Federal Retirement Planning for Colorado Federal Employees
STONEBRIDGE CAPITAL MANAGEMENT • COLORADO
You’ve earned a federal retirement worth understanding clearly. We help federal employees across Colorado coordinate CSRS, FERS, TSP, FEHB, FEGLI, and Social Security into one clear retirement plan, so you can make confident decisions about when to retire, how your income will work, and how to protect the benefits you’ve earned.
Offered to attendees of our free workshop. Can’t make one? Contact us.
What Federal Retirement Planning Actually Covers
Federal retirement is rarely one decision. It is a series of interconnected decisions, each with its own rules, deadlines, and financial consequences.
When should you retire? How much will your FERS or CSRS pension provide? What should you do with your Thrift Savings Plan? How will FEHB coordinate with Medicare? Does FEGLI still make sense as premiums rise? What survivor benefits should you elect? When should you claim Social Security? Is a military service deposit worth pursuing?
Each of these decisions matters on its own. More importantly, each decision affects the others.
The job of a federal retirement planner is to look at the entire picture at once. Retirement income, healthcare, taxes, survivor protection, and benefit elections cannot be evaluated in isolation. The goal is to bring them together into one coordinated retirement strategy.
At Stonebridge Capital Management, we help federal employees throughout the Denver metro area and Colorado Front Range understand their options, evaluate the trade-offs, and create a clear plan for retirement built around the benefits they have earned.
Why Federal Retirement is Different From Civilian Retirement
Federal retirement planning is not simply retirement planning with a government pension attached. It is a specialized planning discipline with its own rules, deadlines, and financial trade-offs.
A federal employee can make all the right investment decisions and still make costly mistakes with benefit elections. Retirement eligibility, pension calculations, healthcare decisions, survivor benefits, and withdrawal strategies all carry consequences that often do not exist in the private sector.
Consider a few examples. Missing the FEHB eligibility requirements before retirement can jeopardize your ability to carry health coverage into retirement. FEGLI costs can rise dramatically with age. The FERS Supplement may be reduced by post-retirement earnings. TSP withdrawal decisions can create unnecessary taxes or missed opportunities. Survivor benefit elections can affect a spouse’s financial security for decades.
The challenge is not understanding any one benefit in isolation. The challenge is understanding how all of the pieces fit together. For federal employees who want a broader educational overview before working through their own plan, our Federal Retirement Workshop is designed to help explain the major benefit programs and retirement decisions in plain language.
Our role is to help federal employees coordinate retirement benefits, income planning, tax strategy, healthcare decisions, and survivor protection into one comprehensive retirement plan so that important decisions are made deliberately rather than by default. Learn more about our approach and what makes Stonebridge Capital Management different.
What You Get When You Work With Stonebridge
A Personalized Federal Retirement Roadmap
We bring together your pension, TSP, FEHB, FEGLI, survivor benefits, Social Security, and retirement timing into one coordinated retirement plan.
You’ll see where you stand today, the options available to you, your projected retirement income, and a retirement timeline you can move toward with confidence.
Plain-Language Guidance, Not Sales Pressure
Federal retirement is complicated enough without jargon, sales tactics, or manufactured urgency.
We explain your options clearly, answer your questions honestly, and help you understand the trade-offs before making decisions.
Decisions happen at your pace, not ours.
Colorado-Based Federal Retirement Specialists
Stonebridge is based in the Denver metro area and serves federal employees throughout Colorado’s Front Range.
Meet by video from anywhere in Colorado, or in person by appointment.
When questions arise, you’ll have a local team you can reach, not a national call center.
Decisions We Help You Work Through
The federal retirement decisions that drive lasting income are concentrated in a handful of benefit programs. Each has its own complexity, and each matters.
CSRS & FERS Pension Planning
Your federal pension is likely the foundation of your retirement income. Understanding when you can retire, how much income your pension may provide, and how survivor benefit elections affect your family can have a lasting impact on retirement.
We help you evaluate your retirement eligibility, project your pension under different retirement dates, and understand the trade-offs involved in retiring sooner or working longer.
Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) Strategy
For many federal employees, the TSP is their largest retirement asset. Decisions about investments, withdrawals, Roth conversions, and whether to leave funds in the TSP or move them to an IRA can have a significant impact on retirement income and taxes. We help you evaluate your options, understand the trade-offs, and coordinate your TSP strategy with your pension, Social Security, and overall retirement plan.
FEHB and Medicare Coordination
Your FEHB coverage may be one of the most valuable benefits you carry into retirement. Decisions about Medicare enrollment, which FEHB plan to keep, and how your coverage will work alongside Medicare can have a lasting impact on healthcare costs and coverage. We help you understand your options, evaluate the trade-offs, and make informed decisions about healthcare in retirement.
