Of all the issues that can complicated or even postpone or eliminate retirement, personal relationships have to be among the largest problems.

After all, a lot of this site is about divorce and its aftermath as it relates to federal employees.

So if there is any chance at all of saving your relationship before that final decree comes through, I urge you to take a look at this product.

The Ex Back System is an extremely helpful tool for winning back your ex. It’s a complete and interactive plan to help you in your efforts to get your ex back. However, they now have a Platinum upgrade. Is that upgrade worth the money? Or would you be fine just sticking to the main system?

Did You Lose Her Forever? You can win her back! The Platinum upgrade contains 34 unique videos, with audio downloads and PDF transcripts also available. When you first go to access them, you find that you are given a special log in area. After logging in, you are greeted by an entry page, and told to go to the download area. There, you do have to enter your password again before you get to view the videos. Overall, the process takes two to three minutes. Not bad, but not instant gratification either.

The videos are laid out according to which phase of the Ex Back System they most closely correspond to. So you would find "How Your Desperate Behavior is Driving Your Ex Away" under phase 1, and so on. Under each video is the corresponding mp3 file. The PDFs are downloaded in one fell swoop, with all 34 of them in a zipped folder.

When you watch the videos, you are treated to an attractive slideshow with a female voice over. It’s very clear and easy to understand. If you are a visual learner, you might find these helpful.

The audios are configured so you can download to your computer so that you can put them on your mp3 player or burn on CD’s to listen to in the car. Again, a nice feature that not everyone provides. Also, it’s very helpful for an auditory learner.

If you watch the videos or listen to the mp3s, I recommend that you also check out a few of the PDFs. Some of the them have additional information not contained in the videos. For example, emotion control is a 20 minute video which is a condensed form of a 120 page book. So if you find that video helpful, you may want to check out the book as well.

Whether or not you should get the platinum upgrade depends on whether you need the information contained within. I think everyone would find most of the lessons in here helpful. For example, "How to Stop Destructive Relationship Patterns" has some especially helpful information, especially in helping you understand exactly where things went wrong in your relationship. If you can grasp this, you’ll be better able to win back your ex by proving that you changed, and keep him by avoiding the same problems again.

Also, if you’re dealing with a specific issue, this videos can address that. So if you have kids (or pets!) together, are living together, or see each other often, you’ll find information specific for your situation.

Overall, I think it’s a good purchase if you can afford it. For a little more, you get a lot of knowledge that can really help you out.

However, the basic system may be enough if you have a straightforward situation.  And, as I said at the beginning, if you can rebuild a relationship rather than tear it asunder, it’s likely you will always be better off.

You have nothing to lose and a lot to possibly gain by trying the Ex Back System

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Worried about having a pension valuation of your CSRS, FERS, Military or public service (PERA) pension and annuity assets professionally valued due to a pending divorce? Well, maybe you don’t have to worry! Wouldn’t that be nice for a change?

Pension valuation for defined benefit plans such as CSRS or FERS typically involves an actuary or a qualified pension valuation expert prepare a Net Present Value (NPV) analysis that illustrates to all parties in the divorce the value in today’s terms of the benefits you’ll receive in the future.

In general, though, pension valuation or Net Present Value (NPV) is not a concern for any of the following reasons:

• ==> You have no defined benefit retirement plans
• ==> You really don’t care if the distribution of the couple’s assets is equitable
• ==>You truthfully feel all retirement plans are alike
• ==> You think that the employee’s cash contributions to the plan are representative of it’s NPV
• ==> You’ll be able to justify the technical basis for your evaluation in case of a future appeal
• ==> You feel happy in your ability to explain the financial consequences of methods of division
• ==> You prefer relying on your malpractice insurance rather than expert knowledge

Of course, not everyone meets these criteria.  So what do you do if you don’t?

Professional pension evaluation to the Rescue!

Before making important decisions such as dividing your assets for divorce I strongly suggest you get your pensions valued by a professional in the field.  There are many to choose from.  Retired Pay Analysis in Colorado Springs 719-475-7529 is a sponsor of this site.  There are many others as well.

