Anonymous wrote:I was a fed for two years, got DOGEd, got a new job right away, and was STILL very depressed. I still feel like crying if I think about it. Please, please be patient with your DH. This was an emotional and traumatic gut punch.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My spouse was DOGE'd and took the 2nd fork offer, with "voluntary" early retirement supposed to happen on 9/30. Spouse had been on paid leave since June so this will be the last paycheck and then...I have no idea what.

He's had no emails, no word from OPM, nothing. He's says there is no one to call. I don't know how OPM could keep up with processing all of the tens of thousands of additional VERA applications that are hitting on 9/30 anyway...and I doubt they will all be able essential workers in a shutdown, so what happens now???

I am nearly ready to divorce my spouse over his level of avoidance about this (and the whole end of his federal career in general, because it has paralyzed him completely) but that won't help us in the short term. He is just sticking his head in the sand and assuming an annuity payment will happen in October shutdown or no but I am freaking out with literally zero information, zero communication from OPM, zero anything, so if any one of my dear DCUM pocket friends could help me with ANY general information about what to expect or who to ask or where to go for answers, I would be grateful.

That part was not needed. Let your husband be. Your nagging is not helpful. Lockdown (or threat of lockdown) has happened many times before. Unless you are living paycheck to paycheck, just stay calm and live your life. It will get sorted out. OPM backlog of retirement paper is 6months+ meaning your DH will not see his final numbers until next year, most likely. However that does not mean you won’t get paid (pension checks) until then. You will get interim checks (estimated amounts) until then. So, please, step back and give him some space. The last thing he needs is his wife getting on his back. Give it a rest.

I'm not nagging him. But basic, BASIC information is utterly missing. Coooes of the paperwork he supposedly filed. (Did he file everything correctly? I have no idea. He has no idea. He doesn't remember.) It is an absolute black hole of information and he doesn't remember absolutely nothing to follow up, call, ask any human he knows, nothing.

I do understand that this is traumatic. It's a trauma for me, too. Our entire financial future has been blown up. I fully supported him leaving because the stress of having absolutely unqualified and reckless DOGE idiots trample over everything he had down for 3 decades was killing him. He is still young but after 3 decades becoming an expert in a niche field and assuming he would have that job for another 8-10 years until retirement, he can't even think yet about starting over. I try to keep my mouth shut as talking about it at all shuts him down.

But we do not have a big savings cushion. I have a steady job for now but that will be at risk too, with further federal funding disasters looming. We both have had major mid-life situations with elderly parents and an adult child that blew up our financial safety net, and we are now both mid-50s with school aged children and a mortgage and we cannot survive with just my income for very long.

I am venting here because I am NOT nagging him. Nagging does no good. He is in complete shut down. And he shuts down absolutely like this with all kinds of other crises in life and I always handle things, take the lead, call who needs to be called, do the paperwork that needs to be done, stanch the bleeding, call in the experts, research options, fix what I can. But in this case, I have no information, no contacts, no access to anything, no one to call, no copies of anything, no information whatsoever, and, yeah, it's stressful. I have no estimates, no idea how much health care will cost, no way to make a budget, no information whatsoever.

And yes, we have been on the brink of divorce for years, but I have tried to hold this ship together with duct tape and sheer will for a long time. But now I feel like the duct tape is over my eyes and the leaking ship with my kids on it is heading for...I have no idea...a steep falls? A tanker coming at is is at full speed? Calm waters and I'm making a crisis over nothing?

The black hole of guidance is what is terrifying.

PP you were responding to. Do you know if he remembers his agency's HR rep he worked with? If not, his manager still working? He must know how to reach out to HR, at least. Here is what I think is going on. For full disclosure, I am taking end of Sept DRP too. At my agency, HR checks all papers before sending it to OPM. I reached out to HR guy who processed my paper about a month ago and he told me it's all set and his manager is doing the final review/double check. They will not reach out to you unless something is wrong. His HR will probably submit the paper to OPM next pay period. If he wants, he can reach out to your HR and just ask "hey all looking good?" For shutdown (sorry i said "lockdown" even though it feels like a lockdown), we will probably go thru a CR which Govt does all the time. You should be fine.

