Throughout the past few years, the world has undergone a lot of changes. Many people have had to shift their business to be completely virtual in order to accommodate this new way of living, and Mason & Associates, LLC was no different. So, what has changed in their practice and how has this shift impacted their clients? In this episode, Tommy and John will be discussing their new client process, what the client experience is like and why this update is important.

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You’ve been listening to Michael, Tommy and John for 20 episodes now, but do you really know them? Every episode, they come together to share their knowledge about financial planning with you. However, they each have their own background and unique introduction into financial planning that they will be explaining today.

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Federal employees had the option to convert from CSRS to FERS when FERS was first created in 1987. Now all federal employees are automatically enrolled in FERS—there is no option to choose CSRS instead. Many federal employees who were hired after 1987 feel as though they were cheated out of a better retirement system, but Tommy, Michael and John would have to disagree. In this episode, they explain why FERS is actually just as good as CSRS, if not better, and several key components of FERS that you may not be aware of.

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Not all financial advice and financial planning is created equally. If you are a federal employee and you are taking advice from an advisor who doesn’t specialize in helping people with your unique set of benefits and pensions, then that advice is not going to be useful to you. In fact, these advisors will probably give advice that will do more damage than good. So, in this episode, Michael, Tommy and John will be sharing the importance of knowing where you’re getting your information from and how to ensure you’re getting the unique advice you deserve.

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A Mega Backdoor Roth IRA is a tax strategy available to employees whose retirement plans allow them to make significant after-tax contributions and to transfer their contributions to a Roth IRA. In other words, if you want to maximize your Roth contributions, you need to understand the power of the Mega Backdoor Roth. So, in this episode, Michael, Tommy and John will be sharing the steps you can take today to ensure you’re not going to miss out on what could potentially be the biggest tax loophole of your lifetime, particularly if you are CSRS or CSRS Offset and have acess to the Voluntary Contribution Plan (VCP).

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You’ve made it! You have finished up with the career you worked in for decades and you are now stepping into your first year of retirement. What does this look like exactly? And what should you expect financially? In this episode, Michael, Tommy and John will be discussing everything that you should have in place as you enter your golden years, as well as what you can anticipate throughout this first year.

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As a federal employee, open season is your annual opportunity to assess your health care needs and make any necessary changes to your health insurance for the following 12 months. You have much more control over the cost and/or coverage of your benefits, so it’s essential to take advantage of that. In this episode, Michael, Tommy, and John will explain how to ensure you’re making the most of your available benefits, including special, once-in-a-blue-moon open seasons, as not every open season is the same—and some deserve special attention.

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The year before retirement can be nerve-racking for many people. The career they’ve worked so hard for is coming to an end, they have to start making big plans for their work-free future, and there may be some financial anxiety coming up, as well. So, in this episode, Michael, Tommy, and John are going to be discussing what you can expect for the year before retirement and what you should have in place as you approach this next season.

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The Federal Long-Term Care Insurance Program (FLTCIP) provides long-term care insurance to help cover the costs of care if you can no longer perform everyday tasks by yourself due to chronic illness, injury, or disability. This is something that you may need for the rest of your life, and it is important to ensure you’re well looked after. To help Michael, Tommy, and John discuss this topic more in depth is Jill MacNeil, LLIS’s long-term care insurance specialist. In this episode, she will be describing the emotional and financial needs of long-term care.

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For many people, a “need” is something you can’t survive without. So, can federal employees survive without a financial planner? The answer is, of course, yes. However, their lives will be significantly easier with a financial planner guiding them. In this episode, Michael, Tommy and John will be sharing the value you can receive by having a financial planner and the common mistakes federal employees make when they don’t have financial guidance.

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