Q. I am a 52-year-old dual-status military technician with the Army Reserve. I have 32 years of qualifying military service with the Reserve, thus making me eligible to retire and become eligible to draw military retired pay at age 60. I began my FERS service as a military technician Feb. 11, 1985, and have 30 years of qualifying FERS service as of Dec. 8 as a result of buying back my active military service. My question is this? If I voluntarily retire from my military job, does this qualify me for the discontinued service retirement with no penalties? I have…
Monthly Archives: October, 2010
Q. I am currently on FERS disability and also receiving Social Security disability. My spouse works under the Railroad Retirement Board retirement system. My Social Security checks are paid through the RRB. We were told by OPM that for FERS there is no deduction offset on my FERS retirement from the Social Security formula (60 percent times high-3) because payout is through the railroad board. Do you know anything about this and is this correct? A. Unfortunately, while I’m not acquainted with the rules governing the Railroad Retirement Board, I do know that your Social Security checks can’t be coming from…
This is my follow–up question to your answer below on Sept. 28. Q. When I retired five years ago I was then divorced and did not arrange for any spousal survivor benefits. If I elect to marry or remarry, how would my pension be affected? A. If you were to marry, you would have two years to elect a survivor annuity for your new spouse. If you did, there would be two reductions in your annuity. The first would be the standard deduction to provide a survivor annuity, the amount to be determined by whether you elected a full or…