Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Any examples used are for illustrative purposes only and do not take into account your particular investment objectives, financial situation or needs and may not be suitable for all investors. It is not intended to predict the performance of any specific investment and is not a solicitation or recommendation of any investment strategy.
Welcome to Reyna Retirement. Reyna Reyes has dedicated her career to helping people make smarter financial decisions. Reyna Retirement is all about breaking down complex financial concepts into language you can actually understand.
Now here's the co founder of American Federal Benefits Consultants, Reyna Reyes.
[00:00:40] Speaker B: Well, retirees, welcome to this era of your life. Welcome to being separated from service and deciding when you want to wake up. And maybe you wake up, you know, at this early time for a while, but then you realize I don't have to wake up and your whole circadian rhythm is going to change. And it's a new life and it's a new world. And you have a new website to use, which is OPM. It's that servicesonline.opm.gov website. And if you have access to it, there are some cool things you can do. That's, that's a. If you wake up and it's time for a cool change, you can go to OPM and check out what you want to do. So I worked with somebody yesterday and he was only working on his phone and he logged in, he's like, raina, help me. I need to suspend my coverage. Because we helped him with the Medicare plan and he wanted to suspend.
I'm like, holy cow, are you showing me a fillable online document? He's like, yeah, but I don't know what to do with it. So we played around with it, got it done. This document allowed attachments online, signature touch, touch fill out all on the website.
So how crazy is it? So this is the main page of opm, of the site before you're logged in, obviously. And they're telling you all these things you can do. You, you can get your annuity statements, you can get your 1099, what tax withholdings you're doing, you can change your tax withholdings, you can change what bank you want your money paid to, obviously your contact information, phone number, address, whatever, and then your life insurance verification. This is a big list of phone calls I get. Hey, I'm retired two years. I don't know what insurance I have. I just got a diagnosis. I need to plan for my family. How do I find it out? Well, let's log into here and we can double triple check what you currently have. I'm the queen of that. Or it's a claim. Hey, I don't know what mom had or dad. He passed away. Let's find out. Hey, let's. Let's do this. We can figure it out. So this would be the main page, and you can see up here all the things you can do. Guess what? You don't have to log in to do that is get your 1099. I helped somebody with this the other day as well. Opm, listen, with all of the. Y' all are taking a lot of flack for a lot of things, but this is good stuff. You are making good strides with increasing your tech and the efficiency and the ease with which retirees can do what they want to do in retirement. So we can access a 1099. I've had four people walk into my office here in. In Florida. North. We're in north Florida, Jacksonville area. And they walked in like, I need my tax form. I used to get in the mail. What gives? I was always go online and you can log in. And one of the people says, I don't have a. I have a flip phone and I have vision problems. I can't even see it. If I could log in, I'm like, okay. So we logged them in and we were able to do this right here without logging it, actually. So you click this view 1099 and it's going to say, what's your email address and what your CSA number? And actually that just what your CSA number, because your email is already logged in. Bam. Got an email straight away. We printed it, 1099 in hand. I had somebody come in. She had hers. And her husband, who was a deceased federal employee, had to pull both of them because she's getting survivor benefits. So, my goodness, you can do all of these things without logging in. All you need to know is your CSA number. When you have your CSA number, do not forget it.
Etch it, take a picture of it, keep it on you. That is your. That is your happy number. Once you get your CSA number, put it in a note, take a picture of it. Put it in your little picture of all your documents that you need to keep with you. That number is magical and wonderful. And dude, you got your number. You gotta have it with you all the time. So you want to keep those numbers with you. What the heck is a lady's name? Somebody, I've got your number. Tell me if you know the name of that. Who's the name, son? And I got your number.
So OPM is making amazing strides. What Are the documents that you can do online what I've seen the list of the ones when I helped the gentleman that had his phone with him that we were doing a suspension. You can, you can do a suspension. So that form is live on there and you can make attachments. So why would I suspend my coverage?
The biggest reason there's really your top three, which is if I have Tricare or I have Champion or I have a Medicare Advantage plan. So if any of those three apply to you and you're not cool with continuing paying for your health insurance in retirement, that is from the Fed.
I would reach out to have a meeting with us first because you don't want to go suspending willy nilly, especially if you're married and your spouse doesn't have all the benefits that you're suspending for. But we were able to suspend go in there, you click it, you type it, you fill it out and then you want to attach the reason, like proof of the reason you're suspending. So they had a little click spot. Take a picture of the page. We just took a picture with his phone of the document of proof of enrollment or proof of Tricare, whatever he needed and we uploaded it and it was right there. And then he click signed with Adobe. It was the coolest thing ever. You can also change your banking information. So touch. Touch. I'm not using, you know, Navy Federal anymore. Now I'm using this other one or I'm going to whatever. I don't know. Navy Federal is a closed bank to me.
Also a 2809, nobody knows the form numbers. That's a health change form. So what if you wanted to go to self only the middle of the year? That's one of the most common reasons you would use a 2809, which is hey, love you honey but you got your own insurance over there. You don't need to be online anymore. Now I'm going to go to self only or I'm changing my actual health plan or going from self and family to self plus one. If the kids age out and you want to do that within a time period, you have like 60 days to do that outside of open enrollment. And then there's a bunch of reasons but you can change your health plan and then also foster child. Like it's an alert of a foster child. So this is a big thing. A lot of people in retirement are fostering children, which I think is a really great way to spend your time because it helps people, it helps you. I think it keeps you young because you're running around with these these children's. So what's the other thing you can do? No, that's it. Suspension, Change your bank 20 to 9 and a foster child. But I bet they'll add more as time goes by. Reach out if you need help with this, we can walk you through getting access free figuring out your CSA number. Let's make it happen and figure out what's the best thing for you so we can help you use the website. You take care, we'll talk to you soon.
[00:07:02] Speaker A: Thanks for listening to Reyna Retirement With a strong commitment to ethical standards, Reyna works hard to find the right solution for each individual or family who reaches out for advice. To contact Reyna directly, call 850-450-6500. That's 85450 6500. Or to reach the team at American Federal Benefits Consultants, call 1-800-872-8857. That's 1-800-872- 8857. You can also go online to americanfederal.org not affiliated with the United States Government. Opinions expressed are subject to change without notice. These opinions are not intended as investment advice, nor do they predict future performance of any product. All information provided is believed to be from reliable sources. However, we make no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of any statement. The information is intended to be educational in nature and does not provide a guarantee or specific result. All copyrights and trademarks are the property of their respective owners. American Federal Benefits Consultants is an independent organization, not a government agency or affiliated with the Federal Government or any state government. The terms CSRs, FERs, FELI, and FEHB are all registered trademarks of the U.S. office of Personnel Management. American Federal Benefits Consultants, agents, consultants, or any independent contractors do not provide tax, legal or investment advice and do not engage in the solicitation or sale of securities. Consult with your tax advisor or attorney regarding specific situations.
