Subject:Proposal for Investment Planning Options for a Tropical Retirement

To:Civilian Government Employees

From:Brandon Harvey

Date:September 8, 2013

Subject:Proposal for Investment Planning Options for a Tropical Retirement

Proposal Synopsis

My current generation of people want to retire by certain age but have yet to start saving towards that goal. I will provide an Analytic Report providing information of different investment options for retirement. The three primary options being FERS, TSP, and Social Security.

Project Description

The purpose of this memo is to provide a description of the methods I plan the follow when completing the retirement investing project. The purpose of the project is to compare different investment options to be able to retire in a tropical paradise by the time you turn 60. As mentioned in the Topic Memo dated August 25, 2013 and the audience analysis memo dated September 1, 2013, the project will be written toward any individual or couple who currently work for the United States Government as a civilian employee who are looking to retire in a tropical environment.

What I am looking to do is provide guidance and information to fellow government employees on different investment options for retirement planning. The problem is that “two in three Millennia’s expect to retire by the ago of 65, but almost 70% of them have yet to take any steps in planning or saving for it”(Rothman, 13). I would like to help change this percentage so that my fellow employees are better prepared for their future. This in turn will lead to a better-prepared workforce when it comes to planning for the rest of their life. I will hopefully accomplish this wonderful feat by providing a very clear and concise analysis of multiple investment options for retirement purposes with the end goal of being in a tropical paradise.

There are many benefits to a more informed workforce. These include increased moral and productivity due to the feeling setting a goal and actually have the first steps in place to accomplish that goal.This can also provide a benefit of proper workforce turnover. What I mean by proper workforce turnover is that employees who are not prepared normally continue working past normal retirement age. This leads to the inability to hire new employees into the federal government and continuing to pay a higher salary to someone who has yet to retire.

Plan of Action

A portion of the work on this project has already been completed, as seen below in Proposed Timeline for the Project graphic. The Topic Memo and the Audience Analysis Memo have already been completed. This proposal is the next step that will then be followed up with the draft Analysis Report being peer reviewed next week. Followed by the finished report being published the following week. Given that I have a majority of the needed information on hand, this timeline, even though already set by management, should be enough time to complete this project.

I will be using a few sources of information to help me complete this project. Given that there are so many different retirement options, which a few are provided by the federal government. I will give overviews of the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS), Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) and Social Security. The sites for those programs are listed in the references. I will also get information on other programs that can be done on top of the three primary retirement programs.

I will organize the report into sections breaking apart the different primary retirement “vehicles” for federal employees as well as a section for other investment options. This will be followed up with a brief summary of a few different cost of living estimates for tropical environments. This will allow for a quick overview of how much money might need to be saved. This will then lead into potential amounts to be investing into the TSP as well as where less to save.

Qualifications

I believe that I am very suited preform this project. While I may not have a degree in accounting or investing, I do enjoy numbers and I am also a government employee who will benefit from this as much as the audience it is being written for. When it comes to investing for your future retirement, it mainly comes down to a numbers game. The game being that you need to have an amount of money coming in from different sources to cover you for your planned future by the time you retire. I am the type of person that looks at hard facts and doesn’t think best-case scenario when it comes to money. This leads to me being able to make sure that any plan I look into and develop will include options incase the worst case scenario happens. With that said, I will make sure that multiple options are given and that multiple sources of money to pull from during retirement are included in this project. In my opinion, the more options the better the decision a person can make.

However, I do need to bring to the quote unquote table about my ability to save for retirement. I may currently not be the best at planning for my own retirement, but when it comes other people I try to give him all the information I know. And in doing this project my knowledge will be even greater on the topic. There was a saying that we had in the military, “sometimes the best person for a duty is the worst offender of that duty”.

Conclusion

In conclusion, I think that I will be able to provide a good understanding the different investment options for retirement to my fellow coworkers. Between the three primary investment options available (FERS, TSP, and Social Security) which provide a good approach.

References

Folger, J. (n.d.). Analyzing The Best Retirement Plans And Investment Options (GLD,SLV,USO,UNG). Investopedia - Educating the world about finance. Retrieved September 8, 2013, from

FERS Information. (n.d.). OPM.gov. Retrieved September 8, 2013, from

Rothman, H. (2013, July 1). Think Twice About Social Security for Early Retirement - MainStreet. MainStreet - Earn More, Spend Less. Retrieved September 8, 2013, from

Social Security: retirement benefits.. (1996). Baltimore, Md.: Social Security

Administration.

Thrift savings plan. (2011). Washington, DC: Federal Retirement Thrift

Investment Board.