Just be sure that the evaluation specialist that you select can:

• ==> Explain the similarities and difference between Civil Service annuities and commercial pensions.
• ==> Has experience in explaining these technicalities to lawyers and clients on both sides of the case.
• ==> Can provide expert witness support in the event the valuation is questioned
• ==> Is supervised closely by a legal expert.  Pension evaluation itself does not require a law degree but so many aspects of the process may depend upon the specific case that legal issues are sure to arise.

To give you an example of the importance of proper pension valuation, in a case I was acquainted with a divorcing couple was going to divide the husband’s Civil Service (CSRS in this case) by splitting the roughly $80,000 the husband had accumulated in mandatory wage deductions. $40K each … sounds OK?

photo credit: tlwebb

Well that CSRS annuity had a Net Present Value (NPV) of well over $300,000. Would you care to be the attorney for the wife and advise her to take the $40K and then have her come back and claim her share was really $150,000?  Didn’t think you’d want to be in that position.  Hire an expert, especially if you are unsure of why the husband’s CSRS pension/annuity was really worth a third of a million dollars.

I another case I was involved with, the couple did not use attorneys to represent each other.  They owned a home together worth, at the time about $175,00 and their equity as about $100,000 ($50,000 each).  The husband was a soon-to-be CSRS annuttant.  In addition to his regular “above mid-level” annutity, he was also entiteld to a significantly larger pension becuase of some special qualifications and programs he had particpated in over the years.

The wife said she was happy if the husband just signed over the home to her and made the morgage payments.  In return she would sign an agreement that said she waived all claims to any and all of the husband’s retirement annuities.  The couple proposed this agreement to the judge, the judge signed their papers and the husband paid off the mortgage with cash a few month slater.  The woman feels she ‘got’ the house and $50,000 as well.

Knowing the NPV of his (several) Federal income streams at the time, I feel she got something else … screwed.  Today a few years later, the husband is fully retired and enjoys an income of over $7,000 a month … the wife, not yet eligible for Social Security owns ahouse, now worth less than when they divorced and has a monthly income of $0.

Disclaimer

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

Document Your Service

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

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

photo credit: Senator Mark Warner

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

Disclaimer

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

You can comment on this post, you can email me at: davestarr (at) gmail (dot) com or you can call me at: 1-719-966-4295

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

The full article is here: A short synopsis:

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

To qualify, veterans must:

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

The monthly benefit pays up to:

• $1,470 to a veteran.
• $945 to a surviving spouse.
• $1,743 to a couple.

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

So if you’re a vet, the spouse or widow of a vet or a family member helping to shoulder the cost of caring for a vet, check this out.

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

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

If a couple gets divorced before or during the ‘Gray Area’ there are a number of considerations that must be taken into account regarding the equitable division of assets.

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

Anyway, there’s a brief summary of the Gray Area to give folks a few thoughts about plans they might need to make or actions to take.  Please feel free to comment or ask questions on points I may not have covered as well as you wished.

Disclaimer

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

If you really need an accurate reading on a case involving these issues, I’d suggest you call Bill — 719-475-7529

As so frequently happens, very complicated issues like a persons’ Social Security eligibility and benefits can be broken down, step by step, if one takes the time to start at the beginning.  here’s the first place to start fining out about your (or a client’s or spouse’s) benefits:

The Benefit Eligibility Screening Tool (BEST) is a tool that you can use to find out if you could be eligible for benefits from any of the programs Social Security administers. This tool will give you eligibility information based on answers you give to the questions on the following pages; however, BEST is not an application for benefits and:

• will not give you an estimate of benefit amounts.
• does not know, or ask for, your name or Social Security number.
• does not access your personal Social Security records.

If you have Medicare and want to find out if you might be eligible for extra help with your prescription drug costs, go to www.socialsecurity.gov/prescriptionhelp.

