You Might Die Today
Granted, not the most uplifting title. But it’s true, nonetheless.
Most of us have experienced a friend, family member, or co-worker who was here one day and gone the next. It’s a sad, stressful time. I happen to be going through this exact thing right now with a close family member, which is maybe why this is on my mind so much lately. Regardless, it’s worth talking about.
I have the unfortunate opportunity to speak with a lot of survivors of federal employees or retirees that have passed away. Sometimes very suddenly—like they went to work that morning but didn’t come home. Pretty much the worst part of this job. I take a small bit of solace in the fact I can help a very tiny portion of their life regain some normalcy as I help them navigate the OPM benefit world.
From this experience, I can tell you without reservation that there is a world of difference between those Fersonians who prepared for this event vs those Fersonians who did not. The survivors in the second camp are often encountering firsthand the full weight of the government bureaucracy in what is one of the worst times in their lives.
So how can we make it better on our loved ones?
Preparation.
Survivors may know nothing about the FERS world. The more breadcrumbs you leave them, the better. Here are some ways to accomplish that:
1. Have copies of all beneficiary forms organized and available for the surviving family members or other beneficiaries. What beneficiary forms are there?
SF 3102 FERS Beneficiary Lump Sum Payments This is for any lump sum FERS benefits. This could be the Basic Employee Death Benefit, or all of your FERS contributions going to your beneficiary if you don’t have a survivor benefit.
SF 1152 FERS Unpaid Compensation This could be your annual leave payout, and/or your last paycheck if you’re still working
SF 2823 Designation of Beneficiary (FEGLI) Your life insurance recipient.
TSP-3 Form. Doesn’t exist anymore. Today, you go onto your TSP and look under the beneficiary section to make sure the person you want to get your TSP is listed. I could tell some horror stories of this! Make sure you check TODAY!
Any other private life insurance paperwork or other beneficiary information
Wills, living trusts, living wills, power of attorney, end of life treatment paperwork (Such as a DNR type document).
Put copies of all this stuff together, including any proof of submission to HR such as a fax confirmation (if you sent it in during the stone age) or email receipts or anything that can help prove that it was actually received and processed by HR. You can typically find these documents in your eOPF.
Let someone trusted hold this. Maybe a CPA, an attorney, in the bank safe deposit box, with another family member that is good with finances, or even a coworker that is able and willing to assist. It can even be in a desk drawer at home as long as your wife, husband or other survivor will remember to access it.
And, for the love of all that is good in this world, take the 4 minutes and actually fill out a beneficiary form! It’s superior to, “Well, my wife is going to get everything anyway, so I won’t bother filling it out.” I won’t go into the problems I’ve seen with that in the past. Just fill the form out!
2. A brief summary of what all the survivors are supposed to be tracking down and making sure they get. This doesn’t have to be incredibly complicated. Just something like, “Federal life insurance, the OPM Annuity survivor benefit, Thrift Savings Plan, and the private life insurance policy” for example. And then some points of contact for each one of those things.
SF 3104 Application For Death Benefits if you are already retired.
FE-6 FEGLI Claim for Benefits and the accompanying FEGLI Survivor Page.
Calling TSP at 1-877-968-3778 to claim TSP benefits. Check out the TSP Survivor Page. There is also an excellent TSP Booklet (TSPBK31) entitled “Death Benefits: Information for Participants and Beneficiaries”
There are no doubt plenty of other things coming to your mind at this time. Compile it all.
3. One of the more commonly overlooked things is a list of accounts and passwords. I was helping survivors at one point and we found some brokerage statements containing investments worth way over $1m that the survivor knew nothing about. It took a lot of hunting to find the investment advisor and the other accounts that were also there. There are unclaimed assets every year in this country. Don’t let it be you! Things to think about leaving access to:
All assets (bank accounts, investment accounts, old 401ks, IRAs set up, TSP, OPM.gov account)
All liabilities (mortgages, loans, credit cards, etc.) In many cases, these creditors will have to be dealt with before the estate can be closed (talk to an estate planner-I’m definitely not one of those.)
Many times these accounts require a 2nd Factor Authentication. So your survivor is going to need to know how to access your email or phone. I know—the horror! (I’ve seen some medical alert bracelets that read “Allergic to Penicillin. B+ Blood Type. Please Delete my Browser History.”)
4. People. Leave behind a resource net that your spouse or other beneficiary can contact. This can run the gamut. It may be someone in HR, a financial planner, a trusted attorney, a coworker, or a combination of all of these. But there needs to be someone that can be at least a little emotionally detached, that understands this stuff, and is willing to step up and be the navigator through this mess for a few weeks.
Anything you do now will be GREATLY appreciated. I realize this is not a fun topic. Statistics say most people in the US don’t have a will. And many report putting it off because they feel like as soon as they get a will they are going to die (seriously—that’s a fear of many. That they were thinking about it because subconsciously they somehow know the end is near.) Let me put your mind at ease on that last point. Your subconscious didn’t tell you to do any of this. I’m telling you to do this! Putting this paperwork together is in no way shortening your life or some sort of bad omen. It’s just caring for those you leave behind.
Check with your agency. Someone may already be taking the lead on this sort of thing and have created a product, or example you can use to just fill in the missing pieces. For example, I know that Milan Kosanovich in the FBI Cleveland Division has done a remarkable job of putting together an “ICE Pack” (In Case of Emergency Packet) and even does presentations to help his fellow employees. If you are in the FBI, use your little address book thingy and reach out to him. Other agencies probably have someone doing the same thing. Or you may know some public resources available out there. Post those in the comments below. Pay it forward as they say. We’re all out here trying to better the Fersonian experience for us and those that come after us. No one else is going to do it for us, that’s for sure.
In conclusion, this doesn’t have to be super complicated. There’s really just 4 things you need:
Documents
Summary of what they are entitled to
Access to accounts
A Person/People to assist your survivors