FEGLI Life Insurance Decisions
The life insurance decisions you make before retirement can have long-term consequences for both cost and coverage. As you age, certain FEGLI premiums can increase significantly, making it important to evaluate your options well before retirement. We help you understand your FEGLI elections, compare costs and benefits, and determine whether maintaining FEGLI, reducing coverage, or exploring private insurance alternatives may better support your family’s goals.
FERS Supplement
For eligible FERS retirees, the FERS Supplement can provide an important source of income between retirement and age 62. Understanding whether you qualify, how much you may receive, and how post-retirement earnings can affect the benefit is an important part of retirement planning. We help you evaluate how the FERS Supplement fits into your overall retirement income strategy and retirement timing decisions.
Survivor Benefit Plan
The survivor benefit election you make at retirement can affect both your retirement income and your spouse’s financial security for years to come. Because these decisions can be difficult or costly to change after retirement, they deserve careful consideration. We help you understand the costs, benefits, and trade-offs involved so you can make an informed decision based on your family’s needs and goals.
Social Security Timing for Federal Retirees
When to claim Social Security is one of the most important retirement income decisions you will make. Claiming earlier provides income sooner, while delaying can increase your monthly benefit for life. We help you evaluate your options and coordinate Social Security with your FERS pension and other income sources to create a retirement income strategy designed around your specific situation.
Frequently Asked Questions About Federal Retirement Planning
When can I retire under FERS?
You can retire with an immediate, unreduced pension at your Minimum Retirement Age (MRA) with 30 years of service, at 60 with 20 years, or at 62 with at least 5 years. Your MRA is between 55 and 57, depending on your birth year. You can also retire at your MRA with 10 years of service (MRA+10), but your pension is reduced 5% for each year you are under 62 unless you postpone it.
How is my FERS pension calculated?
For most employees it is 1% of your high-3 average salary for each year of creditable service. If you retire at 62 or later with at least 20 years, it is 1.1%. Your high-3 is the average of your highest 36 consecutive months of basic pay. Unused sick leave can add to your service time.
What happens to my TSP when I retire?
You can leave it in the TSP, take installment or partial withdrawals, buy a TSP life annuity, or roll some or all of it to an IRA or another eligible plan. The right mix depends on your income needs, taxes and how much flexibility you want.
Can I keep FEHB in retirement?
Yes, if you retire on an immediate annuity and have been covered by FEHB for the five years right before you retire (or since your first chance to enroll, if that is less than five years). The government continues to pay its share of the premium in retirement.
What is the FERS Supplement and who gets it?
It is a monthly payment that approximates the Social Security benefit you earned during your FERS service, paid until 62. You receive it if you retire on an immediate, unreduced pension before 62. Early-out and involuntary retirees receive it once they reach their MRA. MRA+10 retirees do not receive it. If you earn more than the Social Security earnings limit from work ($24,480 in 2026), it is reduced $1 for every $2 over.
How does the survivor benefit work?
At retirement, a married employee can elect a survivor benefit for their spouse. Under FERS, a full survivor benefit pays your spouse 50% of your unreduced pension and costs 10% of your pension. A partial benefit pays 25% and costs 5%. This election also affects whether your spouse can keep FEHB coverage after your death, and it is very hard to change later.
Should I pay a deposit for my military service?
A deposit lets your active-duty military time count toward your FERS pension. It costs 3% of your military basic pay, with no interest if you pay within two years of starting your civilian federal job. It must be paid before you leave federal service. If you receive military retired pay, you generally must also waive it to get credit, unless it is based on a combat-related disability or reserve retirement.
What happens to my unused annual leave?
You are paid a lump sum for your unused annual leave when you retire. It is taxed as ordinary income in the year it is paid, so your retirement date can affect which tax year it lands in.
Do I need an advisor, or can I figure it out myself?
Many federal employees learn the rules on their own. The harder part is seeing how the decisions affect each other: retirement date, pension and survivor elections, TSP withdrawals, Social Security, FEHB, FEGLI and taxes. That coordination is what we help with.
Get Your Federal Retirement Report
Workshop attendees are eligible to receive a personalized Federal Retirement Report at no cost and with no obligation. Built around your service history and benefits, it shows where you stand today and the decisions ahead: your pension, Social Security, survivor benefit, FEGLI, TSP and FEHB.
Register for an upcoming workshop to get started.
Can’t make a workshop? Contact us.
Federal Retirement Planning by Location
We meet by video, or in person by appointment at our offices in Englewood and Colorado Springs.
Free Federal Retirement Calculators
- FERS Pension Calculator — estimate your pension
- FERS Supplement Calculator — income from retirement to age 62
- TSP Withdrawal Calculator — monthly withdrawals your balance can support
- Survivor Benefit Plan Calculator — compare survivor elections
- FEGLI Reduction Comparison Calculator — life insurance costs after retirement
- FEHB vs Medicare Part B Cost Calculator — whether Part B is worth adding
- Social Security Claiming Calculator — compare claiming ages
- Retirement Income Calculator — pension, TSP and Social Security together