📖 Guides
The documents and rules of government money, decoded in plain language — verifiable facts with official sources, never advice. Each guide ends at the calculator that does the actual math.
Your VA Decision Letter, Decoded — Every Section Explained
A plain-language walkthrough of the standard VA rating decision letter: where your combined rating, effective date, monthly amount, and the evidence list live, what each section legally means, and which numbers to check against the official rate tables.
Updated 2026-07-30
Your SSA Award Letter, Decoded — SSDI Amounts, Back Pay & Dates
What each line of a Social Security disability award letter means: the established onset date, the five-month waiting period, your monthly benefit before deductions, the back-pay computation, and when Medicare eligibility begins — in plain, verifiable language.
Updated 2026-07-30
Your SF-50, Decoded — The Boxes That Decide Your Federal Retirement
The SF-50 Notification of Personnel Action is the document your FERS retirement is built from. A box-by-box tour of the fields that matter for your money: retirement coverage code, service computation date, pay plan and step, and locality — and how to spot errors early.
Updated 2026-07-30
Your SNAP Notice, Decoded — Approvals, Denials & Benefit Amounts
What a state SNAP notice of action actually says: how the allotment on an approval notice was computed, what the certification period and recertification dates mean, what a denial notice is required to tell you, and the fair-hearing right in 7 CFR 273.15.
Updated 2026-07-30
Your TSP Statement, Decoded — Every Line on the Quarterly Statement
A line-by-line reading of the TSP participant statement: which contributions came from you versus your agency, how to spot a shortfall in matching, what the Agency Automatic 1% vesting rule covers, why changing your investment election leaves your existing balance alone, and what the loan lines mean.
Updated 2026-07-30