Estimating the value of a Federal retirement annuity and Thrift Saving Plan (TSP) benefits is important to both Federal employees and spouses facing retirement or divorce. The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) provides an online tool called the Federal Ballpark Estimator (FBE) that helps answer these questions.
The FBE’s stated purpose is to help an employee estimate how much needs to be saved to meet retirement savings and income goals (i.e. retirement planning). The flip side is that it also helps estimate what the percentage of an employee’s retirement annuity awarded to a spouse in divorce should be worth (i.e. divorce planning). As with any “estimator,” the FBE works on a set of assumptions.
As OPM explains, the FBE is a useful tool for employees covered by the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS), CSRS-Offset, or the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) who plan to retired under the voluntary age and service rules. Check it out.
Author Jim Cramp is the founder and principal attorney at the Cramp Law Firm. The Cramp Law Firm provides a spectrum of family-related legal services in the greater San Antonio Region.