Is buying back military time a good idea?

0

Q: I am a Federal Employees Retirement System employee who started as a civilian federal employee in 1989 after 5½ years of active-duty military service. I am 49 years old. I am trying to figure out if it would make sense to buy back my military time. Is there a retirement age gap between when it would be a good idea and when it would not be? I am currently a GS-11 and the buy-back amount would be a little under $6,000. I also retired from the Army Reserve back in 2000.

A: I can’t tell you whether you should make a deposit to get credit for your period of active-duty service. What I can tell you is what it would get you. Assuming that you now have 21 years of civilian service, if you made the deposit you’d have 26.5 years of service; when you retire, your annuity would be 5.5 percent higher than it otherwise would be. Note: Making a deposit for that period of military service would have no effect on your reserve retired pay.

Share.

About Author

Reg Jones was head of retirement and insurance policy at the Office of Personnel Management. Email your retirement-related questions to fedexperts@federaltimes.com.

Leave A Reply