Four kinds of households, four different sets of rules.
The retirement system treats a federal employee, a retired Marine, a couple with two 401(k)s and a recent widow very differently. I've spent years learning the particular rules each of them lives under, so that the plan starts from how your money actually works rather than from a template.
Couples preparing for, or living in, retirement
You've done the hard part. The accounts are funded, the mortgage is nearly gone and the question has shifted from "are we on track" to "how do we actually do this." That's a different question, and it comes with a decision most couples underestimate: when each of you claims Social Security.
Because the larger benefit becomes the survivor's benefit, the higher earner delaying is usually about protecting whichever of you lives longer, not about squeezing out the most dollars. The chart lets you try the combinations yourselves. Move the claiming ages and the longevity slider, and watch where the lines cross.
Questions we'll work through
- Which account should the first year's paycheck come from?
- Should we convert some of the IRA to Roth before Social Security starts?
- How much can we actually spend without worrying?
- If one of us is gone, what does the other one's income look like?
Hypothetical couple: $3,400 a month at full retirement age for the higher earner, $1,900 for the lower earner, both born after 1960. Assumes the higher earner passes at 84 and the survivor steps up to the larger benefit. Benefits in today's dollars; no spousal top-ups, no earnings test, no taxes.
Veterans and military families
Military retirement arrives early and in pieces. A pension that adjusts with inflation, VA disability compensation that's tax-free, a Thrift Savings Plan that follows its own rules, Tricare, and eventually Social Security. Each piece is good. Fitting them together, and knowing what the Survivor Benefit Plan election at out-processing actually bought your spouse, is where families tend to need help.
Florida helps too. There's no state income tax here, and the state's homestead protections and veteran exemptions are worth understanding before you buy. The chart shows how a representative retiree's income stacks from 45 onward, and what the Survivor Benefit Plan does to the picture if the retiree dies at 72.
Questions we'll work through
- Is the Survivor Benefit Plan premium worth it in our situation, and is it too late to change?
- What should the TSP do once the pension and VA pay cover the basics?
- How does a second career's 401(k) fit with everything else?
- Which benefits continue for my spouse, and which stop?
Hypothetical E-8 retiring at 45 with 24 years of service: a $42,000 pension with cost-of-living adjustments, $24,000 in VA compensation, a civilian job to 62, TSP withdrawals from 62 and Social Security at 67. The Survivor Benefit Plan pays 55% of the pension to the spouse for life. VA compensation stops at death unless the spouse qualifies for Dependency and Indemnity Compensation, which this illustration leaves out.
Federal and government employees
FERS is often described as a three-legged stool: the basic annuity, the Thrift Savings Plan and Social Security. There's also a bridge most people have never heard of until they need it. If you retire at your minimum retirement age with enough service, the FERS Special Retirement Supplement roughly stands in for Social Security until you turn 62.
That bridge is why the retirement date matters so much. Retire at 57 with 30 years and the supplement carries you for five years. Retire at 62 and there's no bridge, but the annuity is larger. Drag the retirement age and watch how the three legs and the bridge rearrange.
Questions we'll work through
- Do we take the full annuity or the survivor annuity, and what does FEHB in retirement depend on?
- Traditional TSP, Roth TSP, or roll it somewhere else?
- Should Social Security wait, even though the supplement ends at 62?
- What does our income look like in the year the supplement stops?
Hypothetical GS-13 with a $115,000 high-three salary and 30 years of service at 57 (1% of high-three per year, rising to 1.1% at 62 with 20 or more years). The supplement is an estimate of the Social Security earned during federal service. TSP withdrawals of 4% from a $750,000 balance begin at retirement. Today's dollars, before taxes.
People navigating the loss of a spouse or a sudden inheritance
When a spouse dies, or when money arrives all at once, almost everyone feels pressure to act. The truth is that very few financial decisions need to be made in the first weeks, and a handful absolutely can't wait. Knowing which is which, and having someone walk beside you through the paperwork, is most of what I do in these moments.
For inheritors there's a particular trap: an inherited IRA from a parent generally has to be emptied within ten years, and how you spread those withdrawals can change the tax bill by tens of thousands of dollars. The timeline on the right shows what the first year after a loss usually looks like, in order.
What I'll help with
- A short list of what needs doing this month, and a longer list of what can wait
- Claiming survivor benefits, pensions and life insurance in the right order
- Retitling accounts and updating beneficiaries without creating a tax problem
- Rebuilding a household plan around one income instead of two
Not sure which of these is you?
Most households are a mix. A federal employee married to a veteran, a couple where one of them inherited last year. The first conversation sorts out which rules apply to you, and it costs nothing.