GubMints.com First Anniversary! Highlights from Year One

Has it been a year already?   My calendar must be defective!

Over 95 Posts and 22,900+ Page Views since I lit this candle, here’s what I’ve learned:

• Over 19 percent of you are logging in from .gov or .mil servers (But I’m sure you’re doing this during your Lunch Hour)!  Here’s the breakdown…
  • 5.7% Navy
  • 5.5% Army
  • 2.8% DoD
  • 1.5% VA
  • 1.2% Some Guy(s) forward deployed to Qatar
  • 1.0% DHS
  • 0.65% DoJ
  • 0.65% USDA

Plus …

• 0.36% Hawaiian Telcom (Hi, Doug!)

• One of you is even cheaper than I am.  One of you cheap bastards downloaded my eBook – “Maximizing your Service Computation Date” during the 3-Day Free Promo, then LOANED IT to a pal through Amazon Prime!  To you I say, “Well Played, Sir”.

• There’s damn good reasons over 40% of Federal Employees choose one of the Blue  Cross/Blue Shield Plans for FEHB (More on this below).

Now, a chance for you to provide me some direct feedback:

[poll id=”2″]

My Favorite Posts.  I’m not a huge fan of the ‘Most Popular’ widget on the right hand side bar, because then the most popular posts become even more popular (a “Self-Fulfilling Prophecy”).   If I were instead to put a ‘GubMints Favorites‘ list on the Right Hand Side, here’s what they would be:

Thrift Savings Plan and You: Best Friends Forever. This post describes some of the many reasons you should leave some- or all- of your money in the TSP when you retire or resign.  The ‘G Fund’ is one of the many reasons.

Ask Your Dad if you should invest in the Roth TSP.   This is one of the first detailed blog posts I ever wrote (as a Guest Post over on ‘The Military Guide’), and it made me realize I had enough material applicable to Federal Employees to write my own blog.

GubMints Military to Civilian Career Advice (4 Part Series). This one is a long-winded response to a GubMints reader, asking me what the opportunities are for a Junior Officer considering a Private Sector or Civil Service job.  The final post in the series asks the question, “Why would you Pursue a Federal Job”?

Young Feds, Do You Have a Target on your Back?   An inadvertent follow-up post to the above post.   I came to the realization that Federal Employees are mostly under the GS System- and are therefore all “Equal” (your rating of record is a 1 or a Zero).  Therefore, the way RIF’s will be doled-out is by seniority (Service Computation Date – RIF).  Long story short, young Feds will be shown the door before long-in-the-tooth Feds will.

FEHB Open Season – Using PlanSmartChoice to compare FEHB Health Plans.  This post documents when I went down the Dark Path of High Deductible Health Plans.  The PlanSmartChoice tool is useful, but only under the assumptions that you know the Retail Price for Rx drugs (you don’t) and Health Procedures (you don’t).

Final YTD FEHB  Aetna HDHP/HSA Costs.  This one puts the High Deductible Health Plan decision in full perspective.   Summary:  Don’t do a HDHP if you have a family or female plumbing.

Your Favorite Posts (The “Most Popular”), in order:

1. Obamacare Whips Federal Employee Health Benefit, Tricare?   As soon as I hit ‘Publish’ on this post, I knew it would be huge… I just did not think it would take over a month for it to go ‘viral’.

2. What’s your Service Computation Date?   One of my first posts, and one of my favorites as well.  Most Feds don’t know that they have THREE Service Computation Dates, each one separately affecting their Leave, Tenure, and RIF eligibility.  There’s actually a FOURTH Service Computation Date, but you’ll have to splurge and get my Maximize your Service Computation Date eBook if you want to find out about SCD #4.

3. ObamaCare Public Health Exchanges- Veterans Need Not Apply?  Another FireBomb of a post.  Shortly after writing #1, a reader asked me if Retired Vets could choose between TriCare and ObamaCare- The short answer is NO.

4. FEHB – It’s time to Preview the 2018 Cadillacs!   This one pre-dates #1, but folks are realizing that soon enough, some of the Health Plans offered under FEHB will be taxed as ‘Cadillac Plans’.  This will either raise premiums (to cover the ‘tax’) or reduce health benefits- Most likely the latter.

5. 10 Ways to Fight the Federal Furlough.   I’ve re-edited this one a few times, so I’ve identified 10 ways to trim personal budgets to minimize the impact of a furlough.  Sadly, this post keeps getting repeat traffic, even this late in to the Fiscal Year.

I enjoy hearing your feedback!  Thanks for Reading Gubmints.com!

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