PDF handbook · 2027 edition · first printing

The 2027 Federal Employee Benefits Playbook

Pay, FEHB, TSP, and FERS retirement: the decisions, the numbers, and the deadlines for the year ahead

What it is

Every federal benefits decision in one sequence: how your pay is set and what the January raise does to it, how to choose an FEHB plan during Open Season and what changes at 65, how to handle the TSP before and after you retire, and how FERS, Social Security, and the COLA fit together. 27 chapters in five parts, each one the current version of a FedInfo explainer, edited to read as a book and cross-referenced. The 2027 Open Season cheat sheet and a 2027 benefits calendar are included.

Contents

Part 1 · Your pay in 2027

Everything in your federal paycheck traces back to a grade, a step, a locality table, and a handful of rules about how those move. This part explains the tables and the rules, so the January pay raise and the new GS tables mean something specific to you.

  1. The GS pay scale and locality pay, city by city
  2. what grade and step am i how to read your gs salary correctl
  3. gs step increases explained when you get them and what can d
  4. gs promotion pay rules how a grade increase changes your sal
  5. federal employee promotion timeline how long between gs step
  6. How the annual federal pay raise works, and what to expect for 2027

Part 2 · FEHB and Open Season

Health insurance is the biggest benefits decision most federal employees make each year, and 2027 premiums rose 10.9% on average. This part covers how FEHB works, how to choose during Open Season (Nov 9 to Dec 14, 2026), and the Medicare questions that start at 65.

  1. How FEHB works: plan types, premiums, and who pays what
  2. The 2027 Open Season cheat sheet
  3. Choosing an FEHB, FEDVIP, and FSA plan: a method, not a guess
  4. can you keep fehb when you retire the 5 year rule explained
  5. fehb vs medicare at 65 what federal retirees should do
  6. medicare and fehb in retirement do you need both

Part 3 · The Thrift Savings Plan

The TSP is the part of federal retirement you control. These chapters cover what the funds did, how to pick an allocation you can live with, and the rollover and withdrawal decisions that decide how much of it you keep.

  1. TSP fund performance: what the C, S, I, F, and G funds actually did
  2. tsp lifecycle funds explained which l fund is right for your
  3. tsp rollover guide should you move your tsp to an ira after
  4. tsp withdrawal strategies for federal retirees

Part 4 · FERS retirement, Social Security, and the COLA

When you can retire, what the pension pays, how it fits with Social Security, and why a FERS COLA is smaller than everyone else’s. Read this part a few years before you need it.

  1. fers retirement calculator when can you retire and how much
  2. how to calculate your high 3 salary military and federal
  3. social security and fers how your federal pension and ss wor
  4. federal employee special retirement supplement srs calculato
  5. The COLA: why FERS retirees get less (3.6% vs 2.6% for 2027)
  6. military buyback calculator is buying back military time wor
  7. fers survivor benefits explained protecting your spouse afte
  8. top 10 mistakes federal employees make before retirement and

Part 5 · The 2027 calendar and reference

The dates that matter, the calculators that do the math, and the pay tables.

  1. The 2027 federal benefits calendar
  2. Calculators and tools
  3. Appendix: 2027 GS pay tables

Chapters without a custom title are listed by their article slug here; the book uses the full title.

What you get

  • A PDF sized 6 by 9 inches, about 200 pages, readable on a laptop, tablet, or printed.
  • A permanent download link. When OPM publishes the 2027 GS tables in January, the book is re-issued with them and your link downloads the new edition. You get an email when it is ready.
  • Corrections through the 2027 plan year. Reply to the delivery email with anything that does not fit your situation.

Read a chapter first

The Open Season chapter is free on this site: the dates, the 2027 numbers, and the plan check are at fedinfo.org/open-season. The articles the other chapters are built from are in the archive. The book is the same material, edited, ordered, and kept together.

General information for federal employees, annuitants, and service members. Not legal, tax, or financial advice and not affiliated with OPM, the TSP, SSA, or any agency. Payment is handled by Stripe; FedInfo.org never sees your card number. Not satisfied? Reply to the delivery email within 30 days for a refund.