Q. I am accredited with 41 years, 11 months of civil service and am eligible to retire. The time includes two years, six months, and 13 days of military service, which I did not buy back. I was told it didn’t matter that the difference between buying your military time and not buying it is that you would only have more money on the retirement fund but that the time would still be counted toward retirement. Is this correct?
Also, I want to know what day I need to make my effective date of retirement so that I will receive my annuity checks in the middle of the month? I plan on retiring effective Dec. 15, which is the last day of the 26th pay period for this year.
A. If you will have 41 years and 11 months of creditable service when you retire, your annuity will be 80 percent of your high-3. If you make a deposit for your active-duty service, the money would be refunded to you with the option of purchasing additional annuity that isn’t subject to the 80 percent limit.
There is no date by which you could retire and receive your annuity payment in the middle of the month. All annuities accrue for the preceding full month and are paid on the first day of the following month. So, if you retire Dec. 15, you’d be on the annuity roll in January, with your first annuity payment arriving Feb. 1.
