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***Checks timer*** 78 days to retirement eligibility.
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Apr 14, 2023 05:06
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The thread will have to take up a little pool to buy you a watch or something (maybe an av or custom title...) What are your plans??
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Apr 14, 2023 05:21
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I want to eventually retire to san Diego, so I'm going to take another job until I have enough to pay for a house in cash. Then I'm done. I've just started applying to local govt jobs and private sector. Weighing if I want to go govt and have a lower paying but stable job versus higher pay in private sector. LA County pays pretty decent and I'd have a fourth pension between mine and my wife's two if I go that way. It's really not financially worth it to stay fed because our pension doesn't go up. My pension is 75k, so my mental math is I'm coming in for 120k as soon as I'm eligible.
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Apr 14, 2023 05:33
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Fell Fire posted:The biggest complaint we get from potential applicants is that they have to move for the job, even when it doesn't make sense. TCOs (Jamie Lee Curtis's job) still call people into the office but they do most of their prep work at home beforehand. I believe SES types still have their in-office sex dungeons but they can now set those up at home now that managers can telework.
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Apr 14, 2023 05:38
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killer crane posted:I wonder what the McDonald's and gas station pizza by the airport are going to say was the impact of my old office going remote. Evil SpongeBob posted:***Checks timer*** 78 days to retirement eligibility. Maybe you can work to be Neutral SpongeBob after retirement Edit: DHS internal memo about the executive order was basically "yep we see it, we gonna do our thing lol" (basically saying we already have a lot of people who have been working in-person the whole time and every office will be making sure it is making the right decisions, so probably no changes at all?) Dr. Quarex fucked around with this message at 17:33 on Apr 14, 2023 |
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Apr 14, 2023 15:52
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Not only did my agency consolidate into a building where we physically can't have everyone there, my office voluntarily moved to a smaller space within that building.
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Apr 15, 2023 06:43
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We got an email this afternoon that was basically "we've already been doing this stuff, nothing is changing from current status quo"
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Apr 15, 2023 06:59
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I'm just waiting for the other shoe to drop where the solution to "we reduced our footprint to account for expanded telework" plus "everyone needs to come back to the office now" ends up being "RIFs and tiny American flags for everyone!"
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Apr 15, 2023 13:20
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nah, your residence is just going to be classified as a federal workplace. Speaking of which, are you familiar with "hotdesking"?
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Apr 15, 2023 23:24
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Well, goddamn. US Attorneys write some pretty amazing commendation letters. Helped them out in a federal trial on short notice with a few hours' worth of work, and they sent my DM one that would make you want to stand up and salute me for single-handedly manning the walls for democracy.
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Apr 16, 2023 03:20
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Well yeah I would hope lawyers are good with doing a language.
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Apr 16, 2023 04:30
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Evil SpongeBob posted:I want to eventually retire to san Diego, so I'm going to take another job until I have enough to pay for a house in cash. Then I'm done. I moved to San Diego a couple years back to work in one of the local government entities. Pay was very good since if we didn’t get insurance through them, it was paid out as additional salary—but the local politics and constant lawsuits is a bit demanding if you’re a program manager. It was enough to buy a house close to the beach, so I went back Federal recently where I can work remote and there is much more separation from the politicians. If you do look at local gov, the smaller entities that aren’t directly tied with the main city jobs usually pay pretty well. The entity I was with paid 14% of salary directly into a pension investment fund without me needing to contribute anything. When I left, I was already vested thanks to my years as a Fed counting as service, so I could roll over all those free contributions into my 401k or TSP.
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Apr 16, 2023 19:50
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How insane is cost of living? We left San Diego for Mobile in 1991, and I honestly don't think I could ever sufficiently dial back my standard of living to afford going back
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Apr 16, 2023 20:46
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I live in orange county and work in LA. So for me it's cheaper. Plus I don't need or want a big house or yard. I'm fine with something small I can grow old in. For me, weather, activities, "vibe" and access to international air travel are what I want.
