Your Turn with Mike Causey

Listen to the final Your Turn with Mike Causey show. It’s a special tribute to Mike, who passed away in late September 2022, hosted by Federal Drive anchor Tom Temin and executive editor Jason Miller. Current and former Federal News Network colleagues and long-time guests of Your Turn will join this hour-long, commercial-free discussion about Mike’s impact on the federal community, share stories and memories of a man who impacted all of us with his wit, his knowledge and his desire to share and explain the intricacies of the federal world. Guests include: FNN General Manager Joel Oxley WTOP Program Director and former FNN Web Operations director Julia Ziegler FNN reporter Jory Heckman Tammy Flanagan Jessica Klement Art Stein Abraham Grungold Former FNN Editor-in-Chief Lisa Wolfe Former In-Depth anchor Francis Rose Former Federal Drive co-host Jane Norris Former Your Turn producer Lauren Larson

In many ways, the way you handle your final affairs will determine how your family and friends remember you. So it’s important to get it right. Years ago, my uncle died and left his large, 700-plus acre farm (for comparison, New York’s Central Park is about 840 acres) to his daughter. Not his wife. On purpose. Or so he thought! He knew exactly what he was doing! That is, he thought he knew what he was doing. But instead of making a postmortem point, he messed up. Big time. It was not his first will. Nor (maybe) his last. That’s because he wrote wills all the time. Sometimes to punish some individual or group. And that may have made him feel good, or at least satisfied. But in the end it created a mess. Why? Because the only will that counts is the last one you wrote (or that your family finds) that was done properly. The notarized copy his wife found became the official one. It cut her out of the farm. Or so he thought. What apparently happened is that my uncle, acting as his own attorney-estate planner, managed to leave the farm (as in land, creek, trees, etc.) to his daughter but somehow all the property on the farm — several houses, some barns and other buildings — went to his wife. Cut to the chase. Bottom line is the will that took effect was the only one (or most recent one) found. It left his daughter the land and his wife the buildings on that land. Probably not what he had planned! After a bitter period of time his daughter bought the property on her land even though she was in debt for years paying for it. His wife got something. But nobody, including my uncle (who was a great guy), got what was intended. Lesson (if there is one): be careful who does your will. And your estate plan. And your trust. Do you know what you need? What’s best for your family? One of the first things to consider is do you have an estate? Many, if not most, career feds and retirees do. Worth more than they think. So what do you do? We tapped Washington attorney Tom O’Rourke for some estate planning help. He’s a former IRS lawyer who specialized in taxes and estates in private practice. He’s going to be the guest on today’s Your Turn radio show.

In many ways, the way you handle your final affairs will determine how your family and friends remember you. So it’s important to get it right. Years ago, my uncle died and left his large, 700-plus acre farm (for comparison, New York’s Central Park is about 840 acres) to his daughter. Not his wife. On purpose. Or so he thought! He knew exactly what he was doing! That is, he thought he knew what he was doing. But instead of making a postmortem point, he messed up. Big time. It was not his first will. Nor (maybe) his last. That’s because he wrote wills all the time. Sometimes to punish some individual or group. And that may have made him feel good, or at least satisfied. But in the end it created a mess. Why? Because the only will that counts is the last one you wrote (or that your family finds) that was done properly. The notarized copy his wife found became the official one. It cut her out of the farm. Or so he thought. What apparently happened is that my uncle, acting as his own attorney-estate planner, managed to leave the farm (as in land, creek, trees, etc.) to his daughter but somehow all the property on the farm — several houses, some barns and other buildings — went to his wife. Cut to the chase. Bottom line is the will that took effect was the only one (or most recent one) found. It left his daughter the land and his wife the buildings on that land. Probably not what he had planned! After a bitter period of time his daughter bought the property on her land even though she was in debt for years paying for it. His wife got something. But nobody, including my uncle (who was a great guy), got what was intended. Lesson (if there is one): be careful who does your will. And your estate plan. And your trust. Do you know what you need? What’s best for your family? One of the first things to consider is do you have an estate? Many, if not most, career feds and retirees do. Worth more than they think. So what do you do? We tapped Washington attorney Tom O’Rourke for some estate planning help. He’s a former IRS lawyer who specialized in taxes and estates in private practice. He’s going to be the guest on today’s Your Turn radio show.

