Tailored Financial Planning for Federal Employees

Micah Shilanski, CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER(tm)

Get help from someone who knows your federal retirement benefits – and can help you with all aspects of your financial picture.

Shilanski & Associates, Inc., is a financial planning firm for federal employees. We help federal employees understand their benefits from a financial planning perspective and help them make the best choices for their personal situation. But we are not right for everyone. Let’s take a closer look at what we do and how we help our clients to see if our team is the right financial planning firm for you.

Federal Employees Have Unique Financial Planning Needs

As a federal employee – you know your benefits are complex.

You can find lots of information about financial planning. But federal employees really do have unique financial planning considerations that generic financial planning doesn’t address.

And you can find lots of information online about your federal retirement benefits. But it usually is geared towards educating a group – which makes it difficult to sort out how to make the best choices for your situation.

It is rare to find a financial professional who really knows the ins and outs of federal retirement. Rarer still to find one who actually does full financial planning.

Postponed and Deferred Retirement

Working with a Financial Advisor Who Specializes in FERS Benefits is Different

Not only do we know CSRS and FERS retirement benefits – more importantly – we have had the privilege of helping clients through the entire retirement process. And many of our clients continue to work with us long after they retire. That combination of teaching pre-retirement classes *and* having real life experience helping federal employee clients is a rare combination which makes our team one of the top financial planners for federal employees.

What Do We Do?

Our team looks at all the pieces of your financial puzzle and helps you put them together in a way that helps you work towards potentially achieving your goals. We can help you with…

Retirement Planning:

  • How much money do you need to retire?
  • Where will your retirement income come from?
  • Do you have enough to retire comfortably… and stay retired?

Investment Advice:

  • How should your money be invested to achieve your goals?
  • How should you allocate your TSP?
  • How much risk do you need to be taking?
  • Which TSP funds and other investments are well suited for your personal situation?

Federal Retirement Planning:

  • Are you getting the most out of your Federal Retirement benefits?
  • Which benefit choices are best for your personal situation?
  • When is the best time for you to retire from Federal service?

Estate Planning:

  • Will your assets go to the people you want?
  • How can you make sure your heirs get more of your estate than Uncle Sam?

Tax Planning:

  • How will taxes affect your retirement spending?
  • Can you lower your tax bill and keep more of your money, now and in the future?

We Look at Your Entire Financial Picture

Some financial professionals will only look at your stock portfolio. Or perhaps an insurance agent only looks at how much insurance you might need.

But in reality – these things are not separate. One area of your life can have a significant impact on other areas.

You wouldn’t go to 4 different doctors and get different prescriptions from each one without telling every doctor what other medications you were taking, would you?

But even if you did tell the other doctors what medications you were taking… what if the doctors didn’t really understand the side effects of those medications? Or how each medication interacts with the others?

Yet many people see several different financial professionals who have no idea what the other professionals are doing.

Each professional seems to operate as if their ‘piece of the pie’ didn’t affect the other pieces – but they do.

That’s why it’s important to have a financial professional who understands all the different pieces of the pie, and how they interact with each other.

Our team is different because we understand ALL the pieces of your financial pie, including your Federal Retirement benefits.

CSRS Survivor Benefits

Looking for the Right Financial Planner?

Let’s take a closer look at what we do and how we help our clients to see if we are the right financial planning team for YOU. 

If you just want to open an IRA and manage it yourself, we are not for you. There are plenty of bank representatives who can help open an account.

If you only want to buy an insurance policy, we are not for you. There are plenty of insurance salesmen who would be happy to sell you a policy.

But if you’re looking for a trusted advisor who understands both your Federal Retirement benefits, and the finer points of advanced financial planning, then you should talk with our team.

The First Step…

If you’re looking for a financial planner who…

✔ Understands your unique benefits as a Federal Employee

✔ Can help you with all the pieces of your financial puzzle

✔ Wants to have a long term planning relationship to help you achieve your goals and dreams

Then fill out the form below, or call our office, Shilanski & Associates, Inc., at (907) 278-1351 to schedule your personal consultation.  Please note that our planners’ calendars often book out at least 3-8 weeks in advance.

During your consultation, you can ask any federal retirement questions you have. Initial consultations generally last 45 minutes; but many people are amazed at how much helpful information they learned from our team in that time.

There is a fee for a personal consultation, but aside from that, there is no further obligation.

What Do We Charge?

We are a team of independent, fee-based financial planners. Our clients pay a fee – based on their situation – for our financial planning services.

The fee for a personal consultation with our team is $497. During your consultation, if you’re interested in moving forward, we will be able to quote you a flat-fee based on the level of help you’d like and discuss the next steps.

Our team’s fees are not cheap, because we provide great value to our clients. Haven’t you found that in life, you get what you pay for?

Do you really want the ‘cheapest’ financial planner charting your course? We want our clients to happily pay our fees, because they are delighted with our help and services.

Our Promise to You:

We want you to be happy – period.

During your personal consultation with us, if you feel that you have not gotten any value – you won’t have to pay.

During your consultation, our team will ask if you felt the time has been valuable. And if you felt like you didn’t get your questions answered or didn’t learn anything new – you won’t owe us a thing for the time. We just think that’s fair.

We want you to be happy about paying our fees because you are delighted and impressed with the value you received.

You Can Also Call Our Office to Schedule Your Personal Consultation

Please note that Alaska time is 4 hours behind Eastern time – so 12 noon on the East Coast is 8 am Alaska time.

When you call to schedule your appointment, please remember that our planners’ calendars are typically booked 3 – 8 weeks in advance.

Telephone consultations can be arranged if you’re not able to meet in person. In this case, please be sure to let our office know your time zone when scheduling your appointment. For in-person consultations, you’ll meet with our team at our office in Downtown Anchorage:

Shilanski & Associates, Inc.

(907) 278 – 1351

Downtown Anchorage Office: 
431 W. 7th Avenue, Suite 100
Anchorage, Alaska 99501

If you have additional questions about scheduling a personal consultation – please feel free to call our office at (907) 278-1351.

Your TSP After Retirement

We have had hundreds of federal employees ask us to discuss the TSP more in-depth so that they can stop “emotionally trading” their accounts. 

That is why we created this guide with the most important considerations you need to make when using your TSP as a retirement savings account.

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