• What benefits will BEST screen for?
• How much time will it take to answer all the questions?
• What types of questions will BEST ask?
• Do I have to answer all of the questions?
• What if I already get benefits from the Social Security Administration?
• Who will see the answers I give?
• What if I don’t understand a question?
• What if I am helping someone else?
• What happens when I finish answering the questions?

Happy Searching.  Next time we’ll look at quantifying and estimating benefits.

NYC Woman Charged With Conning Man, 85

Friday, October 6, 2006

(10-06) 10:40 PDT New York (AP) —

A teen age vixen conned an 85-year-old man out of as much as a $1 million during a two-year relationship, and he may not have been her only victim, Queens prosecutors said. Louis Bruno of Queens said he met Natasha Marks two years ago outside a Waldbaum’s supermarket when she was 18 and he was 83. Bruno was hooked after Marks flirted with him and complimented his jacket. Full Article Here:

Kind of a little bit of humor here for a Friday afternoon.  It’s sad, but an important reminder that:

1. Men’s minds make bad decisions when they think with their “little head”
2. As PT Barnum once said, “There’s a sucker born every minute”

Here’s an 85 year-old man who had built himself up a nice, substantial nest egg who sees an 18 year-old girl making goo goo eyes at him and almost breaks a leg hurrying to the bank to draw out his life savings to waste on her.

Now the “lady” in question certainly doesn’t seem to be much of a lady, but com eon, guys … if you’re 85 what are you doing chasing after a late teen?  Hmm.  I neither condemn nor advocate prostitution but for goodness sake it serves a purpose and one ought to at last know the going price for a “professional companion”.  It would have ben a lot cheaper and a lot less embarrassing for Mr. Bruno to have hired a companion on a business basis.

In the world of con artists a “mark” is the pigeon or object of the scam … looks a bit as if the wrong person in this little drama was named “Marks”.

Who is doing your retirement planning?  Please, get professional assistance and follow it … think with your “big head”.

The issue is that the city expects that city employees should not be paid twice for the time they are away from their jobs on military duty.  Nothing wrong with that principle, indeed it corresponds with most civil and commercial entities who handle military deployments of employees.  But the way New York City is implementing the procedure seems onerous, if not downright stupid.

In most enlightened agencies the employee who is called to military duty furnishes the employer a pay stub to show his or her military pay.  The employer can then deduct the amount being provided by the military, and/or withhold pay if the military entitlement comes out to be more.  This way, the employee still should be “whole”, that is he or she should still get the same amount to pay the bills and take care of family needs and when the period of military call-up is over, there should be no big bills or huge re-adjustments needed.

Well the picture above of the New York police officer standing alone and forlorn is about the way New York seems to want to treat their finest.  The city just issued sort of half-understandable rules in the turmoil of these folks being called up and left things to flow as they would for more than 4 years now.  Out of the blue they are now telling employees that they owe huge amounts due to double compensation.  A sad way to do business with those who risk their lives for us.  A stupid way to do business, allowing folks on moderate salaries to run up bills in six figures and then expect repayment on a whim.

Sad.

The U.S. Department of Labor calculates the change in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for urban wage earners and clerical workers from the third quarter average of the previous year to the third quarter average for the current year.  This percentage increase then affects different categories of retirees in different ways.  Here’s the latest figures in 2006:

For Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) or Organization and Disability Retirement System (ORDS) benefits, the increase percentage is applied to your monthly benefit amount before any deductions, and is rounded down to the next whole dollar.  So a regular CSRS retiree will get the full increase in his or her check starting 1 February. (the payment due for January 1 to January 31st …you knew the government always paid in arrears, didn’t you?)

Military retirees under the Final Pay retirement system … the “old” system available to all retirees who entered the service prior to September 1980 … will get a like amount added to the retirement.

For Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) or FERS Special benefits, the rules are very different.  First of all, FERS retirees don’t get COLAs until they are 62.  If the increase in the CPI is 2 percent or less, the Cost-of-Living Adjustment (COLA) is equal to the CPI increase. If the CPI increase is more than 2 percent but no more than 3 percent, the Cost-of-Living Adjustment is 2 percent. If the CPI increase is more than 3 percent, the adjustment is 1 percent less than the CPI increase. The new amount is also rounded down to the next whole dollar.  Some folks have taken to calling this a “diet COLA”, perhaps for good reason.

