Yes. Capital Financial Planners is an independent financial services firm in Chevy Chase, Maryland that works with current, former, and retired federal employees. The firm was founded in February 2015. Advisors work regularly with FERS pensions, the Thrift Savings Plan, FEHB, FEGLI, survivor benefit elections, and the FERS Special Supplement, and the same team handles the tax planning and tax preparation that sits underneath those decisions.

Capital Financial Planners is an independent financial services firm specializing in helping federal employees build retirement strategies suited to the complexities of leaving federal service. The firm was founded in February 2015 and serves more than 300 households.

The firm partners with LPL Financial, the nation's largest independent broker-dealer, which gives clients access to technology, research, and a wide range of investment options without proprietary product promotion.

A signature offering is RETFED®, a retirement training program built specifically for federal employees.

The team works remotely and client meetings are held over Zoom, so where you live does not limit who you can work with. The firm's office is at 4445 Willard Ave Ste 600, Chevy Chase, MD 20815, and we can be reached at 240-316-3956 or seminars@retfed.com.

No. LPL Financial is the nation's leading independent broker-dealer, and our partnership with them gives us access to technology, research, and a broad range of investment options for clients. An important part of that arrangement is that LPL does not offer proprietary investment products and does not engage in investment banking. Affiliated advisors therefore face no pressure to promote a particular product.

Professionals associated with Capital Financial Planners may be either registered representatives with LPL Financial, offering securities and advisory services, or solely tax professionals. LPL Financial does not offer tax advice or tax preparation services.

Team members hold the following:

• CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ (CFP®)
• Certified Public Accountant (CPA)
• Enrolled Agent (EA)
• Chartered Federal Employee Benefits Consultant (ChFEBC℠)
• Series 7 Registered Representative, held with LPL Financial
• Series 63 Uniform Combined State Law, held with LPL Financial
• Series 65 Investment Adviser Representative, held with LPL Financial
• Life insurance license

Registrations and any disclosure history are public. You can verify them on FINRA BrokerCheck .

A fiduciary has a legal obligation to put the client's interest first, ahead of the firm's and ahead of the advisor's own. We always act as fiduciaries. There is no category of client or account where we operate to a lower standard.

In practice that means recommendations have to be justifiable on the merits for you specifically, not on what pays the firm more. It is also why we will tell you when the answer is to do nothing, or that you do not need us.

At least once a year, and more often when your situation calls for it.

Clients working through a Roth conversion sequence, a retirement date, or a Medicare decision usually need more, and they get more. Our door is always open when our clients have questions.

No. There is no contractual obligation tying clients to the firm. Nothing restricts your ability to manage your investments or to make decisions about your own assets. The money under management is yours, and you keep full access and the freedom to move it as you see fit.

Yes. FERS planning is a core service. We evaluate retirement timing at your MRA, age 60, and age 62, pension elections, survivor benefit options, the FERS Special Supplement and its earnings test, and how each choice changes your retirement income and taxes. The work is delivered as a Retirement Roadmap analysis that projects income across your pension, TSP, and Social Security together rather than one decision at a time.

Yes. We compare candidate retirement dates side by side and show what changes at each one: your FERS pension multiplier, eligibility for the FERS Special Supplement, FEHB continuation, credit for unused sick and annual leave, and total projected retirement income. The point is to see the trade-offs before you submit paperwork, because several federal retirement elections are permanent once made.

Related: Is my lump-sum annual leave payout taxed differently, and does my retirement date change it? 

The survivor election is one of the few federal retirement decisions that is close to permanent, so it is worth modeling before you file rather than after. Under FERS you can elect a full survivor annuity of 50 percent of your unreduced basic annuity, a partial benefit of 25 percent, or none at all. Your own annuity is reduced by 10 percent or 5 percent respectively.

The part people miss is that the election also controls whether your spouse can keep FEHB coverage after your death. A survivor annuity of any amount preserves that eligibility. Electing none ends it.

After you retire the windows are narrow. You can cancel or reduce the election within 30 days of your first regular annuity payment. You can elect or increase a survivor annuity up to 18 months after retirement, with a one-time deposit plus interest. After 18 months it is irrevocable. Marrying after retirement opens a separate two-year window from the date of the marriage, with an additional permanent actuarial reduction on top.

We model the survivor election against life insurance and portfolio income so the trade-off is visible before the paperwork goes in.

