Q. What formula is used to calculate the annual increase to a CSRS pension?
Browsing: COLA
Q. I retired from the Air National Guard with 20 years (16 FERS and four active-duty buyback). Under MRA+10, can I apply for my annuity at my minimum retirement age (56 years, four months)? I read that I will be penalized 5 percent for every year I am under 62. Doing the math, it appears that it would take roughly 18 years to make up the difference in retirement pay if I waited until age 62. In other words, am I better off taking a 25 percent penalty at 57 rather than drawing at 60 or 62?
Q. I am 58 and have 23 years of service with the IRS. Two items I have yet to see specifically addressed on the special retirement supplement are: Will my FERS retirement benefits be reduced or lower in any way if I draw the SRS? Also, the amount of the SRS is fixed on the day it is first calculated and isn’t increased by cost-of-living adjustments. Is the non-SRS portion of a FERS employee’s retirement pay still subject to cost-of-living adjustments when the employee is drawing the SRS?
Q. I am 47 years old with 25 years and one month of service under FERS. If I accept Voluntary Early Retirement Authority, my understanding is that my monthly annuity will not be eligible for cost-of-living adjustments. Is that correct? Also, once I reach 56 years and four months of age, the special retirement supplement would then be added until I’m age 62. Is that correct? After age 56 years and four months, would COLAs then be applied to the annuity? Finally, if I’m working in the private sector earning a salary above the current $14,000 Social Security limit for…
Q. A little over three years ago, I retired under FERS. I was a widower at the time, so no survivor benefit was being withheld from my pay. I now intend to remarry a French citizen and will reside here in the states for a time, then move to France. I would like her covered by my Federal Employees Health Benefits, at least while we are in the U.S. Can I sign up now for a full survivor benefit for her? How much will it cost me? I read somewhere that it costs 10 percent of my current annuity plus…
Q. I am on disability retirement from the Federal Bureau of Prisons. I have 13 years of service and fall in the MRA bracket born in 1953-1964. When will my annuity be recalculated? Will my annuity be more than what I am receiving on disability?
Q. I will be retiring at the end of this year with 37 years and 10 months of service. I am a CSRS employee who will be 57 years old in September. My annual annuity would be $81,958 a year. I will have a little over $200,000 in my Thrift Savings Plan account. Is it smartest to take the spousal annuity or take out a life insurance policy on myself to sustain my wife once I pass away? My annual annuity will be reduced by around $7,900 a year if I choose the spousal annuity. Which would be the wisest?
Q. In 2015, I will reach my minimum retirement age (56) with 26+ years of creditable FERS service. If a VERA is offered any time that I’m 56 to 60 (when I will have reached full age and time requirements) would I get the special retirement supplement until age 62? If yes, then from 56-62, I would get: FERS immediate annuity (no penalty under a VERA) Thrift Savings Plan annuity (no penalty under a VERA) special retirement supplement (under a VERA). Also during these years there is really no cost-of-living adjustment for any of the above, correct? Also, under a…
Q. I am an FERS GS with four years until I get my 20 under 6(c) law enforcement officer and a year and half after that until mandatory retirement. I have been offered a 6(c) job overseas — how is the high-3 calculated? Is it on the base level GS schedule (plus LEAP) I actually earn, or is it based on a modified amount of what I would have earned in DC — which is how the overseas postings on Foreign Service retirement seems to work? I am pretty sure all the COLA, post allowances and danger pays don’t calculate…
Q. I retired under CSRS nine years ago and took the survivor annuity. Each year, my Notice of Annuity statement identifies the monthly survivor annuity amount payable to my wife upon my death. My wife and I are both in good health. My only child is 34, has been identified by Social Security Administration as disabled (cerebral palsy) and receives SSDI and Medicare (based on his work history before he became completely disabled). He receives about $1,000 per month. CSRS Brochure Retirement Facts 5 (October 1997) states that each child with no surviving parent receives $404 per month with COLA…