Eric White It’s important to have people like yourself on. This is another government shutdown. It seems as if they’re popping up now every two to three years. I’m sure we’ve talked to you in the past or in the last one. What are your thoughts surrounding this one and how can folks get through it?
Abe Grungold Well, unfortunately, during my federal career, I went through six federal shutdowns, one under Bush senior, two under Clinton, one under Obama, and two under the Trump administration. So, yes, it’s a very stressful time. And there are some things that federal employees can do. I have tried all of these tips, so I’m just not pulling them out of a book somewhere. The number one thing is if you can tap into any cash reserves that you have saved up, that is very important, or even cash in a federal savings bond that may have come your way in past years. So those are two good sources of income. The other thing is it is very important to eliminate all unnecessary spending. And what that means is you don’t buy that Starbucks coffee. You don’t have lunch with friends. You don’t have dinner with your friends. And if even necessary, you should eliminate some other expenses, like your streaming services. You may have more than one streaming service for entertainment, and it’s a good idea to shut those off. Another method for getting through this tough period, especially where you have bills, whether they’re medical bills, credit card bills, or utilities such as electricity, you should contact every company, credit card company, utility company, and just ask them if they could eliminate any interest payments or any late fees and try to be understanding that you are a federal employee going through a federal shutdown. Now, if you have some medical bills, you should try to work with the medical provider and get yourself on a payment plan. I have done that in the past.
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Eric White I wanted to also focus in on when you’re cutting back on all of these non-essentials as you mentioned it, how far can those go, though? This shutdown, you went through a couple of long ones yourself. The longer that these go on, are you able to really stretch out all your dollars as much as you can? Do you take the steps incrementally or should you just do them all at once? What do you, what was, what worked for you?
Abe Grungold Well, as you know, that when the federal shutdown gets beyond a week, you really have to take evasive steps to try to handle all your finances. And after a week, you should be calling your credit card company, your mortgage company, utilities company, and let them know that this federal shutdown is going to affect you. And you’re going to have trouble making your monthly payments. Look, they understand this, and they should be somewhat sympathetic to help you out during this situation. So it is something that you need to tackle, certainly after the first week. And today, I believe, is the 21st day of the federal shutdown. So it’s three weeks have passed. And it’s something that you really have to chip away every day at figuring out how to save money, and it’s not easy. Even something that I had done was start cleaning out a closet and try selling some things in a yard sale. I would clean out my garage and sell things that I haven’t used and have a yard sale or sell them on eBay, Craig’s List to try to generate a few hundred dollars here and there. That will help you with your groceries and paying your fuel for your gas tank. You have to work at it really every day to figure ways out. Another good way to find some money is that gold today is selling for $4,300 an ounce. Go through your jewelry, maybe you have some broken pieces or old jewelry that you don’t use anymore or wear and try to cash those in as well. So there are a few things you can do and you really have to pay attention to constantly work at it.
Eric White We’re speaking with Abe Grungold here of AG Financial. All right, so let’s push the clock forward, hopefully not too far ahead, and let’s say the shutdown’s over. Who knows where the dust is going to settle with the RIFs that have been issued during this shutdown process. But say you’re not R/if-ed and you’re back in the office. Seeing RIFs thrown out in that manner may hang over your head a little bit while you’re working, especially if you are one of those furloughed employees deemed non-essential worrying that you could possibly be next at your agency. Is there anything you can do to have a plan in place just in case you do receive a RIF notice in the mail?
Abe Grungold Well, it’s funny that you mention the RIF. I’m now recalling back in the 90s during the Clinton administration, my office was a very small office. We had about 10 or 15 people, and there was a lot of talk about RIFing, closing the office, reduction in force, and moving the staff to the regional office, and I remember there was an office in Florida that was closed and employees had to move to the Atlanta office. But fortunately, my office in Boston did not close, but there was the threat of it closing. So what I had done was I started looking at some career opportunities outside of the federal government. I hate to say it, but I took the policeman’s exam and a coworker of mine, we started going through the process of becoming police officers. And it was just something that we could do to sort of give the control back to us. And we also, he and I also had a plan that if they were going to close the office, and we were going to have to relocate to New York City, he and I were going to be roommates. So we were going to get an apartment in New York and do whatever we have to do to keep our federal jobs. So you have to start thinking along these lines, what are your alternatives? And it’s not easy, but there are some things that you can try to do to sort of alleviate a lot of the stress of a RIF.
Eric White And also, while the government is shut down, and while I have you, let’s turn to those that are out of federal service, with the federal retirees not getting those costs of living adjustments anytime soon since don’t really have any data that is able to back up giving one. What are you telling folks who come to you speaking about, hey, what do I do if, if I’m starting to fall behind, even though my checks are still coming in?
Abe Grungold Well, cost of living adjustments are always a question mark and they’re not really approved until closer to the beginning of the year. There are moments where there are proposed cost of living adjustments and they are always lowered and once upon a time they were increased. So that is something that you really can’t count on. What you can count on is that during a federal furlough, you are going to receive your annuity from the government. You are going receive your TSP withdrawal if you’re making one from the government, and you are going to receive Social Security. So those are the three-legged stool that you are counting on as a federal retiree. That’s what I count on as a federal retiree. I know that those three things are coming in and the small cost of living adjustment just doesn’t seem to be a concern of mine because it’s just a question mark what that amount will be.
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