F OCUS - American Foreign Service Association

PRESIDENT’S VIEWS
Thinking About Tomorrow
BY JOHN K. NALAND
Before the current economic
crisis, few active-duty Foreign
Service members probably devoted
much thought to retirement
planning. After all, given
the demands of work, family
and daily life, who has time to
plan for a retirement that is years or
even decades away? The answer to that
question can be found in the depressing
Thrift Savings Plan balance statements
mailed out earlier this year. All
employees had better give retirement
some advance thought if they wish to be
well positioned to enjoy life after the
Foreign Service.
The need for long-range thinking regarding
retirement also applies to
AFSA. While AFSA cannot make the
stock market go up, we are very actively
engaged in numerous advocacy efforts
with great impact on current and future
Foreign Service retirees.
For example, AFSA’s efforts to close
the overseas pay gap for current employees
are partly intended to ameliorate
the long-term financial damage that
the pay gap inflicts on the ability of Foreign
Service families to build up retirement
savings and buy a home in which
to retire. In addition, in the coming
years AFSA will need to watch out for
possible congressional revision of federal
retirement plans and be prepared
John K. Naland is the president of the
American Foreign Service Association.
to act to make sure the Foreign
Service’s well-earned benefits
are not targeted.
As always, AFSA is also engaged
in a variety of member
service activities to assist current
retirees. For example,
Retiree Affairs Coordinator Bonnie
Brown provides one-on-one counseling
and advice to individual retirees to sort
out bureaucratic glitches with distant
government offices. We produce written
guidance on retiree issues in our
Retiree Newsletter and in columns in
the Foreign Service Journal. And we
meet when needed with the State Department’s
retirement office to discuss
customer service concerns.
These vital activities are made possible
by the financial support of our
members — active-duty and retired —
whose dues enable us to continue to
fight for our members’ long-term financial
interests. For that reason, AFSA
not only depends on new employees to
join as members, but needs current
members to maintain their AFSA
membership after retirement, switching
their payments from payroll deductions
to annuity deductions.
Unfortunately, AFSA is typically
more successful at convincing activeduty
employees to join and stay than in
getting new and current retirees to continue
their memberships. That is too
bad. Even retirees who resettle far beyond
the Beltway still need an advocate
on Capitol Hill to safeguard their benefits.
And even retirees who fill out their
retirement paperwork correctly could
suffer from glitches with their annuities
years into their retirement.
If you know Foreign Service retirees
who are not currently AFSA members,
urge them to join you in supporting
AFSA. After all, they are benefiting
from our advocacy of issues affecting
them — but are not contributing to the
operating budget that funds that advocacy.
To join as a retired member,
go to www.afsa.org/mbr/retired.cfm or
phone (202) 338-4045.
While retirees certainly need
AFSA, it is also true that AFSA needs
retirees. Retirees tend to donate generously
to AFSA’s Scholarship Fund,
Fund for American Diplomacy and
other annual fundraising drives. Many
retirees across the country write to
local newspapers, contact their federal
lawmakers, or speak to civic groups
to explain the value of funding for
diplomacy and development assistance.
Numerous Washington, D.C.-based
retirees serve on AFSA’s Governing
Board or on other AFSA committees.
In conclusion, I salute the members
of the nine Foreign Service retiree
groups across the nation with whom I
have visited over the past two years. I
also thank the many others with whom
I have had e-mail contact, and wish
you all a wonderful retirement. ■
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