Good response, but from what OP has said, I’m concerned that her DH never submitted his retirement papers. This is not any kind of fatal error if he’s eligible to retire, but step one is figuring this out. I took the HHS VERA this spring, and even though our poor HR people were completely overwhelmed, I ended up with a retirement counselor who guided me through the process very ably. I got my first annuity payment within three months.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My spouse was DOGE'd and took the 2nd fork offer, with "voluntary" early retirement supposed to happen on 9/30. Spouse had been on paid leave since June so this will be the last paycheck and then...I have no idea what.

He's had no emails, no word from OPM, nothing. He's says there is no one to call. I don't know how OPM could keep up with processing all of the tens of thousands of additional VERA applications that are hitting on 9/30 anyway...and I doubt they will all be able essential workers in a shutdown, so what happens now???

I am nearly ready to divorce my spouse over his level of avoidance about this (and the whole end of his federal career in general, because it has paralyzed him completely) but that won't help us in the short term. He is just sticking his head in the sand and assuming an annuity payment will happen in October shutdown or no but I am freaking out with literally zero information, zero communication from OPM, zero anything, so if any one of my dear DCUM pocket friends could help me with ANY general information about what to expect or who to ask or where to go for answers, I would be grateful.

That part was not needed. Let your husband be. Your nagging is not helpful. Lockdown (or threat of lockdown) has happened many times before. Unless you are living paycheck to paycheck, just stay calm and live your life. It will get sorted out. OPM backlog of retirement paper is 6months+ meaning your DH will not see his final numbers until next year, most likely. However that does not mean you won’t get paid (pension checks) until then. You will get interim checks (estimated amounts) until then. So, please, step back and give him some space. The last thing he needs is his wife getting on his back. Give it a rest.

I'm not nagging him. But basic, BASIC information is utterly missing. Coooes of the paperwork he supposedly filed. (Did he file everything correctly? I have no idea. He has no idea. He doesn't remember.) It is an absolute black hole of information and he doesn't remember absolutely nothing to follow up, call, ask any human he knows, nothing.

I do understand that this is traumatic. It's a trauma for me, too. Our entire financial future has been blown up. I fully supported him leaving because the stress of having absolutely unqualified and reckless DOGE idiots trample over everything he had down for 3 decades was killing him. He is still young but after 3 decades becoming an expert in a niche field and assuming he would have that job for another 8-10 years until retirement, he can't even think yet about starting over. I try to keep my mouth shut as talking about it at all shuts him down.

But we do not have a big savings cushion. I have a steady job for now but that will be at risk too, with further federal funding disasters looming. We both have had major mid-life situations with elderly parents and an adult child that blew up our financial safety net, and we are now both mid-50s with school aged children and a mortgage and we cannot survive with just my income for very long.

I am venting here because I am NOT nagging him. Nagging does no good. He is in complete shut down. And he shuts down absolutely like this with all kinds of other crises in life and I always handle things, take the lead, call who needs to be called, do the paperwork that needs to be done, stanch the bleeding, call in the experts, research options, fix what I can. But in this case, I have no information, no contacts, no access to anything, no one to call, no copies of anything, no information whatsoever, and, yeah, it's stressful. I have no estimates, no idea how much health care will cost, no way to make a budget, no information whatsoever.

And yes, we have been on the brink of divorce for years, but I have tried to hold this ship together with duct tape and sheer will for a long time. But now I feel like the duct tape is over my eyes and the leaking ship with my kids on it is heading for...I have no idea...a steep falls? A tanker coming at is is at full speed? Calm waters and I'm making a crisis over nothing?

The black hole of guidance is what is terrifying.

PP you were responding to. Do you know if he remembers his agency's HR rep he worked with? If not, his manager still working? He must know how to reach out to HR, at least. Here is what I think is going on. For full disclosure, I am taking end of Sept DRP too. At my agency, HR checks all papers before sending it to OPM. I reached out to HR guy who processed my paper about a month ago and he told me it's all set and his manager is doing the final review/double check. They will not reach out to you unless something is wrong. His HR will probably submit the paper to OPM next pay period. If he wants, he can reach out to your HR and just ask "hey all looking good?" For shutdown (sorry i said "lockdown" even though it feels like a lockdown), we will probably go thru a CR which Govt does all the time. You should be fine.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Shutdown will delay payments. It’s not a big deal, particularly for retirees who have large savings (which is why they can retire).

