🧭 Topics
Each topic is a complete guide to one subject — the rules, the arithmetic, and the vocabulary — with every calculator, document walkthrough, and defined term for that subject collected in one place. Verifiable facts with official sources, never advice, and every page ends by deferring to the agency that actually decides.
Federal Employee Retirement: The Complete Money Guide
Federal retirement income is assembled from three separate systems: the FERS basic annuity, the Thrift Savings Plan, and Social Security. This pillar explains how each is computed — high-3 average salary, creditable service, the 1% and 1.1% multipliers, agency TSP money, the annuity supplement, sick-leave credit, and military service deposits.
8 calculators · 10 sections · updated 2026-07-30
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VA Disability Compensation: How the Money Works
VA disability compensation is a monthly, tax-free payment read off a published rate table using two facts: your combined rating and your dependents. This pillar explains how percentages are assigned, how they combine under 38 CFR 4.25 with the bilateral factor and final rounding, and how effective dates produce retroactive pay.
8 calculators · 10 sections · updated 2026-07-30
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Social Security Disability (SSDI): Amounts, Timing & Rules
SSDI pays a monthly benefit computed from your own earnings record rather than from household need. This pillar explains how indexed earnings become an AIME, how the bend-point formula turns an AIME into a PIA, why entitlement begins five months after onset, how far retroactive benefits reach, and how SSI differs.
4 calculators · 10 sections · updated 2026-07-30
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Military Pay & Benefits: Every Component Explained
Military compensation is assembled from separate components, each with its own table and its own rules. This pillar explains basic pay by grade and years of service, BAH by Military Housing Area, drill pay arithmetic for Guard and Reserve members, the Post-9/11 GI Bill tiers, and the four military retirement plans.
5 calculators · 10 sections · updated 2026-07-30
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