An independent resource for the federal workforce.
FedTools is an independent publisher of free calculators, original data research, and explanatory guides for U.S. federal employees navigating pay, retirement, TSP, FEHB, and benefits decisions.
Who runs FedTools
FedTools is edited by Jonathan D., a U.S. federal employee with more than 20 years of federal experience. Jonathan publishes here under a pen name to maintain a clear separation between his official duties and his outside writing, a separation explicitly encouraged by the federal Standards of Ethical Conduct (5 CFR Part 2635) and by the appearance-of-impropriety standard. The pen name does not affect the accuracy of anything on this site; every number is sourced from primary OPM, GAO, CRS, BLS, and FRTIB documents, with citations linked inline.
Jonathan is not a federal pay or benefits administrator, an OPM employee, a registered investment advisor, an attorney, a CPA, or a financial planner. He built FedTools because the federal-benefits search-results landscape is dominated by sites that have not kept up with policy changes, and federal employees deserve a modern, transparent alternative.
FedTools is an independent commercial project. It is not affiliated with OPM, OMB, GSA, the TSP, or any agency or department of the United States government.
How we source our data
Every published calculator displays the data file path and last-verified date so readers can audit our inputs.
Editorial standards
FedTools content goes through a four-step process before publishing: source research using primary OPM, GAO, and CRS sources; draft writing with quality checks against an internal factual rubric; a humanization pass to remove generic AI patterns; and an editorial review for accuracy. We name our sources inline. When we are uncertain or projecting, we say so.
We do not publish sponsored content disguised as editorial. Where a page contains an affiliate link or referral to a third-party financial service, that disclosure appears at the top of the page in plain language.
Corrections are logged publicly. If you find an error, email hello@fedtools.com and we will fix it, note the change, and credit the reporter if requested.
What we are not
FedTools is not financial, legal, tax, or investment advice. The calculators are estimating tools that show how the formulas behave on the inputs you provide. Real federal pay, retirement, and benefits decisions involve individual circumstances we cannot account for, and rules that OPM, the IRS, and individual agencies interpret with discretion.
Before acting on anything you read here, verify with your HR Benefits Officer, a fee-only financial planner, or a qualified tax professional. FedTools is not affiliated with OPM, OMB, GSA, the TSP, or any agency or department of the United States government.
Why we are building this
Legacy federal-benefits websites built in the early 2000s still dominate search results, but they offer dated designs and static worksheets that have not kept up with policy changes. Federal employees deserve modern, interactive software that updates with the law.
With roughly 100,000 federal employees leaving service every year, and another wave of restructuring underway in 2025–2026, the need for transparent, free, independent planning tools has never been higher.