Q. I was born in 1967. I’m covered by FERS and want to retire at the age of 55 when I’ll have 34 years of federal service. Will I take a huge hit in my annuity?
A. Because you were born in 1967, your minimum retirement age is 56 years and 6 months. Although you wouldn’t be eligible to retire, you could resign and apply for a deferred annuity when you reach your MRA. However, if you did that, you wouldn’t be eligible to receive the special retirement supplement nor would you be able to re-enroll in either the FEHB or FEGLI programs.
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But if he waited until his MRA then he could do a “postponed retirement” to age 60 and receive an unreduced FERS annuity and FEHB at age 60. Correct?
Yes.
This is something I have been unclear on. I thought you can retire at any age with 30 years of service. At any rate, my husband will be at his MRA with 30 years of service. He would qualify for an immediate full retirement pension and special supplement and access to FERS, correct?
No, you can’t retire at any age with 30 years of service. Here are the age and service combinations a FERS employee needs to retire on an immediate annuity:
62 with 5 years
60 with 20
MRA with 30
MRA with 10, but with a 5 percent annuity reduction for very year the employee is under age 62.
When can I retire from FERS? I was briefed that I could retire at any age as long as I had 30 years of service. this seems to be incorrect. I am currently 36 with 16 years (if I complete my military buy back), I want to retire as soon as possible. I am wondering If I cant retire until 57, does it even make sense to buy back my military time?
thank you.
What you were told is misleading. The only time you could retire at any age would be if 1) your agency was undergoing a major reorganization or reduction in force and your position was identified as one that would be affected and 2) you had at least 25 years of service. If you really want to leave government now, based on your age and years of service you could only resign and apply for a deferred annuity when you reach your minimum retirement age, which as you noted is 57. However, if you did that, your annuity would be reduced by 5 percent for every year that you were under age 62. Further, you wouldn’t be able to re-enroll in either the FEHB or FEGLI programs. As for whether you should make a deposit to get credit for your active duty service, it depends on what it would cost you versus what you would gain in larger annuity payments when you retire.