Q. I am a FERS employee with eight years of federal service. I plan to end my employment next June with nine years of service at the age of 61½ years. I hope to apply for a deferred retirement when I turn 62 in January 2015 and want to make sure I am eligible. I also assume that the computation of my annuity is done using the high-3 pay figure x roughly 9 percent?
A. Any employee who resigns from the government, has at least five years of service and leaves his contributions in the retirement fund, is entitled to a deferred annuity at age 62. As you assumed, that annuity would be computed using the standard formula: .01 x high-3 x years of service.
Note: Deferred annuitants cannot re-enroll in the Federal Employees Health Benefits program. If you have been enrolled in the program for at least five years and want to carry that coverage into retirement, you’d be better off waiting until age 62 and retiring on an immediate annuity.