Many people consider Michelangelo’s statue of David to be the most perfect sculpture ever. It was done in the early 1500s and stands 10 feet tall. Pretty impressive. Yet a friend of mine, Bill B, claims that his brother in-law, who has seen it in the flesh, thinks the masterpiece is overrated. After studying it for a few minutes, he concluded that virtually anybody could have done it. “All you have to do,” brother-in-law-said, “is get a really good piece of marble, then chip away all the pieces that don’t look like David.” Of course he’s right. Up to a point! But he’s leaving out some important details. The sort that face federal, postal and military personnel deciding how — and how much — to invest in their Thrift Savings Plan accounts. For some, TSP (with its generous government match) will provide one-third to as much half the money they have to spend in retirement. Regardless of the percentage, it’s a lot. So how do you become a TSP millionaire? We asked D.C.-area financial planner Arthur Stein if there is a magic formula. Several of his clients are TSP millionaires. The recent stock market nosedive reduced that number. And it has many investors rethinking their situation. Which is the subject of today’s Your Turn radio show with Art Stein.

Have you got what it takes to make the final cut, and maybe become a contestant on the popular TV show Jeopardy? Maybe become a millionaire? Interested? Take this test. If you dare… What weighs 990 million pounds, is worth $743 billion and has 6.6 million units found in every country of the world, every U.S. state, as well as Greenland and Antarctica. Oh, also in outer space. Correct answer: What is the federal Thrift Savings Plan, Uncle Sam’s in-house 401k for active and retired civil servants and government officials, and members of the military? The TSPs’ governing body, the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board, met yesterday for its monthly meeting. Federal News Network’s Drew Friedman covered it. She’ll be my guest today on Your Turn.

After one of the best, longest bull market runs in history, the continuing downhill trajectory of the stock market has lots of investors wondering what — if anything — they could and should be doing. At a time of an evolving pandemic, an expanding European war and major climate concerns, at first glance the answer is: probably not much! For many investors, the Thrift Savings Plan will provide anywhere from one-third to half their income in retirement. Assuming, of course, there is income! So what should you do, or not do? We’ll find out today on our Your Turn show with guest host Arthur Stein. He’s a Washington-area financial planner whose clients include many active and retired feds, including several self-made TSP millionaires.

If an IRS agent calls you at home or office and asks you to send him or her a gift card, don’t do it! Even if you owe money, that is not the correct (or legal) way to get back in Uncle Sam’s good graces! By the same token if someone from a nature fund or a save-the-kittens group asks for a donation, check them out BEFORE you send a check. When a company advertises it can reduce your tax bill by tens of thousands of dollars put a cold cloth on your head and lie down until the urge to respond is gone. All of the above, plus some things you wouldn’t dream up, are part of the IRS’s Dirty Dozen list. It’s part of the agency’s effort to protect taxpayers, tax preparers and corporations from scams ranging from the incredibly stupid to brilliant. All designed to take you for all they can get. Even if it’s all you got! And if you think some of the long-distance scams you see on the Dr. Phil show: She (or he) wires money to soulmate they’ve never met so they can pay kidnapper’s ransom, get their mother a new body part, or repay a small debt to free millions of dollars from frozen account. The fact is it happens every day. Sometimes to otherwise savvy people. Like you, maybe? So what are the scams and schemes on the Dirty Dozen list? Could you spot them? Or have you ever been had? To talk about the ploys used to trick people we’ll be talking to tax attorney Tom O’Rourke. He’s a former IRS attorney, and he’s my guest today on our Your Turn radio show.

If you are working, retired, building a nest egg or living off one, these are tough emotional times. If you want good news, you’ve learned to avoid the financial news or stock market reports. Also national news, international news and, if you are a baseball fan in certain cities like Washington, D.C., you avoid the sporting news, too. Hopefully you have a good cable package and a personality that lets you sort and live with the good news vs. the not-so-good-news. Which is the purpose of today’s Your Turn radio show: It’s a double-header on the good, the bad and the ugly. We are going to try to cover the waterfront. First up, financial advisor Arthur Stein will talk about the future course of your TSP account, and the pros and cons of investing heavily in the never-has-a-bad-day G fund. Many consider it the “safest” investment. But that begs the question: How do you define “safe” when building a retirement nest egg? Federal News Network reporter Drew Friedman will talk about the very latest on the federal pay raise. Then we’ll get into the prospects for a large retiree COLA. Last, but definitely not least, the issues TSP investors are having with the new system.

When is the last time you and your significant other took a romantic weekend to rekindle the fire? And spent most of the time, at the beach or in the mountains, talking about the pros and cons of an irrevocable trust? Wild guess: How about … never? Although vitally important in some cases, irrevocable trusts are sort of like heel spurs or picking kitchen paint colors as a topic of extended conversation. And yet … There may come a time in your family’s life when having the should-I-have-a-trust conversation is critical. Whether you did it, or especially if you didn’t do it but should have! All this is a sneaky way to lead into today’s Your Turn radio show. And while the subject doesn’t automatically draw your attention, in many cases it should. What such a trust is, and whether it is vital or useless for you and yours is something you have to deal with while you are still around. It won’t wait until after you’ve gone and mourning — maybe fighting — loved ones are dealing with your estate which, by the way, even the most modest feds have. Today we’ll be talking with Tom O’Rourke, a Washington area tax and estate attorney.