Basic coverage can continue into retirement if you were enrolled for the five years immediately before you retire, or for the full period you were eligible. At retirement you choose how Basic reduces. Under the 75 percent reduction, coverage drops 2 percent a month starting at age 65 until it reaches 25 percent of the original amount, and the premium stops. Under the 50 percent reduction it drops 1 percent a month to half the original amount. Under no reduction the full amount stays in force.

Cost is where retirees get caught out. With the 75 percent reduction, Basic becomes free at 65. With the 50 percent or no reduction elections you pay an additional premium for that extra coverage for life. Once you elect 50 percent or no reduction you can only ever change to the 75 percent reduction, never back the other way. Accidental death and dismemberment coverage ends at retirement regardless of what you elect.

The honest question for most retirees is whether the coverage is still buying something the portfolio and the survivor annuity do not already cover. That analysis runs alongside the survivor benefit decision, not separately from it.

No. The earnings test uses the Social Security definition of earnings, which is wages for services you performed during the year plus net earnings from self-employment. Your FERS annuity, TSP withdrawals, IRA distributions, Roth conversions, interest, dividends, capital gains, and rental income are not earnings for this test.

What does count is work. Salary or self-employment income from a post-retirement job reduces the supplement once it passes the annual exempt amount, and OPM applies the reduction the following year based on the earnings report you file.

This matters more than it sounds. The years between retirement and age 62, when the supplement ends, are usually the best Roth conversion years a federal retiree will ever have, and a conversion costs you none of the supplement. It does raise the income Medicare looks at two years later, so the conversion gets sized against IRMAA rather than against the supplement.

Yes. Email office@retfed.com with "OGE 450 Form Request" in the subject line. Our staff will review your accounts and send you a list of the investments, if any, that you need to disclose on the form.

Yes. A pension estimate is part of the Retirement Roadmap analysis. The calculation uses your high-3 average salary, creditable service including unused sick leave, and the applicable FERS multiplier, then applies survivor benefit and FEHB premium reductions so you see the net annuity rather than the gross figure. Your official annuity is computed by OPM. Our estimate is a planning projection used to compare retirement dates.

Related: Will a Roth conversion raise my Medicare premiums, and can I appeal it? 

Yes. We provide a cost analysis of whether to enroll in Medicare Part B alongside your FEHB plan. That includes projected IRMAA surcharges, how future required minimum distributions may raise your premiums, how specific FEHB plans coordinate with Medicare Parts A and B, and the trade-offs of FEHB Medicare Advantage options. Enrollment itself runs through OPM and Medicare. Our role is the financial and tax analysis behind the decision.

Related: Will a Roth conversion raise my Medicare premiums, and can I appeal it? 

Yes. Former federal employees are one of our three main client groups, alongside employees approaching retirement and current federal retirees. This includes people who separated before retirement eligibility, those taking a deferred or postponed retirement, and those who left federal service and returned to work in the private sector. Common issues are TSP decisions after separation, FEHB eligibility, pension timing, and the tax effect of earned income arriving alongside retirement income.

Related: I left federal service mid-year through a RIF, VERA, or deferred resignation. How do I handle taxes for the rest of the year? 

Yes. This is one of the most common decisions we analyze. We compare the TSP's low administrative costs against the wider investment choice and withdrawal flexibility of an IRA, and we account for two TSP-specific constraints: the TSP does not allow fund-specific withdrawals, and Qualified Charitable Distributions cannot be made directly from a TSP account. The right answer depends on your withdrawal plan, tax picture, and charitable intent, so it is decided case by case rather than by a general rule.

Related: What is a QCD, and what are the rules?  
Related: At what age can I take money out of the TSP without an early withdrawal penalty? 

If you separate from federal service during or after the calendar year you turn 55, TSP withdrawals are not subject to the 10 percent additional tax on early distributions. This is the separation from service exception, and it keys off the year you separate, not the year you withdraw.

Public safety employees get a better version. Federal law enforcement officers, Customs and Border Protection officers, federal firefighters, and air traffic controllers qualify if they separate during or after the year they turn 50, or with at least 25 years of service in a TSP-eligible position, whichever comes first.

The trap is the rollover. These exceptions belong to the TSP, not to you. Roll the balance to an IRA before age 59 and a half and you give them up, because the IRA rule is 59 and a half with a narrower set of exceptions. For anyone retiring in their fifties, that one fact often decides whether the TSP stays where it is for a few more years.

