Insights

Most people assume Medicare will cover their healthcare costs when they retire. If you retire before 65, you are responsible for finding and funding your own health insurance until Medicare begins. For many people, that coverage comes through the Health Insurance Marketplace, and those costs can be significant enough to affect the shape of an entire retirement income plan.

Federal employees have access to one of the best retirement packages in the country. Between a guaranteed pension, generous TSP matching, lifelong health coverage, and Social Security, it's an enviable foundation. And yet, a surprising number of federal employees arrive at retirement with less security than they could have had, not because of bad luck, but because of avoidable mistakes made years or decades earlier.