Browsing: COLA

Q. I’m a FERS employee who is getting ready to retire. I plan to elect a full survivor benefit annuity for my wife. Will it be increased by COLAs or change with age? A. If you elect a full survivor benefit, your basic annuity will be permanently reduced by 10 percent. If you die, your widow will receive a survivor annuity that equals 50 percent of your unreduced annuity; in other words, the annuity you would have received before you made the survivor election. That survivor annuity will be increased by any cost-of-living adjustments that were made to retiree annuities following your…

Q. I was 56 years old with 33 years total government service and retired regular FERS then applied for Social Security Disability Insurance and was approved with back pay after the first 6 months of my retirement date. I only got $685 of my special retirement supplement because several of those years was active duty, which I repaid within the first 36 months of my career at the U.S. Postal Service. Now I am wondering what will happen to my annuity when I turn 62 and my SRS is eliminated. A. At age 62, your special retirement supplement will end;…

Q. I’m a FERS employee. I understand that when I retire I will have two survivor annuity options, either 50 percent or 25 percent of my full annuity. What does “full annuity” mean? Does it mean that my wife will get 50 percent of what my annuity would be before the 10 percent reduction to pay for it, or will she get 50 percent after the 10 percent is taken out to pay for the full survivor annuity? A. If you die, she would get 50 percent of what your annuity would have been if your annuity hadn’t been reduced…

Q. I am on disability retirement and disability Social Security. I will be 62 next year. How much will my retirement be? A. When you reach age 62, your FERS disability benefit will be recomputed as if you had worked to age 62. Therefore, your actual service will be added to the time you spent on disability. The total time will be multiplied by 1.0 percent (1.1 percent if your combined actual service and time on disability add up to 20 at least 20 years.) That figure will then be multiplied by your high-3 salary on the day you were…

Q. I resigned at 56 under FERS after 16 years. I plan on deferring annuity until full benefit at 62. Am I correct that if I take benefit between 57 and 61, I am not entitled to COLA? A. Yes. With the exception of law enforcement officers, firefighters and air traffic controllers, the annuities of FERS retirees are not increased by COLAs until age 62.

Q. What happens if your area’s locality rate increases and you are retired? Will you benefit from the new locality rate as long as you are receiving it from the same area? For example, Norfolk is supposed to have a locality rate change. I retired in 2016. If the locality rate changes, will I receive more retirement?

Q. What is the reasoning behind why FERS retirees don’t receive a COLA increase until age 62 and CSRS retirees receive it proportionately in the year after they retire?

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