Your Turn with Mike Causey

In the news business the best way to bury a story is to release or leak it on the Friday before a major national holiday. Such was the case this Memorial Day weekend when three executive orders designed to whip the bureaucracy in shape were issued Friday afternoon via a telephone conference call with reporters. The three EOs fulfill — at least on paper — President Donald Trump’s campaign pledge to drain the D.C. swamp and to snip the red tape that makes it next to impossible to prod nonperforming bureaucrats either to action or the unemployment line. AFGE President J. David Cox joins host Mike Causey on this week’s show to talk about the executive orders and their potential impact. Your Turn is a radio show (Wednesday's at 10 a.m. EST) streaming on Federal News Radio or at 1500 AM in the D.C. area.

When it comes to the federal Thrift Savings Plan, the average annual returns don’t tell you everything because TSP stock funds do not have many “average” years. “The typical ways to view TSP returns is to look at the total return over a certain time period — annually, quarterly, year to date — or over a number of years,” according to financial planner Arthur Stein. He says patterns are easier to spot when returns are ranked by size. Your Turn is a radio show (Wednesday's at 10 a.m. EST) streaming on Federal News Radio or at 1500 AM in the D.C. area.

This week the White House revived old proposals to make feds pay more for, and get less from, their retirement package. The Trump administration submitted a proposal to Congress that, if approved, would: eliminate the gap payment, require current FERS employees to contribute an additional one percent a year and eliminate the cost of living adjustments (COLAs) for current and future FERS retirees. National Active and Retired Federal Employees President Richard Thissen and Federal News Radio reporter Nicole Ogrysko discuss on Your Turn with Mike Causey. They'll explain the proposed changes, their cost to you and the odds of any, or all of them, becoming law this year — and what, if anything, you can do about it. The show airs at 10 a.m. EDT at www.federalnewsradio.com or 1500 AM in the metro Washington area.

When people close in on their retirement date many become anxious about life after a steady, bi-weekly paycheck. The old Civil Service Retirement System provided a much more generous pension/annuity than the Federal Employees Retirement System, which covers most working feds. So what to do?

We ask John Grobe, a former fed, and benefits specialist, to crunch some numbers — the numbers you need to know before you retire. He discusses the “Rule of 7 Rules” to protect your retirement nest egg on this episode of Your Turn, a radio show (Wednesday's at 10 a.m. EST) streaming on Federal News Radio or at 1500 AM in the D.C. area.

Teleworking: Here to stay or going away? You tell us

The TSP: Is 2018 going to be a down year?

Many say the thin red line between partisan politicians of both parties and the career civil service is the 9,100 members of the career Senior Executive Service. The SES came out of the Carter administration’s effort to revamp the civil service and make top executives more mobile — and responsive — to their political bosses.

Some SES members belong to the Senior Executives Association which generally works closely with federal professional groups, unions and retiree organizations such as the National Active Retired and Federal Employees Association to protect federal benefits which have been under attack for more than a decade. That includes everything from pay freezes under Presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump, to major cuts in the Federal Employee Retirement System.

SEA president Bill Valdez is my guest on this episode of Your Turn, a radio show (Wednesday's at 10 a.m. EST) streaming on Federal News Radio or at 1500 AM in the D.C. area.

We take a look at teleworking on this episode of Your Turn radio show. My guest is Frank Landefeld from MorganFranklin. He’s an expert in business development and engagement in federal, state and local governments. Rather than restricting telework, he says, “the federal government needs to make it easier to incorporate flexibility” rather than shrink or restrict it as the Agriculture Department plans to do.

Landefeld says the pros of a well-managed, flexible teleworking plan are obvious. “It keeps workers off the roads during the terrible D.C. commute (which applies to other major federal centers) and can reduce the real-estate footprint of the federal government, ultimately saving tax dollars,” he said.

He also believes agencies should develop A and B schedules for telework policies that would increase productivity and decrease the need for office space.

Your Turn airs live at 10 a.m. EDT at www.federalnewsradio.com or on 1500 AM in the D.C. area.

What are the odds of another shutdown either because of man-made political gridlock or because a late March snowstorm ordered up by Mother Nature?

Now that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has been ousted who’s next? And what’s happening to career employees at the State Department, EPA, Interior and other places who may be deemed as disloyal, or non-team players by their political bosses?

What’s going on at the Department of Veterans Affairs? Is it in trouble and can it be saved?

Federal News Radio correspondents Nicole Ogrysko, Jory Heckman, Eric White and David Thornton talk about the hottest topics on their beats and what may be ahead for active and retired feds.

Your Turn airs live at 10 a.m. EDT at www.federalnewsradio.com or on 1500 AM in the D.C. area.

One of the longest-running bull markets in history is celebrating its ninth birthday this month.

So how long can it go? Weeks? Months? Years? And when it does correct — how low will it go?

We asked Arthur Stein, a Washington-area financial planner who tracks the Thrift Savings Plan. He’s our guest on this episode of Your Turn, a radio show (Wednesday's at 10 a.m. EST) streaming on Federal News Radio or at 1500 AM in the D.C. area.