Federal Retirees

I don’t object to “equal COLAs” in principle, but folks seem to have forgotten that when CSRS first switched to FERS in the 80s, some of the trade offs we had to weigh if staying in the old system were that we were not going to be eligible for matching funds, we were not (initially) allowed to contribute to the stock fund, and we would be subject to the WEP penalty for any social security we might have built up outside the fed system. The benefits were that we’d get 2% per yr of service vs 1% plus SS, and we’d get better cost of living increases. That was the deal upon which decisions were based. The last few years I worked the COLA was very low and post-retirement the WEP penalty was 56% of my already meager social security. So having a slightly higher COLA for CSRS doesn’t really feel “unfair.” Lo these many years later, if they can pay FERS folks a matching COLA, that’s great … as long as they don’t lower the CSRS calculated cola to pay for it. Additionally, since many states and DC do not tax social security income but still tax pensions, I’m not so sure we CSRSers actually got a “good deal, but can’t worry about that now. :)