It is a big deal for most feds who don't have large savings. People with kids. People with mortgages. I have no confidence you will get this money - the shutdown will start on Tuesday. If the shutdown benefits the president (MAGA podcasters are saying it gives the president more control over spending and spending cuts), the shutdown may last indefinitely.

If I were the OP, I would start thinking as if the money will not come. Make a plan for what you can do now to live without it (second job, spend less, move) - and if it does come, that is a bonus.

But OP is a retiree. They do have large savings, otherwise they wouldn't have retired.

no, OPs husband was DRP/VERA eligible. they are an *unwilling* retiree. The problem is that anyone who is eligible for a pension will not receive a severance if RIFed. So a lot of people faced the awful choice of taking 4 months of DRP severance + early retirement, or holding on and possibly getting immediately terminated with no severance.

But now the spouse has not been able to find other work and any leave payout/annuity may be delayed for several months just due to backlog, and possibly longer if the gov shuts down. It's an awful choice, and spouse may be additionally paralyzed because a) it's possible his org never implemented a RIF and his job would have been safe(ish). or b) his org was RIFed and any private sector opportunities are being fiercely pursued by all of his colleagues as well. or c) all of the above.

Anyway, as a commenter above said, assume money may not come for some time. health insurance should continue, with the estimated payments being covered by his estimated annuity. I'm sorry that your family is going through this.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Shutdown will delay payments. It’s not a big deal, particularly for retirees who have large savings (which is why they can retire).

It is a big deal for most feds who don't have large savings. People with kids. People with mortgages. I have no confidence you will get this money - the shutdown will start on Tuesday. If the shutdown benefits the president (MAGA podcasters are saying it gives the president more control over spending and spending cuts), the shutdown may last indefinitely.

If I were the OP, I would start thinking as if the money will not come. Make a plan for what you can do now to live without it (second job, spend less, move) - and if it does come, that is a bonus.

But OP is a retiree. They do have large savings, otherwise they wouldn't have retired.

no, OPs husband was DRP/VERA eligible. they are an *unwilling* retiree. The problem is that anyone who is eligible for a pension will not receive a severance if RIFed. So a lot of people faced the awful choice of taking 4 months of DRP severance + early retirement, or holding on and possibly getting immediately terminated with no severance.

But now the spouse has not been able to find other work and any leave payout/annuity may be delayed for several months just due to backlog, and possibly longer if the gov shuts down. It's an awful choice, and spouse may be additionally paralyzed because a) it's possible his org never implemented a RIF and his job would have been safe(ish). or b) his org was RIFed and any private sector opportunities are being fiercely pursued by all of his colleagues as well. or c) all of the above.

Anyway, as a commenter above said, assume money may not come for some time. health insurance should continue, with the estimated payments being covered by his estimated annuity. I'm sorry that your family is going through this.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Shutdown will delay payments. It’s not a big deal, particularly for retirees who have large savings (which is why they can retire).

It is a big deal for most feds who don't have large savings. People with kids. People with mortgages. I have no confidence you will get this money - the shutdown will start on Tuesday. If the shutdown benefits the president (MAGA podcasters are saying it gives the president more control over spending and spending cuts), the shutdown may last indefinitely.

If I were the OP, I would start thinking as if the money will not come. Make a plan for what you can do now to live without it (second job, spend less, move) - and if it does come, that is a bonus.

But OP is a retiree. They do have large savings, otherwise they wouldn't have retired.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My spouse was DOGE'd and took the 2nd fork offer, with "voluntary" early retirement supposed to happen on 9/30. Spouse had been on paid leave since June so this will be the last paycheck and then...I have no idea what.

He's had no emails, no word from OPM, nothing. He's says there is no one to call. I don't know how OPM could keep up with processing all of the tens of thousands of additional VERA applications that are hitting on 9/30 anyway...and I doubt they will all be able essential workers in a shutdown, so what happens now???

