As someone who writes a lot of personal finance material, I try to avoid repeating topics...except for this one. With Federal Benefits Open Season right around the corner (November 10 – December 8) I would be flat out wrong to not write about one of my favorite accounts, the Health Savings Account (HSA). Disclaimer In this article, I’m simply talking numbers – the nerdy spreadsheet stuff. The decision you make regarding your family’s insurance plan should encompass a lot mo

There are dozens of articles that provide the same surface-level details regarding custodial Roth IRAs. My goal with this article wasn’t to provide yet another general summary. I wanted to dive deep on the practical aspects and really focus on the questions that I’ve been asked by many parents. As always, I am a financial planner but I am not your financial planner. I am not an accountant and this article is by no means tax advice. Consult with a professional before making fi

Please see the Roth IRA distribution scenarios table and the Roth IRA distribution flow chart for additional reference. Download the free Ultimate Guide to the Two 5-Year Rules for Roth IRAs PDF. Quick Links Roth Recap Roth IRA vs. Roth TSP Too Long Don't Read – Summary of both 5-Year rules Foundation # 1: Withdrawal of Roth IRA Contributions Foundation # 2: Ordering Rules Foundation # 3: IRA Aggregation 5-Year Rule # 1 / 5-Year Forever Rule (Roth IRA "Qualified Distributions

We’ve all seen the video. Someone’s driving down the road and they encounter something they don’t like. An animal, debris, a patch of ice, maybe a touch of the rumble strip. Their instincts kick-in and tell them they need to avoid this. Instead of a gradual adjustment, they overcorrect, jerking the wheel to one side. As the car careens towards a new hazard, they jerk the wheel back the other way. They’ve now entered an uncontrollable cycle of overcorrections which usually don

*Click here for the full Foreign Service & Civil Service retirement eligibility table. I joined the U.S. Department of State in 2020. Like you, I don’t know if I’ll be retained or let go. There are many aspects of this transition that are out of our control. However, what you can control is your level of knowledge. I’m hoping this document will give you an idea of what you may be eligible for so that you can start planning. While I attempt to cover a lot of topics and situati

Tax-free withdrawals...529 to Roth IRA rollovers…grandparent-owned 529 disregarded status. The 529 education savings vehicle keeps getting better. Knowledge is Power… Expensive Power According to the Education Data Initiative, the average total cost of college attendance for an in-state student living on campus in 2024 is $27,146. If you have a newborn today, in 18 years, factoring in 4% inflation, you’re looking at $54,993 for freshman year. Keep the inflation going for year

The Retiree Annuity Supplement, Special Retirement Supplement, FERS Supplement, Social Security Supplement…there seem to be endless names for, “the supplement”. I’m going to call it the Retiree Annuity Supplement (RAS), simply because that’s what it’s called in Chapter 51 of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) FERS Handbook. A quick definitional note: the paycheck federal employees get for life when they retire is technically called an annuity. To avoid confusing your li

What is a Lifecycle Fund Lifecycle Fund, Target Date Fund, LifeStrategy Fund, Target Retirement Date Fund. Regardless of the branding, these funds are all constructed around the same concept. The further away you are from a specific date, the more aggressive your investment portfolio can be, generally meaning more stocks and less bonds. As you get closer to that target date, the asset allocation shifts and becomes more conservative (fewer stocks, more bonds). The Thrift Sav

In both law enforcement and finance, the basics matter. Some people tend to get lost in the weeds, obsessing over the “icing on the cake” factors. We all know that person more concerned with their new optic, bipod, and suppressor versus learning the basic fundamentals of marksmanship. This also happens with finance. Stressing over which stock to day trade or what sector ETF to buy are things to ponder after getting the basics right. This month I want to talk about why you nee