The blog
What to know before you bid.
Articles on FSPS, TSP, taxes at post, and the decisions each tour brings. Written for the Foreign Service community.
8 Financial Planning Decisions That Can Affect Your Foreign Service Retirement
Foreign Service Officers do not have ordinary financial lives. The challenge is not a lack of valuable benefits, it is coordinating those benefits across a mobile, timing-sensitive career. Here are the eight decisions that come up most.
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Federal Benefits
The Foreign Service Benefit Plan Premium Shock: Is It Time to Reconsider Your Health Insurance Strategy?
The FSBP Self Plus Family premium is rising about 54% for 2027. How it compares with the GEHA HDHP, where an HSA fits, and how to weigh the decision during Open Season. Read -
Retirement
10 Reasons Foreign Service Retirement Planning Requires a Different Approach
Foreign Service retirement planning goes well beyond understanding your benefits. Many standard planning assumptions like a steady income, one location, a linear career, and a predictable retirement timeline do not apply. Read -
Retirement
Leaving the Foreign Service for the Private Sector?
Higher pay and more control come with tradeoffs. What resigning changes about your FSPS annuity, TSP vesting, FEHB, and taxes before you submit paperwork. Read -
Fees & Compensation
Why Flat-Fee Advice Matters for Foreign Service Households
Why we moved from an assets-under-management model to a fixed fee, and why that better reflects the planning work Foreign Service households actually need. Read -
Choosing an Advisor
10 Questions FSOs Should Ask a Financial Advisor
A framework for finding out whether there is a fit, from fiduciary status and compensation to how an advisor handles your next PCS. Read -
Retirement
From A-100 to Retirement: Designing Your Retirement Paycheck
After retirement the regular paycheck stops and you have to design one yourself. How the FSPS annuity, Social Security, and TSP withdrawals fit together, and the tax traps in between. Read -
TSP & FSPS
Roth vs. Traditional TSP: The Real Question Isn’t Taxes. It’s Flexibility.
If the tax rate is the same going in and coming out, both produce the same result. What actually changes the answer is how much control you have over taxable income in retirement. Read -
Choosing an Advisor
Should Foreign Service Officers Hire a Financial Advisor?
There's no single trigger that applies to everyone. Some officers look for advice before their first tour, others when they're preparing to retire. Here are the decisions that usually benefit from a second set of eyes. Read
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