FedTools
Trusted by 40,000+ Fed Employees

Federal Retirement Roadmap – production brief

Step-by-step roadmap that guides federal employees from eligibility checkpoints through income planning, survivor decisions, and post-retirement considerations.

Snapshot

Status: Briefing

Owner: Content team

Last updated: 2024-05-01

Target keywords: federal retirement planning roadmap, fers retirement timeline, minimum retirement age fers, fers mra 10 postpone

Primary CTAs: Launch calculator, Download checklist, Subscribe for updates

Audience & Goal

  • Persona focus: Alex (mid-career FERS employee, age 50-55) plus early-career feds seeking a step-by-step plan.
  • Success metric: Reader completes the roadmap, launches relevant calculators, and saves or downloads the planning template.

Narrative Structure

Outline the core chapters the article must deliver.

  • 1. Orientation: Explain the three FERS pillars (annuity, TSP, Social Security), define MRA, and set expectations for the roadmap.
  • 2. Eligibility checkpoints: Charts for age/service combos (62/5, 60/20, MRA/30, MRA+10). Highlight special provision teaser for future release.
  • 3. Decision stage: when to retire: Walk through immediate vs MRA+10 vs postponed vs deferred. Include bullet list of trade-offs and link back to calculator scenarios.
  • 4. Income building blocks: High-3 estimation guidance, sick leave considerations, survivor election impacts, FERS supplement overview, TSP savings targets.
  • 5. Six-month countdown checklist: Actionable timeline from 24 months out to retirement date: request estimate, confirm sick leave, evaluate FEHB/FEGLI, gather documentation.
  • 6. Post-retirement watch list: COLA expectations, tax planning, annual beneficiary review, reemployment rules, and resources for ongoing support.

Visuals & Assets

  • Timeline graphic: Full-width responsive timeline mirroring the calculator milestones (MRA, earliest unreduced date, target retirement, age 62).
  • Downloadable checklist: PDF checklist synced with section 5 tasks. Collect email optionally after download.

Calls-to-Action

  • Primary: Launch the FERS Retirement Calculator (anchor to calculator route).
  • Secondary: Download the printable checklist to keep milestones on track.
  • Tertiary: Subscribe for policy change alerts and new planning tools.

Production Checklist

  • Legal review of survivor benefit language and disclaimers about unofficial estimates.
  • SEO optimization: include target keywords in H1/H2, meta description, and internal links to calculator and supplement article.
  • Accessibility review of timeline graphic with text alternative mirrored in content.