It depends on how you plan to pay the tax, and that is the deciding factor more often than not. The TSP began offering Roth in-plan conversions in January 2026. The plan will not withhold taxes from the conversion, so the tax has to come from outside money such as a savings or brokerage account. An IRA conversion can withhold, though withholding from a conversion is usually the worse choice anyway, because the withheld amount is itself a taxable distribution and, before age 59 and a half, a penalized one.

Converting inside the TSP keeps the plan's low administrative costs and preserves the separation from service exception on the balance that stays there. Converting in an IRA gives you control over which holdings get converted, access to Qualified Charitable Distributions later, and a wider set of investment choices.

There is no general answer. It turns on your outside cash, your bracket, your IRMAA position, and whether charitable giving is part of the plan. That is the analysis we run before either one happens.

Custody. Client assets are held by a third-party custodian, LPL Financial. They are not accessible to Capital Financial Planners employees. Client checks are made payable to LPL Financial, never to us.

Insurance. Accounts are protected by the Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC) in the event of LPL Financial's failure, up to $500,000 per account with a maximum of $250,000 in cash. SIPC coverage does not protect against market losses. Details are at sipc.org.

How money can move.

• ACH transfer
• Check payable to you
• Journal transfer
• Wire transfer

We begin by building a customized Investment Policy Statement with you that documents your goals and risk tolerance. Once we’ve agreed upon an appropriate asset mix for you, we’ll rebalance the account quarterly to ensure it remains in line with your goals. If we believe a more aggressive or conservative stance is warranted, we’ll run it by you before making any changes.

• Less paperwork. Fewer accounts to track.
• Fewer errors. Reduced chance of oversights.
• Simpler tax preparation.
• Easier cash-flow management.
• Review titling and beneficiaries.
• Simpler estate administration.

Yes, and tax preparation as well. Tax planning covers Roth conversion timing, managing future required minimum distributions, IRMAA thresholds, withholding on pension and TSP income, and how your state treats federal retirement income.

A small part of it, and only for a limited number of years. The IRS Simplified Method determines the amount.

OPM withholds on your annuity based on form W-4P. Be sure to include any additional income that you may have, including investment income, when filling out the form. It’s common for retirees to have under-withholding because they fail to include all of their income on the W-4P.

Federal tax does not change. State tax can change a great deal. Your annuity and TSP withdrawals are generally taxed by the state where you are a resident when you receive them.

It is taxed as wages in the year you receive it. Your retirement date can affect the year in which the payment is received.

This is usually one of the more complicated tax years for a federal employee because salary, severance, withholding, and retirement income can all overlap. To ensure you pay the correct amount of tax during a transition year, a comprehensive tax analysis is necessary. Add the income and withholding for the first part of the year to your projected post-retirement income to see what your post-retirement withholding should be.

Yes, and you cannot combine them. TSP required minimum distributions must come from the TSP, while IRA RMDs have different aggregation rules.

Yes. Roth conversion planning is a central part of our tax work, particularly for retirees with large pre-tax TSP balances.

It can. IRMAA is based on modified adjusted gross income from two years earlier.

• Mid-January: Form 1099-R
• February: Brokerage 1099s
• Late February–March: Final and corrected forms
• Later: Form 5498

Report the nondeductible contribution on Form 8606 with your return and provide the relevant Form 1099-R.

You will receive a Form 1099-R for the conversion. The full distribution and withholding need to be reported correctly.

The IRS charges interest on the amount underpaid for the period it was outstanding.

• Prior-year safe harbor. Based on the previous year's tax.
• Current-year safe harbor. Based on what you expect to owe this year.

NIIT is an additional 3.8 percent tax on certain net investment income once modified adjusted gross income passes the applicable threshold.

Form 8949 is generally used to report individual capital gains and losses. The totals are carried to Schedule D.

A Qualified Charitable Distribution is a direct transfer from an IRA to a qualifying charity.

The initial Retirement Readiness meeting has no minimum and no cost.

Ongoing investment management has a stated account minimum of $500,000.

Our flat-fee planning engagement is priced separately and does not require an investment account minimum.

• Retirement Readiness meeting: No cost.
• Coordinated Planning Strategy: $900 to $1,500.
• Tax return preparation: Generally $600 to $1,500.

Schedule online at capitalfinancialplanners.com/register .

Meetings are held over Zoom.

You can also call 240-316-3956 or email seminars@retfed.com.

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