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Apr 16, 2023 21:13
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I'm trying to go to China Lake because it's in the same metro area as Los Angeles according to OPM, so you get the extra 34%. I'm sure there are similar places all over the country.GD_American posted:How insane is cost of living? We left San Diego for Mobile in 1991, and I honestly don't think I could ever sufficiently dial back my standard of living to afford going back It's getting quite bad, my Aunt's entire family moved back into her house because everyone else was living in National City and the rents were becoming too high. National City! Not a fancy area at all.
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Apr 16, 2023 22:32
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Evil SpongeBob posted:I live in orange county and work in LA. So for me it's cheaper. Pretty much this, except I live and work from home in SD close to the airport and downtown. I’m satisfied with having an older and smaller house that has a larger yard with no HOA. With the weather in San Diego, I don’t need as much space inside as I needed when we lived around DC.
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Apr 16, 2023 22:34
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Most of my posts have that snarky overtone even if I am otherwise neutral or positive, so this is me posting to say what a good idea it is to increase your TSP contribution when starting a new higher-paid position, so the dumb part of your brain still sees a pay increase even as the smart part of your brain celebrates the stealth investment
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Apr 16, 2023 22:42
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Woof Blitzer posted:
I kinda track it by the house I grew up in, in Mira Mesa. Parents bought it for 110k in 1984, sold it for 240k in 1991, Zillow says it's $885k now. 1200 square feet. Very tiny lawn.
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Apr 16, 2023 22:47
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Dr. Quarex posted:Most of my posts have that snarky overtone even if I am otherwise neutral or positive, so this is me posting to say what a good idea it is to increase your TSP contribution when starting a new higher-paid position, so the dumb part of your brain still sees a pay increase even as the smart part of your brain celebrates the stealth investment Do it by percentage and it'll go up as your pay does, until you max out.
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Apr 16, 2023 23:06
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You have outed my terrible shame as someone whose last job did not qualify for TSP contributions  Well actually it did but not until we had been working full-time for 90 days straight and oddly our totally incompetent HR did not let us know that when I asked about it, and only found out when I got a letter from TSP the week we were all laid off
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Apr 16, 2023 23:35
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You can't fix yesterday, but you're trying for a better tomorrow! 
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Apr 16, 2023 23:37
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Midjack posted:You can't fix yesterday, but you're trying for a better tomorrow! I don't ever think I got a confirmation of AL I was supposed to get after hitting the three year threshold of Federal Service because they didn't connect my first stint in USACE with my current stints in Treasury. I should probably check on that at some point. Not like I really go anywhere though.
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Apr 17, 2023 04:20
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Xelkelvos posted:I don't ever think I got a confirmation of AL I was supposed to get after hitting the three year threshold of Federal Service because they didn't connect my first stint in USACE with my current stints in Treasury. I should probably check on that at some point. Not like I really go anywhere though. It's a benefit you should be getting and it has value. Keep after it even if it takes a while.
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Apr 17, 2023 04:32
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Midjack posted:It's a benefit you should be getting and it has value. Keep after it even if it takes a while. I'm already switched over to 6/pp, but there's a period of time where I should've gotten that but I didn't so I'm owed some amount of hours
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Apr 17, 2023 12:37
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I had a caller this morning with a balance due for tax year 2019 of a few thousand dollars. Their account was reviewed by the underreporter unit and they increased his taxes by about $3,000. He had an income over $600,000 and used TurboTax to self-file. I give up. I just give up. 
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Apr 19, 2023 14:19
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Star Man posted:I had a caller this morning with a balance due for tax year 2019 of a few thousand dollars. Their account was reviewed by the underreporter unit and they increased his taxes by about $3,000. He had an income over $600,000 and used TurboTax to self-file. It sounds like he saved a bunch of money on a proper tax preparer since the punishment was "We helped you calculate your taxes better so you don't underpay next time"
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Apr 19, 2023 14:41
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Devor posted:It sounds like he saved a bunch of money on a proper tax preparer since the punishment was "We helped you calculate your taxes better so you don't underpay next time" The tax industry hasn’t quite achieved regulatory capture, so we don’t (yet!) throw people in prison or fully immiserate them for failing to carry a digit on their tax returns. I tried to get a proper tax preparer once when I had a bizarrely good year. I found a Registered Agent and sent over all my documents. He came back with some bullshit about it being illegal to contribute to both a 401(k) and an IRA, then insisted that total IRA conversions to Roth were fully taxable as distributions. When asked to complete an 8606 to document the conversions properly he started ranting about how he has done tax preparation for years and who do I think I am, then fired me as a client. I’ll keep doing my own taxes. Seems simpler even if it upsets Star Man.
