Q.I read that Aug. 1 is a best date to retire. Why not July 31? That is for those who work a 4-5-9 schedule (i.e., Aug. 1 is a non-work flex Friday).
A. As a CSRS employee, your only requirement is that you retire no later than the third day of a given month. Whoever wrote that Friday, August 1 was the best day to retire was probably accepting the fact that most employees complete their workweek on a Friday. By leaving at the close of business on that day, they’d receive a full week’s pay. Since you are on a flex schedule, nothing would prevent you from retiring at the end of your last work day. By doing so, you’d be on the annuity roll on Aug. 1, instead of Aug. 2. FYI. Since you’d be leaving in the middle of a pay period, you wouldn’t get any credit for annual or sick leave you would have earned if you had retired at the end of a pay period.
