High-3

0

Q. I am a CSRS employee planning to retire in 2015. I’ll retire in May or September, depending on when a full year at my highest step will be included in my high-3.  September 2015 is the month of my 56th birthday, as well as the anniversary of my 38th year of federal service. I’ll receive my final within-grade increase in May 2014, after having been three years at the previous step. As far as high-3 is concerned, will one full year at the highest step be included in the high-3 on the anniversary of the WIGI in May, or on the anniversary of my entry on duty with the federal government?

A. I can’t say it often enough. If you are paid biweekly, your high-3 is a product of the average of your 78 highest consecutive pay periods of basic pay, regardless of when they occur in your career.

Q. FERS employee. Will turn 66 in May. Have 22 years and plan on retiring May 31. Any advantage to delaying retirement?

A. Only the usual one. The longer you work, the greater your annuity will be. Because of your age and length of service, each additional year would increase it by 1.1 percent.

800×600

Normal
0

false
false
false

EN-US
X-NONE
X-NONE

MicrosoftInternetExplorer4

/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:”Table Normal”;
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-priority:99;
mso-style-parent:””;
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:”Times New Roman”,”serif”;}

Normal
0

false
false
false

EN-US
X-NONE
X-NONE

MicrosoftInternetExplorer4

/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:”Table Normal”;
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-priority:99;
mso-style-parent:””;
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:”Times New Roman”,”serif”;}

Share.

About Author

Reg Jones was head of retirement and insurance policy at the Office of Personnel Management. Email your retirement-related questions to fedexperts@federaltimes.com.

Leave A Reply