Life is constantly moving and it can be hard sometimes to keep up with a rapidly changing world. But your federal benefits are something you should always keep up on. Retirement can be a more difficult time to keep up with it all because you are no longer surrounded by co-workers going through the same things.
Here’s a list of some common life events that might happen during retirement and what you should do to keep your benefits all up to date.
A Move
You would need to contact OPM and give them your new address. This will be vital if any of your benefits or payments were connected to your geographic area. Sometimes your health Benefit Plan covers only a limited geographic area and OPM would be able to help you change that plan.
If you had your state income taxes withheld from your pension, you will want to make sure you get that updated based on the new state that you live in.
A Move out of the United States
Most of your benefits won’t be affected by this change unless you move to a “Blocked” country. It is unlikely because the only countries that are currently blocked are Cuba and North Korea.
Medicare might be affected by this move because only certain types of treatment are covered outside the United States. You’ll want to take this into consideration when planning a move.
A Divorce
If you have a divorce decree that affects your federal benefits, you will want to provide this decree to OPM. They will be able to coordinate your benefits accordingly.
You will also want to update any of your beneficiary designations if they don’t match your new family situation.
A Marriage
You will want to send a copy of your marriage certificate and OPM will provide the information to provide a survivor annuity to your new spouse if desired. If you want to update your health benefits for dental vision benefits, you will have 31 days before your marriage then 60 days afterward to get that updated without waiting till the next open enrollment. Again, you will want to update your beneficiary designations to match your new family situation.
Reaching Age 65
At this point you will want to apply for Medicare. Analyzing the pros and cons of Medicare is for a different discussion, but age 65 is when most people become eligible. At this point you are able to convert to a less expensive health benefits plan if desired.
Starting after your 65th birthday, your Federal Group life insurance will start to reduce by 2% per month. You can stop this reduction if desired by paying the premiums to OPM.
Reaching Age 72
At this age you will have to start taking required minimum distributions from your tsp balance. This basically means that the government wants you to take a portion of your money out of the tsp so they can collect taxes on the portions that were pre-tax. If these distributions don’t happen, a penalty will be charged.
The Death of a Spouse or Child
If this member of the family was covered under the federal group life insurance then you would file a claim with OPM. You’d also want to update your beneficiary designations if applicable.
If you were receiving a reduced pension/annuity payouts for the right to a survivor annuity for your former spouse, you will want to contact OPM to get your full pension reinstated.
