Guides

One question per page. The answer is in the first two sentences, and the rest is the why. Written for someone who feels behind and does not want to feel dumb asking.

Hanford PD officers

• How your Hanford PD pension worksYour CalPERS pension is your years of service, times a benefit factor set by your age when you retire, times your final compensation. Whether you are classic or PEPRA decides the factor and how final compensation is figured, and that depends on when you were first hired into CalPERS.
• Do I really have to work until 57?No. Under 2.7% at 57 you can retire from 50, and the benefit factor grows each quarter year until it reaches the full factor at 57.
• Hanford PD deferred comp: get the full City matchPut in at least $75 every paycheck, because the City matches your deferred comp up to that amount for the term of the MOU. Anything less leaves City money on the table that you cannot get back later.
• Disability insurance for Hanford PD officers: what the MOU actually saysThe City does not provide a disability policy: under MOU section 2.08, you need your own, paid by you, to use disability leave. On-duty injuries go first to workers' compensation and CalPERS industrial disability retirement, so the gap your own policy fills is an injury or illness off duty.
• Retiree health for Hanford PD: who pays after you retireYou do. Under MOU sections 2.28 and 2.40, retiree medical is funded by officers only, through the PORAC Retiree Medical Trust, with no City contribution.
• Your sick leave becomes pension: how unused sick days add service creditEvery unused sick day you carry to retirement becomes extra CalPERS service credit, and extra service credit means a larger pension. Under the MOU there is no limit on how much you accrue and no cash-out, so the pension is where unused sick leave goes.

NAS Lemoore sailors

• How to read your LESYour LES has three money columns: what you earned, what came out, and what you set aside yourself. Read it top to bottom once and the rest of your paycheck stops being a mystery.
• Do I need life insurance outside SGLI?Yes: keep full SGLI, and FSGLI for a spouse, for as long as you serve. Add a private term policy you own, bought while you are young and healthy, because SGLI ends after you separate and the private policy goes with you.
• PCS and your house: what renting it out really costs and buildsRenting out your home after a PCS usually costs you something every month and builds something every month too. The question is how much of your out-of-pocket money is becoming equity in your own name, and this page shows you how to find that number.
• Roth on military pay: BAS, deployments and combat payFor most junior members, Roth is the better home for retirement dollars: you pay tax now at a low rate and never again. Military pay makes that easier, because BAS is not taxed and combat zone pay can go into Roth TSP tax-free in and tax-free out.
• Biweekly mortgage payments on a VA loanPaying half your mortgage every two weeks adds one full extra payment a year, all of it to principal, which pays the loan off years early and saves interest. You can do the same thing for free by adding an extra principal payment yourself.

For everyone

• Can I claim exempt all year and still get a refund?No. Claiming exempt stops your employer from withholding tax, but it does not change the tax you owe, so you pay all of it when you file, possibly with an underpayment penalty.
• How much term life insurance is realistic for a family?Enough to replace the paycheck your family would lose until the kids are grown, plus the debts and costs that land all at once. Most families get there with a term policy that ends when the kids are independent, bought while you are young and healthy.
• Will, trust, guardianship, power of attorney: what each one doesA will says who gets what and who raises your kids. A trust holds property so it passes without probate court, and a power of attorney lets someone act for you while you are alive but cannot.

This page is education, not individualized investment, tax, legal or insurance advice. It names no products, funds or allocations and carries no client stories. Where a document or a policy is needed, an estate attorney or a licensed insurance agent is the person who prepares it. Avidity Capital Inc. drafts no legal documents and receives no commission or referral fee from insurance, estate attorneys, mortgage lenders or real estate agents. Its compensation is the member's subscription and, for members who choose it, an advisory fee for managing assets; see Form CRS and Form ADV Part 2A. Avidity Capital Inc. is a registered investment adviser.