There are also thousands of Federal Employees, some retired and some still working who are under the CSRS Offset system.  People retired under CSRS or CSRS Offset get a full COLA each January. Period. And that COLA goes to anyone, regardless of age or length of service, provided they take or took immediate retirement. So if the January COLA turns out to be 3.4 percent those retirees will get 3.4 percent.

But the rules are different for FERS retirees. They get so-called diet COLAs, and they don’t even get that until they are age 62. So what happens to people with both CSRS and FERS service. An individual retired under CSRS will get the full COLA (let’s assume it remains at 3.4 percent) in January. Period. He or she can be any age provided they’ve been on the retirement rolls long enough to qualify for the 2007 adjustment. The 3.4 percent will be applied to all their time under CSRS or CSRS Offset.  If you have time under the FERS system, you will have to be age 62 to qualify for a COLA and then you would get a 2.4 percent raise for that portion of time under FERS, and the full COLA for the time under CSRS.

There are some people who get Social Security, regular military retired pay and a CSRS or FERS, or both, benefit. The full COLA applies to all of them, except for that portion under FERS.

To add just a little complication, remember there are three different military retirement systems that your client may fall under.  They differ both in determining the initial retirement pay and very importantly how COLA’s are applied.  If your work or your advice revolves around Future and present (net Present Value — NPV) or people’s income this is important stuff.  A military retiree at, say, age 40 who lives to 85 or 90 will have a huge difference in the money he or she collects based on how COLA’s are factored in.  All three retirement systems have an annual cost of living adjustment. This is a subtle, yet very important detail. Over the lifetime of your retirement the cost of living adjustment could more than double your retirement check.

The COLA for the final pay and high 36 systems is determined each year by the national Consumer Price Index. But the COLA for the CSB/REDUX retirement system is the Consumer Price Index minus 1%.

For Example: A retiree under the High 36 may see a COLA increase in their retirement check of 3.5% in 2007, while a retiree under the CSB/REDUX plan would get a COLA increase of only 2.5%.

Note: There is one more twist to the COLA for the CSB/REDUX retiree. At age 62 the COLAs and multiplier are readjusted so that the High 36 and CSB retirees get the same monthly pay.

I’ll let you go get a COLA now, all this typing has made me thirsty

Disclaimer

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

If you really need an accurate reading on a case involving these issues, I’d suggest you call Bill — 719-475-7529

Company is currently pursuing a business method patent on the new insurance offering.

APEX, NC – If John Logan has his way, sometime in the very near future, people across the globe will be able to purchase insurance coverage against the potential financial devastation often caused by divorce.

Logan, Chairman & CEO of SafeGuard Guaranty Corporation, a Nevis based insurance company with operational headquarters near Research Triangle Park in North Carolina, announced plans to offer divorce insurance internationally sometime in early 2007.

“We’re on the tail end of funding, but everything else is ready.” said Logan, “I’m guessing six months or so depending on how fast we can come to terms with a few investors.”

The coverage will be geared toward rewarding people who have a long and successful marriage, not for people contemplating divorce in the immediate future, but will compensate those unfortunate enough to fall into the statistic of the 50% or so marriages that eventually fail year after year. Full Article Here:

Pretty interesting announcement today. Quite frankly it seems a little optimistic because the gentleman seems to be making a lot of specific performance promises when he hasn’t even got his financing in place or his web site working. But hey, I like the concept.

We buy insurance for so many thing these days, some of them catastrophic and some of them downright trivial. Divorce is one of the most catastrophic events a couple can suffer, so if this program helps mitigate some of the heartache and financial pain, more power to it.

Divorce attorneys out of business? Naw I don’t think so, that-was just y sort of “linkbait” headline. Could make life and divorce much simpler, though.