When Social Security was launched in 1935, the average life expectancy for men was 59.9 years and 63.9 for women. Full benefits started at 65, so do the math! It sounded almost like a safe, government-guaranteed Ponzi Scheme, minus the scheme part. But times have changed. The bad news, from an actuarial basis, is that we are living longer. A lot longer. A growing number of people are and will spend more time in retirement, getting Social Security, than they did working and paying into it. Again, do the math! Optimists predict Congress will fix it. Maybe make millionaires pay Social Security taxes on all of their income. Maybe raise them for everybody. Others, including many young people, say it’s too late, or soon will be. That there won’t be anything for them 99 years after the program began. For an update on the fate of your Social Security, we invited Tammy Flanagan to be on today’s Your Turn radio show.

Retirement benefits for career feds and military personnel will be based on their length of service and salary. Unlike the vast majority of private pension plans, the federal-military programs are protected from inflation. Benefits will come from three sources: The federal/military annuity or retired pay, Social Security and the TSP. Which makes it so important to everybody. The TSP could supply one-third or more of the spending money retirees will have. So far, so good! But every top has a bottom, right? Arthur Stein, a D.C.-area financial planner, has been tracking the TSP for clients for decades. And several of his clients are self-made TSP millionaires. He urges people to invest for the long haul. And avoid what he believes is risky behavior: when clients have too much of their retirement nest egg in the G fund. Which is what we’ll talk about today when he’s my guest on Your Turn.

It’s hard to think about next summer’s vacation at the beach in February when there is a blizzard outside and your roof is groaning under the weight of all that ice and snow. There are times when it is important to live in the moment and focus on how to minimize your losses. But that is not always the best plan for ordinary people who are investing for a retirement that could last 10, 20 or 30-plus years. Like now! So what if this period, right now, turns out to be the good old days?! What if things get much worse before they get a little better? So who did we call for advice? How about Arthur Stein, a well-known Washington-area financial planner. Most of his clients are active or retired feds. Several are TSP millionaires, in some cases because-not-in-spite-of the Great Recession. He’ll be my guest today on our Your Turn radio show.

For many career feds and postal workers the best date to retire is simple! You haul assets ASAP. You leave a soon as you are eligible to receive an immediate annuity. Period. Maybe you hate your job. Or your colleagues. Or the boss. Or all of them. Maybe you are ill. Or want to travel. Or not have to fight rush hour traffic anymore. Simple, right? Well, not necessarily. Retiring as soon as you can may seem like a good idea now. But what about then, which always follows now? How will it impact you financially 10, 20 or 30 years into retirement when inflation has nibbled away at (or gobbled up) your FERS annuity? When your TSP balance shrinks either due to inflation or to a recession? That might not be the right way to approach it. In fact, benefits expert Tammy Flanagan says there are two other factors: The future forecast: How you can (and should) set and control the actual NET value (after taxes and deductions) of your annuity. And mandatory or voluntary TSP withdrawals. Also, the impact of retiring early, or waiting several years on both your FERS annuity and, just as important, your Social Security benefit.The difference between taking Social Security as soon as you can (age 62?) and waiting until age 70 is huge. Check out what that delayed financial gratification would be for you. So how do you figure your retirement trifecta? Easy, listen to our Your Turn radio show today at 10 a.m. Benefits and retirement expert Tammy Flanagan will be my guest. She’ll talk about how you can figure your best retirement date, and why those factors can add tens of thousands of dollars, both in FERS benefit and Social Security, to your lifetime retirement nest egg.

If you can afford to leave your spouse, kids or significant others a very large pile of money to spend when you are no longer around, you might want to skip the expense and inconvenience of making a will or setting up a trust. But that’s probably not your best move. Certainly as far as your beneficiaries are concerned. But if you leave them with a substantial cash stash to spend after your demise they may get by fine, while the courts decide what’s what and who’s who in your financial life. If you leave enough, they will probably get by until the courts take over and handle the matter. In six months if you are lucky. Maybe a year if your affairs are complicated, which most are. If you have a house, car(s), debts and credit cards some would say you have an estate. Although some find it a grim subject, most of the people we leave behind will know what you wanted. A will and an estate plan can reduce or mitigate hard feelings among survivors. Maybe prevent decades-long feuds among children, siblings or spouses over what you wanted. To the question “should you have a will and an estate plan,” the answer, especially if you work or retired from the federal government, is usually yes! Which is why our Your Turn guest today is Tom O’Rourke. He’s a former IRS attorney who now specializes in tax and estate law.

Many investors know the conventional thing to do when times are good. But when things go south, which they do regularly, the fight-or-flight instinct kicks in. Times like now. So we ask D.C. area financial planner Arthur Stein what he’s telling active and retired clients these days.