Q. I remember reading somewhere that the best date for a CSRS Offset to retire is Jan. 10, 2013 because you can have a big lump sum of the annual leave. When is the first annuity check, then?
A. The 2012 leave year ends Jan. 12, 2013. While retiring on that date would mean that your lump-sum payment for unused annual leave would be paid at the 2013 rate, you wouldn’t be on the annuity roll until February. You have to decide whether the potential increase in you lump-sum payment would be worth the loss of a month’s annuity. I wrote potential because it remains to be seen if there will be any pay increase in 2013.