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Apr 19, 2023 16:54
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Really, I'm just impressed someone with that kind of money is that cheap to not just have a CPA. I filed my return on FreeTaxUSA after learning from this thread they don't gouge you for state returns. I've never had a job with retirement, health insurance, or a health savings account. I was paranoid that I was missing something, and software doesn't recognize intent. I look forward to getting my own notice because I left something off.
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Apr 19, 2023 18:06
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My read is that most of that tax preparation software leads to overpaying on taxes rather than underpaying unless you're really stretching hard to justify why something qualifies as a deduction. If most of your income is salary and traditional investments / dividends, tax software is pretty fire and forget. I am absolutely leaving money on the table but also feel okay with not trying to find every loophole out there because I guess I'm not rich enough for my brain to be fully broken. I'd bet he went to a CPA at one point and they wouldn't let him claim certain things, and you can keep fiddling around with tax software until it acquiesces with you. Plus it gives you a little overconfident "everything checks out!" at the end that helps reinforce your bias.
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Apr 19, 2023 19:34
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And then I get another call from someone who got charged almost a thousand dollars to file her return. The fees are all coming out of her refund, but nobody earning only $26,000 in a year. I even straight up told her she got fleeced and should check with the service she used to find out what they charged her so much for.
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Apr 19, 2023 20:15
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I applied for an internal promotion and updated my resume a few times before the posting closed; they were all named First Last resume.pdf. However, the interview invite had the first version attached. I wonder if USAJobs wasn't properly overwriting the resumes or the contractor made a mistake.
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Apr 21, 2023 18:48
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Josh Lyman posted:I applied for an internal promotion and updated my resume a few times before the posting closed; they were all named First Last resume.pdf. However, the interview invite had the first version attached. I wonder if USAJobs wasn't properly overwriting the resumes or the contractor made a mistake. You could send your updated resume to the people on the invite and explain the technical issue. Getting to the interview stage means your resume is now mostly pointless except as a jumping-off point for your interview (unless there was a factual inaccuracy like missing a degree or something).
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Apr 21, 2023 18:54
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Devor posted:You could send your updated resume to the people on the invite and explain the technical issue. The interview panel includes my current boss and a colleague so probably not worth the potential confusion given the minimal changes.
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Apr 21, 2023 19:06
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If you're on the cert list, it's not worth it, and you're fine. They're not going to pick someone else because you used the wrong word on your resume. Using resume language is just to get to that point.
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Apr 21, 2023 19:46
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Josh Lyman posted:I applied for an internal promotion and updated my resume a few times before the posting closed; they were all named First Last resume.pdf. However, the interview invite had the first version attached. I wonder if USAJobs wasn't properly overwriting the resumes or the contractor made a mistake. If you update your resume you basically need to full-on resubmit the app if you want the change to take. So your app may not have had the most recent resume attached - I don't think anyone in HR gets more than 1 version.
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Apr 21, 2023 23:23
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The section chief for a fantastic duty station emailed me for an interview and now hasn't responded when I replied an hour after. That was Wednesday. 
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Apr 23, 2023 20:59
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I was contacted for a cool public affairs interview in mid-November and got really stoked when responding. Oh December 10 I got an inquiry about which day the following week worked best for the interview. I had already been rehired by USCIS December 5.
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Apr 23, 2023 21:18
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Dr. Quarex posted:I was contacted for a cool public affairs interview in mid-November and got really stoked when responding. Maybe they were having second thoughts and wanted to run another interview though. 
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Apr 23, 2023 21:22
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Rakeris posted:Maybe they were having second thoughts and wanted to run another interview though.  I suppose that might be the way to go, if you think you know who should take the job and that person does not work out, expand the pool!
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Apr 23, 2023 21:53
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Time for my annual (or first) reminder for active feds to pay for liability insurance. Your agency will reimburse for half. If you have a clearance, there are plans that will cover security clearance actions too.
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Apr 27, 2023 22:44
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