Get a Life!: Baseball, public service and retirement

The Washington Nationals and the Partnership for Public Service are offering discounted baseball tickets to three games this summer in appreciation of the dedicated service of federal employees. The first game will be Saturday, May 24 at 7:10 p.m., against the Milwaukee Brewers. You do not need to be a federal employee to receive this discount. You can purchase tickets online at the Partnership Web site.

Maybe going to a baseball game is not a bad idea. It can be a break for a group from your office or team, or a needed break for you.

I met two recent Federal retirees last week who do not know each other but had very similar stories to tell. One had retired three months ago; the other three weeks ago. Both told of sleeping heavily for at least two weeks after retirement, feeling that tired. Both felt now like they were floating above reality, not sure where to land their feet.

This is not unusual. Even with the best of plans, retirement from a long career is an adjustment. It takes time to sort through your next step, even if it may be another job. In my view, it is important to take that time.

On the topic of retirement, the Social Security Administration plans to have a new retirement estimator calculator online on July 19 that you can use without hunting for those Social Security statements you get in the mail. By putting in the last year of any Social Security earnings, guesses of future earnings and possible retirement dates, you will be able to get a quick estimate of retirement benefits. You can submit a number of “what if” scenarios.

This may be helpful to those of you in the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS). But for those in the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS), the new estimator will not reflect the offset you would get from the Windfall Elimination Provision or Government Pension Offset. You will still need to tackle the more detailed calculators on the SSA Web site.

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E-mail Judy Welles at jwelles AT 1105govinfo DOT com.