The Post’s Stephen Barr is the author of The
, which runs Monday through Friday in the Business news section. Steve has been a reporter and editor at The Post since 1979, including stints as Federal Page editor, congressional editor and a National staff writer covering federal management and workplace issues. He began writing the column in May 2000, and takes the column live to answer your questions Wednesdays at noon ET.
The transcript follows.
Federal Diary Live transcripts
Stephen Barr: Thanks to all joining in this discussion today. We spent part of last week’s hour discussing the Hatch Act and some of you asked about an investigation of Lurita Doan, the GSA administrator. She resigned late yesterday, and a report on her departure has been posted on washingtonpost.com, for those of you interested in that case. With that, we’ll go to the questions and comments.
TSP: Part of my job as a budget analyst is to track the payroll expenses. I’ve noticed that that the lower-graded FERS employees (especially those without college degrees) are not contributing to TSP. I definitely support the automatic deductions of 3 percent — these employees are under the assumption that because they work for the government they will receive a decent retirement annuity.
Additionally, there needs to be more education about the TSP — in the Department of Defense, the HR people at are merely administrative people, and do not have the background to explain the financial aspects of TSP and differences in FERS vs. CSRS retirement. I believe strongly that agencies need to bring in a financial expert (at least once a year), to educate these employees and new employees about TSP, the various investment options, etc. Currently, these people do not understand the consequences of not contributing until they attend a retirement class. I know that as a very highly paid employee, I cannot depend on my FERS pension alone to survive — I need my TSP savings.

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