Q. I am 64 years old with 28 years in the post office, all FERS. I would like to retire in March. How long will it take for my Social Security checks, my Thrift Savings Plan account and my Postal Service pension checks to begin? I would like to continue my current health plan and apply for Medicare ASAP. I would also like to keep my current life insurance plans.
Browsing: Creditable service: FERS
Q. I am a law enforcement employee with the federal Bureau of Prisons. I joined the BOP on Nov. 26, 1995. Prior to that, I served in the Army on active duty for 11 years, with a two-year break in service. First term in the Army was Feb. 8, 1983, to May 2, 1988 – Honorable Discharge. Second term in the Army was April 30, 1990, to Dec. 28, 1995 – Honorable Discharge. I was on terminal leave while I joined the BOP, so for one month I was double dipping, so to speak. Would I be eligible for CSRS,…
Q. I understand one needs five years of creditable government employment to be eligible for annuities under the FERS program. I have about 9½ years of active-duty time. My service computation date is Nov. 28, 2001. I have been a GS employee now only since April 20, 2011. I have completed my “buy-in” to the FERS program for my active-duty time. Must I complete a full five years of GS time to be fully vested?
Q. I am a civilian federal firefighter. I bought back four years and one month of active-duty military time (also as a firefighter) into FERS. I will have 25 years total (four military and 21 civilian) when I am 48 years old. Can I retire at that time since firefighters can retire at 25 years of service at any age, even though only 21 of those years are as a civilian firefighter? My active-duty time was as a firefighter also, USAF 3E751.
Q. I am a FERS retired firefighter and wanted to know if and how the post-retirement earning test applies. At age 55, is my special retirement supplement dependent on how much I am making at that age? If so, once the supplement is lost, can you get it back if earnings drop prior to age 62?
Q. I was offered and took an early FERS retirement. I wasn’t in any special occupational group. I was an IT specialist. Will I receive the 1.5 percent cost-of-living adjustment, or do I have to wait until I’m 62.
Q. I will be 56 on April 27, 2017. My service computation date is Dec. 31, 1986. I was in the Coast Guard from 1982 to 1986 and with the National Park Service since Dec. 31, 1990. Seven years ago, I bought back my four years of service to add to FERS, but when I was hired by the NPS, for three years or so, I was under a temporary not-to-exceed one year appointment that got renewed each year until the Office of Personnel Management declared those appointments no longer valid. We were basically full-time employees with no benefits. So…
Q. I am FERS-covered and will retire this year with 20 years at age 62. My annual FERS annuity is about $25,000. After retirement, I plan to work in a private company in a foreign country for an estimated annual $90,000 salary. I will roll over my Thrift Savings Plan savings to a traditional IRA. I will not withdraw my Social Security until I reach my full retirement age at 66 when I will no longer have any wages. 1. Am I allowed to draw FERS annuity while living in a foreign country? 2. How will my salary from the…
Q. I served on active duty in the Air Force from February 1983 to January 1992. I joined California state government in August 1993 and recently retired after 20 years and paid into Social Security the whole time. I am now considering working as a civilian for the federal government. Because military time, if purchased back, qualifies as CSRS time, does this mean that if I become a federal civilian employee now, that I will be under CSRS instead of FERS? Or because I have never been a federal civilian employee in the past, I must go under FERS and…
Q. I understand that you have to have five years of “actual civilian service” to be vested under FERS. If I was deployed (and therefore placed on LWOP-US), does that stop the clock for vesting? If I have been employed as a GS for five years, but was deployed for a year in the middle, am I or am I not vested?