Q. For Federal Employees Retirement System employees, does taking the special retirement supplement (SRS) affect the monthly pension amount if I choose to not receive Social Security retirement benefits until age 70?
For example, if I retire at age 60 with 25 years of service, if I receive the two years of SRS, will this affect the calculation on the monthly amount of Social Security retirement benefits to which I am entitled, either if I elect to wait versus beginning my Social Security pension at age 62?
A. Although the special retirement supplement is based on data that comes from the Social Security Administration, the money comes from the Civil Service Retirement and Disability Fund. Therefore, I believe that accepting it will have no affect on the amount of your eventual Social Security benefit. Since the SRS stops at age 62, many retirees choose to begin receiving their Social Security benefit at that time. However, you are free to apply for it at a later date, if you want. Notice that I said believe rather than know. That’s because I can find nothing that says it would have any affect, nor can I find anything that says that it wouldn’t. Readers are invited to weigh in on the matter, preferably with facts rather than opinion.