I am nearly ready to divorce my spouse over his level of avoidance about this (and the whole end of his federal career in general, because it has paralyzed him completely) but that won't help us in the short term. He is just sticking his head in the sand and assuming an annuity payment will happen in October shutdown or no but I am freaking out with literally zero information, zero communication from OPM, zero anything, so if any one of my dear DCUM pocket friends could help me with ANY general information about what to expect or who to ask or where to go for answers, I would be grateful.

That part was not needed. Let your husband be. Your nagging is not helpful. Lockdown (or threat of lockdown) has happened many times before. Unless you are living paycheck to paycheck, just stay calm and live your life. It will get sorted out. OPM backlog of retirement paper is 6months+ meaning your DH will not see his final numbers until next year, most likely. However that does not mean you won’t get paid (pension checks) until then. You will get interim checks (estimated amounts) until then. So, please, step back and give him some space. The last thing he needs is his wife getting on his back. Give it a rest.

I'm not nagging him. But basic, BASIC information is utterly missing. Coooes of the paperwork he supposedly filed. (Did he file everything correctly? I have no idea. He has no idea. He doesn't remember.) It is an absolute black hole of information and he doesn't remember absolutely nothing to follow up, call, ask any human he knows, nothing.

I do understand that this is traumatic. It's a trauma for me, too. Our entire financial future has been blown up. I fully supported him leaving because the stress of having absolutely unqualified and reckless DOGE idiots trample over everything he had down for 3 decades was killing him. He is still young but after 3 decades becoming an expert in a niche field and assuming he would have that job for another 8-10 years until retirement, he can't even think yet about starting over. I try to keep my mouth shut as talking about it at all shuts him down.

But we do not have a big savings cushion. I have a steady job for now but that will be at risk too, with further federal funding disasters looming. We both have had major mid-life situations with elderly parents and an adult child that blew up our financial safety net, and we are now both mid-50s with school aged children and a mortgage and we cannot survive with just my income for very long.

I am venting here because I am NOT nagging him. Nagging does no good. He is in complete shut down. And he shuts down absolutely like this with all kinds of other crises in life and I always handle things, take the lead, call who needs to be called, do the paperwork that needs to be done, stanch the bleeding, call in the experts, research options, fix what I can. But in this case, I have no information, no contacts, no access to anything, no one to call, no copies of anything, no information whatsoever, and, yeah, it's stressful. I have no estimates, no idea how much health care will cost, no way to make a budget, no information whatsoever.

And yes, we have been on the brink of divorce for years, but I have tried to hold this ship together with duct tape and sheer will for a long time. But now I feel like the duct tape is over my eyes and the leaking ship with my kids on it is heading for...I have no idea...a steep falls? A tanker coming at is is at full speed? Calm waters and I'm making a crisis over nothing?

The black hole of guidance is what is terrifying.

OP, I wish I could offer some specific guidance but I don’t have any. I just wanted to say I hope in the middle of this shitstorm you are able to do something for yourself every day, even if it is just a brief walk outside, listening to some upbeat music. People talk about the 50s as such a great age where you are confident in your skin, know what your priorities are etc etc. Yeah whatever. Being on your 50s in this area, in a job sector that has been destroyed by the maniac in charge, sandwiched between kids whose futures are more uncertain by the day and aging vulnerable parents. Throw in some perimenopause, marital challenges and a he daily barrage of negative news when you are living in a budding autocracy and well..it’s A LOT. Something will give one way or another and the next step in your life will become clearer with time. In the meantime take care of yourself and try to prioritize sleep and exercise. You don’t want to fall ill.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Shutdown will delay payments. It’s not a big deal, particularly for retirees who have large savings (which is why they can retire).

It is a big deal for most feds who don't have large savings. People with kids. People with mortgages. I have no confidence you will get this money - the shutdown will start on Tuesday. If the shutdown benefits the president (MAGA podcasters are saying it gives the president more control over spending and spending cuts), the shutdown may last indefinitely.

If I were the OP, I would start thinking as if the money will not come. Make a plan for what you can do now to live without it (second job, spend less, move) - and if it does come, that is a bonus.

