that the DRP was not a truly voluntary program for federal employees. He also said OPM is “rapidly fixing” the manual, paper-based processes involved in federal retirement — namely through the launch of the ORA earlier this year. Over the last few months, Kupor said ORA helped expedite the retirement process at agencies where applications had been stalled.

“For example, just recently we were able to fast track 1,500 ORA applications that had been backlogged in the HR department of an executive branch agency to bypass the HR organization and transmit the applications electronically to payroll and then to OPM,” Kupor wrote. “These applications had been sitting for months — and were likely to be sitting for months longer; ORA enabled us to address this challenge.”

This year, OPM has also managed to improve its ability to provide interim annuities to more retirees immediately after their applications reach OPM, according to Kupor.

“This is a massive benefit to our retirees that we designed specifically to address the significant volume of applications we anticipated receiving in the wake of DRP,” Kupor wrote.

Rep. James Walkinshaw (D-Va.), who led the Democrats’ letter to OPM last week, said he appreciated Kupor’s response to their concerns, but added that “the facts remain and are stubborn.”

“First, the Trump administration fired or drove out hundreds of thousands of qualified civil servants. Now they’re facing a historic backlog of retirement applications managed by understaffed HR departments in the midst of a rocky rollout of a new IT system,” Walkinshaw said in a statement to Federal News Network. “I very much hope that Mr. Kupor can succeed in ensuring timely processing of federal retirement applications. But right now, he is failing.”

Due to the Trump administration’s efforts to reduce the federal workforce, HR staffing decreased by about 5%, with agencies losing a cumulative total of about 2,600 employees, according to fiscal 2025 data. That does not include HR employees who took the DRP offer themselves and separated after September.

Despite the reductions, Kupor said federal HR is “hardly understaffed,” and that the main challenge is not with workforce size, but rather with outdated systems. With fully digital retirement applications in the ORA, he said processing times become much faster.

“As of today, ORA applications are being completed in approximately 40 days, compared with 90 days for paper-based applications,” Kupor wrote. “I am fully confident that this 40-day time period will continue to be reduced as we are able to get the payroll providers fully integrated into the new system.”

Kupor said OPM has also been meeting regularly with agency HR offices, payroll providers and the CHCO Council to “provide information about digitalization of the retirement process and offer support on an ongoing basis.”

“Any delays that annuitants are experiencing from HR-related activities should be directed toward these individual agencies,” he added.

Many retiring federal employees have told Federal News Network their applications are stuck in the earlier steps of the retirement process, with progress lagging in their agency HR offices and payroll providers. Some employees who retired in September said their applications have not yet made it to the later part of the process at OPM, where annuity finalization occurs.

Federal retirement experts have also said more issues appear to be occurring in individual agency HR offices, rather than at OPM — but that both entities are seeing delays. At the IRS, for instance, several retirees told Federal News Network they are still awaiting payments, or any information on the status of their retirement applications, and that phone calls to the HR office often go unanswered.

“It’s all dead ends,” one retiring IRS employee, speaking anonymously for fear of retaliation, told Federal News Network. “As a government employee, and after all the service that I gave, this is how we’re getting treated. People are sitting here with nothing because of the decisions they made. We can’t afford it.”

Still, Kupor pointed again to significant progress with the rollout of ORA earlier this year. The government’s major payroll providers — the National Finance Center (NFC), Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS) and Interior Business Center (IBC) — have been onboarded to the new platform. Additionally, all CFO Act agencies, aside from the State Department, are currently using ORA, according to Kupor.

Smaller payroll providers including those at the General Services Administration and Postal Service are in an “interim adoption status,” Kupor said. OPM expects those providers to be fully onboarded to ORA in early 2026.

The largest remaining challenge with retirement processing delays, according to Kupor, is payroll providers who have not managed to fully automate their processes.

“We will be prevented from full automation until they free up the required resources to integrate with ORA,” Kupor wrote. “This integration will enable us to receive employee payroll information electronically, which will vastly accelerate processing times.”

The post OPM touts digitization efforts, blames outdated tech for retirement delays first appeared on Federal News Network.

