Most FERS employees accidentally give away tens of thousands of dollars in pension benefits without realizing it. Once your retirement forms are signed and processed, many of those choices are permanent. In this episode of Confident Federal Retirement, Tom Poltersdorf, CFP®, walks you through five of the most common FERS pension mistakes he sees with soon‑to‑retire federal employees: survivor benefit elections, timing your retirement date, missing or miscredited service time, planning off gross instead of net, and treating your pension in isolation instead of as part of a full income plan.

You'll hear real‑world examples and simple, plain‑English explanations so you can see how these decisions affect your spouse, your health insurance, your taxes, and your long‑term retirement income. If you're within about 5–10 years of retiring from federal service, this episode will help you avoid some very expensive surprises and make clearer, more confident choices.

When you're ready for one‑on‑one help, visit https://gtwealthguide.com/federal-blueprint to request a personalized Federal Retirement Plan and schedule a call.

We'll map out your federal benefits, TSP, Social Security, and tax plan on one page so you can retire from federal service without guessing.