But OP is a retiree. They do have large savings, otherwise they wouldn't have retired.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Shutdown will delay payments. It’s not a big deal, particularly for retirees who have large savings (which is why they can retire).

It is a big deal for most feds who don't have large savings. People with kids. People with mortgages. I have no confidence you will get this money - the shutdown will start on Tuesday. If the shutdown benefits the president (MAGA podcasters are saying it gives the president more control over spending and spending cuts), the shutdown may last indefinitely.

If I were the OP, I would start thinking as if the money will not come. Make a plan for what you can do now to live without it (second job, spend less, move) - and if it does come, that is a bonus.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My spouse was DOGE'd and took the 2nd fork offer, with "voluntary" early retirement supposed to happen on 9/30. Spouse had been on paid leave since June so this will be the last paycheck and then...I have no idea what.

He's had no emails, no word from OPM, nothing. He's says there is no one to call. I don't know how OPM could keep up with processing all of the tens of thousands of additional VERA applications that are hitting on 9/30 anyway...and I doubt they will all be able essential workers in a shutdown, so what happens now???

I am nearly ready to divorce my spouse over his level of avoidance about this (and the whole end of his federal career in general, because it has paralyzed him completely) but that won't help us in the short term. He is just sticking his head in the sand and assuming an annuity payment will happen in October shutdown or no but I am freaking out with literally zero information, zero communication from OPM, zero anything, so if any one of my dear DCUM pocket friends could help me with ANY general information about what to expect or who to ask or where to go for answers, I would be grateful.

That part was not needed. Let your husband be. Your nagging is not helpful. Lockdown (or threat of lockdown) has happened many times before. Unless you are living paycheck to paycheck, just stay calm and live your life. It will get sorted out. OPM backlog of retirement paper is 6months+ meaning your DH will not see his final numbers until next year, most likely. However that does not mean you won’t get paid (pension checks) until then. You will get interim checks (estimated amounts) until then. So, please, step back and give him some space. The last thing he needs is his wife getting on his back. Give it a rest.

I'm not nagging him. But basic, BASIC information is utterly missing. Coooes of the paperwork he supposedly filed. (Did he file everything correctly? I have no idea. He has no idea. He doesn't remember.) It is an absolute black hole of information and he doesn't remember absolutely nothing to follow up, call, ask any human he knows, nothing.

I do understand that this is traumatic. It's a trauma for me, too. Our entire financial future has been blown up. I fully supported him leaving because the stress of having absolutely unqualified and reckless DOGE idiots trample over everything he had down for 3 decades was killing him. He is still young but after 3 decades becoming an expert in a niche field and assuming he would have that job for another 8-10 years until retirement, he can't even think yet about starting over. I try to keep my mouth shut as talking about it at all shuts him down.

But we do not have a big savings cushion. I have a steady job for now but that will be at risk too, with further federal funding disasters looming. We both have had major mid-life situations with elderly parents and an adult child that blew up our financial safety net, and we are now both mid-50s with school aged children and a mortgage and we cannot survive with just my income for very long.

I am venting here because I am NOT nagging him. Nagging does no good. He is in complete shut down. And he shuts down absolutely like this with all kinds of other crises in life and I always handle things, take the lead, call who needs to be called, do the paperwork that needs to be done, stanch the bleeding, call in the experts, research options, fix what I can. But in this case, I have no information, no contacts, no access to anything, no one to call, no copies of anything, no information whatsoever, and, yeah, it's stressful. I have no estimates, no idea how much health care will cost, no way to make a budget, no information whatsoever.

And yes, we have been on the brink of divorce for years, but I have tried to hold this ship together with duct tape and sheer will for a long time. But now I feel like the duct tape is over my eyes and the leaking ship with my kids on it is heading for...I have no idea...a steep falls? A tanker coming at is is at full speed? Calm waters and I'm making a crisis over nothing?

The black hole of guidance is what is terrifying.

Anonymous wrote:Try reaching out to:

GRB Benefits Service Center
1-877-386-4010 voice
1-877-386-4066 fax
bsc@grbinc.com

https://www.opm.gov/retirement-center/online-retirement-application/