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Interview transcript

Terry Gerton As we’re looking forward to January, it’s a new year, new resolutions. One of those resolutions is often financial wellness as opposed to just health and wellness. So let’s talk about why this is such an important moment for federal employees to be thinking about resetting their financial picture.

Thiago Glieger Yeah, Terry, the new year always brings a fresh start and it’s a really good time to reset and look at the financial plan because there’s new limits for the tsp, there’s a new year that you get to plan for in terms of your expenses and budgets. So, there’s things we can look at like your investments and how you’re doing on savings and really make sure that you’re still on track for some of the other goals that you set yourself. So lots that we can talk about.

Terry Gerton Well, this last year certainly was turbulent and maybe caused some folks to reconsider their financial perspective. Let’s start with TSP. What are the new rules about TSP and what should employees be thinking about as they plan their TSP contributions?

Thiago Glieger So as we look to the first paycheck that feds are going to receive in 2026, it’s a good time to review that contribution because in this new year, the limit is going to get bumped a little bit. So we’re going to $24,500 for the employee contribution. And for anyone who’s over 50, you have the catch-up contribution, which now for next year is gonna be $8,000. Okay, so the big difference here, Terry, between this year and next year, is that now there’s a new rule in place that says if you earn over $150,000, that catch-up amount that you used to be able to put into traditional TSP and defer the taxes, now you’re going to have to put that into the Roth. Okay, so it does mean you’re gonna pay taxes on that money right now But you do get to enjoy that tax-free growth later for anyone who is a little bit older than 50, so between 60 and 63, it’s a weird range in there, you can actually do what we now call the super catch-up contribution. So it’s a very new rule as well, and that additional contribution, and it ranges depending on how old you are in that range, you can put as much as almost $36,000 into the TSP for next year. So that’s really good for anyone who, maybe the kids are out of the house at this point, you’re empty nesting and now you don’t have so much expenses, you can focus on saving for retirement more seriously. That’s a really good opportunity to revisit that.

Terry Gerton And does that super catch-up for us older folks also have to go into the Roth?

Thiago Glieger I believe the answer is yes, because it counts as a catch-up, and this new rule talks about the catch-up amount, having to go into this after-tax bucket, no longer being deducted as a pretax deduction.

Terry Gerton So thinking about how much you’re contributing is one facet of your TSP. Thinking about what you contribute to is the other. Certainly the stock markets had a pretty good run in 2025. How should people be thinking about their portfolio mix in the TSP coming into 2026?

Thiago Glieger That’s such a hard one, because we all want to be aggressive investors when the markets are doing well. We all want be conservative investors when the market’s are rocky. And I encourage federal employees to look at their investment decisions from within the context of a financial plan. Okay, so for example, when we think about volatility in the markets, that’s the growth that gives us long-term. But that same volatility, short-term, equals risk. And so for someone who is going to be looking at possibly retiring here in the next maybe few years, you really have to be careful with how much you have in the C, S and I funds because those can be very volatile. That’s the stock market. If the markets start declining, you might not have enough time to be able to recover from that market crash if you’re all of a sudden going to start using your TSP for retirement. So the F fund and G fund can be a good solution for this. I like the easy button In the TSP, Terry, the Lifecycle Funds. That really, you can pick the alignment with your retirement date, just know that it’s going to be a little more conservative for the long term, but it does help you not miss being too conservative.

Terry Gerton Does it make sense to have a mix across the funds so that you balance risk and reward?

Thiago Glieger Absolutely. I think that there’s always some part of the portfolio that has to be inflation fighting. We call that the silent retirement killer, right? Our money can never purchase as much as we really want it in the long term. So stocks give us that inflation fighting, but we need money in the short term like the G fund or the F fund that is safer and more diversified. And that’s where the life cycle can be very helpful. It does the preallocation for you. The closer you are to the date, the more conservative it’s going to be.

Terry Gerton I’m speaking with Thiago Glieger, certified financial planner with RMG Financial Advisors of Maryland. So Thiago, on top of TSP, it’s time to rethink budgets, always as you come into a new year, one of my least favorite financial tasks. This past year for federal employees certainly posed a lot of uncertainty and risk; shut down, multiply that. How should people be thinking about budgeting as they begin the new year?

