Q: I am 65 years old and will have 30 years with the federal government as of January 2012. I previously worked for 15 years in the private sector and am covered by Social Security. I will be 66 in January 2011 and have been told that I can draw my full Social Security benefit while I am still working. Is this true? Besides taxes, is there a downside to drawing your Social Security while you are still working? A: There is no limit to the amount you may earn after you reach your full retirement age. The only downside…
Browsing: RETIREMENT
Q: I will have been in federal law enforcement for 25 years as of April 2011. I will be 46 years old at that point. In my first 15 years of service, I was in a covered law enforcement position. The next two years, I was in a law enforcement position that was not covered. In last seven years, I again have been in a covered position. Will I be eligible to retire in 2011 at the age of 46, or do I have to add the two years I was in the uncovered position onto the 25 years? A:…
Q: I am covered by the Federal Employees Retirement System’s law enforcement retirement plan. I have 11 years in as a law enforcement officer plus three years of federal service as a non-LEO. I am 48 and am considering retirement to go back to school. I may return to federal service at some point, but not as an LEO. I would be retiring without having 20 years of service or reaching my mandatory retirement age of 57. I know there are benefits to retiring as opposed to resigning (especially as an LEO), but what are the major pension pros and…
Q: When talking about “Catch-62,” you have written: “[If a Civil Service Retirement System employee] was eligible for a Social Security benefit either at age 62 or at retirement, if it was after reaching age 62, those years of service would be deducted and his annuity recomputed downward.” What is the situation for CSRS employees after age 62 if they qualify for Social Security with work after retirement? A: There’s no problem at all. For those who are coming upon this subject for the first time, I’d better explain what we’re talking about: Anyone who served in the military after…
Q: Can a surviving spouse receive more than one survivor annuity? For example, if a man receives a survivor annuity from his deceased wife, who was a federal employee, then marries another government employee after he turns 55, could he possibly collect a second survivor annuity? A: Generally, a surviving spouse can receive more than one survivor annuity based on the service of more that one employee. However, that can’t happen if the marriage occurred after the employee retired, or if the survivor annuity was reinstated after the surviving spouse remarried before age 55. In either of the latter cases,…
Q: I am a Federal Employees Retirement System employee with the U.S. Postal Service. I have been with the USPS for 26 years and want to retire now at age 58 (Minimum Retirement Age +10). I know that my annuity would be reduced by 5 percent per year for each year under 62 (20 percent overall) if I collect it now. I know if I delayed retirement until age 60, I’d get an unreduced annuity. But if I delayed my annuity until age 60 (while still retiring at age 58), would I get a full annuity, or would it be…
Q: I have been working at the U.S. Postal Service for 26 years. I am 58 years old, and I will retire very shortly. I know that I cannot collect the special retirement supplement under these conditions, but will I start to receive the supplement when I turn 60? Or does retiring under the Minimum Retirement Age +10 provision require me to forfeit the SRS totally? A: No one who retires under the MRA+10 provision is eligible to receive the special retirement supplement. That’s the law.
Q: I work for the Federal Bureau of Prisons. In November, I will have 20 years’ service in law enforcement and will be 49 years old. If I decide to retire right there and then, do I have to wait an extra year to collect benefits? Can I retire at age 49 with 20 years of law enforcement plus 4 years of active-duty military service? A: No, you can’t retire on an immediate annuity at age 49. You’ll have to wait until age 50 to retire under the special provision for law enforcement officers. You could, of course, resign from…
Q: I am a Reserve JAG in the Air Force and work for the Patent Office as an attorney. I received an e-mail from a guy I met on a cruise last month who is working for the federal government in Iraq. He can’t seem to to buy in for his retirement because his DD 214 indicates that he may get a disability retirement under TDRL. However, he didn’t, and now he has no retirement and can’t get credit for his service. That is wrong. Apparently his agency thinks that only the DD-214 is authorized to state whether he is…
Q: I need clarification of a fine point about calculating the amount of a service credit deposit for a four-month period of temporary service back in 1979 when no retirement deductions were withheld. I know that I would have to pay 1.3 percent of basic pay plus interest. My question relates to the definition of “basic pay.” Would basic pay be the pay I earned during the four months I was a temporary employee ($2,300), or would it be the annual pay rate for a person working at my grade in 1979 ($8,366)? A: The deposit would be 1.3 percent…