Thiago Glieger Yeah, Terry, I, even as a financial planner, I don’t like budgeting either. I don’t think it’s something anyone really enjoys doing. And what has really been helpful for us is to use the word intentional spending instead that makes it feel like it’s a more positive component. And so when we think about how do we want to be intentional about our spending, we want look at, are we set up for a potential emergency? As you mentioned, this was a big year that really brought the, that detail to importance and brought it to light. How are we covering our short-term expenses if something happens? What do we call short-terms? An emergency savings anywhere between three to six months of all of your living expenses. Honestly, before anybody is going to be investing and putting more money in the TSP, you have to have that emergency savings set up. And so then you think about, okay, well, am I still spending reasonably throughout the year? What about a potential car maybe I have to buy or there’s a renovation I have do, or medical procedure I’ve been putting off. These are expenses you want to think about ahead of time so that you have the cash ready and waiting for you. Again, not invested in the markets because the more risk you take in the market, you can’t align their timing with your timing. So you want to use things like cash, CDs, or bonds.

Terry Gerton One of the big inflationary aspects of a typical family budget is healthcare premiums and federal employees saw growth there as well coming into 2026. What should they be thinking about with respect to healthcare?

Thiago Glieger Yeah, Terry, this is such a difficult conversation because it is so challenging to solve the health care issue that we have. And premiums just keep adjusting every year because of how fast the cost of health care inflation is. When we look at regular inflation, it’s between two and a half long term. Health care is almost twice that. So we have to be thinking about how are we going to take care of ourselves? And one of the greatest underutilized tools that federal employees have is the FSA account. You don’t need to be in a high-deductible medical plan to use an FSA. And an FSA Is essentially money you get to put into this account, you get deducted from your taxes that amount that you put in there. And then you get to use the money completely tax free on things that you would have spent money for medical expenses anyway, like band-aids or going to see your primary care physician or the dentist or anything like that. So I think the limit is about $3,000 for the year which is a pretty big chunk that now you get to save totally on taxes by using that tool.

Terry Gerton So Thiago, you kindly changed the word from budgeting to intentional spending. How should people be thinking about getting a really good handle on what they are spending? Is that looking at your credit card on a monthly basis or what practice do you recommend?

Thiago Glieger I have found, Terry, that looking at a month-to-month budgeting system can be kind of challenging. I find it hard to remember what I had expenses on last week. So for me, and for a lot of our clients, doing a weekly check-in with yourself tends to work really well because you can say, how did I do this week and how can I do better next week? We also like to break things down into what are our absolute needs versus our discretionary spending. So discretionary spending are things like hey, how many times are we gonna dine out this week or this month? And how many time do we want to go on vacation this year or take a trip here or there? So those things you have a lot more control over and that’s the part that if we can plan carefully ahead, we can make sure that we don’t overspend and then blow out our savings.

Terry Gerton We’ve covered a lot of ground in these few minutes. What is one thing you want listeners to keep at the top of their mind regarding financial planning as they come into 2026?

Thiago Glieger I would say that starting the year strong in financial planning is about being intentional. It really is never doing all of the things at once, rather just creating some key habits and putting those things in place day after day so that you can have that confident financial future and stability throughout the year.

The post The start of a new year is the perfect time to reset your financial game plan first appeared on Federal News Network.

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House Democrats are pressing the Office of Personnel Management for answers on how the agency is addressing abnormally high volumes of federal retirement applications that are inundating the government’s processing systems.

In a letter sent Monday, a group of lawmakers raised concerns about the delays retiring federal employees are currently experiencing, amid a major retirement influx spurred by the Trump administration’s deferred resignation program (DRP).

“This foreseeable and avoidable administrative failure is the clear result of an administration that has prioritized a purge of the federal civil service over government efficiency, leaving thousands of federal employees in administrative and financial limbo,” the lawmakers wrote in the Dec. 22 letter, obtained by Federal News Network.

The letter from Democrats, led by Rep. James Walkinshaw (D-Va.), comes in direct response to reporting last week from Federal News Network, which showed that many retiring federal employees are facing significant delays on their applications, while being left in limbo with limited information from their agencies. Some are still waiting for their retirement payments to kick in, months after officially separating from government.

“This surge of applications caused by the administration’s policies has now overwhelmed agency HR offices and payroll providers before many cases even reach OPM, a bottleneck the administration should have anticipated and planned for if it were serious about efficiency,” the Democrats wrote.

The lawmakers, who are all members of House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, called for OPM Director Scott Kupor to explain how OPM has been handling the retirement surge, and how it has been working with agencies who are facing delays of their own in processing retirement applications.

The committee Democrats are giving Kupor until Jan. 29 to detail how OPM has been helping agencies manage the processing challenges, how OPM plans to assess the impacts of HR staffing reductions, and how the application surge has affected customer service. The letter also calls for detailed data on how many agencies and payroll providers have been onboarded onto OPM’s new retirement platform.

“Federal employees, who devoted decades to careers in public service and provided valuable, non-political expertise to federal agencies now find themselves trapped in a prolonged cycle of delayed payments and benefits, lost paperwork, limited communication, and financial and administrative uncertainty,” the lawmakers wrote.

McLaurine Pinover, a spokeswoman for OPM, told Federal News Network that the agency “is aware of the longstanding challenges in the federal retirement system, which predate this administration.”

“That is why we are working diligently to modernize and digitize the retirement process, while prioritizing interim pay so retirees continue to receive income without disruption,” Pinover said.

Earlier this year, OPM launched a new platform, called the online retirement application (ORA), as a way to modernize the government’s paper-based retirement processing system. Agency officials have said the new ORA platform has been crucial over the past several months for managing the unusually high volumes of applications — something that would have been “extremely difficult” in the legacy system. In November, OPM reported that about one-third of incoming retirement applications were digital, and two-thirds were paper-based.

Although the lawmakers said OPM’s modernization efforts are “necessary,” they argued that the ORA is “insufficient” in addressing the immediate-term challenges of lower HR staffing, coupled with larger retirement volumes driven by the Trump administration’s DRP.

“As a result, retiring employees are often unable to reach already overburdened HR staff to correct errors, confirm receipt of paperwork or obtain basic status updates,” the lawmakers wrote. “This further compounds delays and administrative failures across the retirement process.”

Currently, OPM is far above its typical retirement workload due to the DRP, and seeing slower processing times as a result. In October and November combined, OPM took in nearly 44,000 retirement applications from agencies — more than triple the volume OPM saw at that time in 2024. The time it takes for OPM to process an application and finalize a retiree’s annuity has also continued to increase for most of 2025.

Along with OPM, agencies are also seeing slowdowns in their HR processing work, as they are required to review retiring employees’ applications before forwarding them to OPM.

A second wave of federal retirement applications is also expected imminently — something that will further flood the government’s processing systems in the coming months.

The post House Democrats question OPM on retirement processing delays first appeared on Federal News Network.

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A hearty, comforting and fulfilling soup that you must try this winter season is the classic restaurant style chicken noodle soup which is a one pot wonder that will keep you full for the entire night!

Winter is just round the corner and so is the craving for that soulful bowl of warm soup that will perfectly fit the bill as a one pot meal!

So here I come with my homemade chicken noodle soup that not only looks gorgeous but can also give the restaurant version a run for its money in terms of its flavors and taste!

Try it once and you will know why I am saying what I am saying!

What is chicken noodle soup?

Asian chicken noodle soup is a widely popular soup and I am not surprised at all! If a single dish can work as an entree as well as main course, who wouldn’t love it?

I made this a week before Diwali when we were feeling a little under the weather; we loved it so much that we immediately decided to prepare it for our little blog and share it with ya’all!

The best thing about this soup recipe is that you won’t need a long list of ingredients; just the basic aromatics, chicken & noodles and you are ready to whip up the most comforting soup of the season!

The post Best Ever Chicken Noodle Soup for Winter | Restaurant Style Chicken Noodle Soup first appeared on Flavor Quotient.