Q. I am under the FERS retirement plan. In four years, I will be 57 with 30 years. Will I be penalized in any way? Also, will I be able to tap into my Thrift Savings Plan? A. Reg Jones says: Because you will be retiring at your minimum retirement age with at least 30 years of service, you’ll receive a full, unreduced annuity. Mike Miles says: You’ll have access to your TSP account after retire without penalty.
Q. Can I retire from the Veterans Affairs hospital under FERS at age 55 with 25 years of service and withdraw my Thrift Savings Plan in lump sum? Or do I have to wait until my minimum retirement age? Can I leave at 55 and defer my retirement until I reach my MRA at 56? A. Reg Jones says: You can’t retire until you reach your MRA, which is 56. If you retired then, your annuity would be reduced by 5 percent for every year you were under age 60 (5/12 of a percentage point per year). You could delay…
Q. I’m debating whether buying back my military time is worth the cost with the changes to the current FERS program. I have three years as a federal employee. I will complete the deposit on May 1, which will give me 23 years toward my retirement. However, I am unsure if I will fall under the current 0.8 percent FERS contribution program or the new 2.3 percent contribution program recently approved. I made my decision to buy back my time base on the old retirement system. Now I think I may have wasted my money. Can you provide some insight…
Q. I am a FERS employee. My minimum retirement age is 56, at which time I would have 27 years of service. I am considering retiring on a possible Voluntary Early Retirement Authority offer at age 55, with 26 years of service. I have done a little research on the Social Security supplement for FERS employees, which is paid until you reach age 62. Under a VERA, would I be eligible for this supplement at age 55, or at my MRA of 56? If at 56, could I still retire at age 55 under a VERA, and postpone the supplement…
Q. My husband is retired civil service employee and veteran. He draws a pension/annuity paycheck each month. Once he passes away, will this be lost, or will I receive it? We have been married since 1989, and I believe he retired in 1995. Also, I am currently covered by his medical insurance. Will I still be covered under this Federal Employees Health Benefits plan once he passes? A. Your husband was required by law to provide a full survivor benefit for you, unless you agreed in writing to a lesser amount or none at all. Assuming that he elected the full survivor…
Q. I am a 60-year-old CSRS career employee of the Postal Service with a planned retirement date of Sept. 1, at which time I will have 31 years and two months creditable service including unused sick leave. Would there be any advantage to retiring Sept. 3, which is a paid holiday? A. If you retired on Sept. 3 instead of the Sept. 1, you’d receive one more day’s pay and have your first month’s annuity reduced by 1/30th. The fact that Sept. 3 is a paid holiday doesn’t affect things one way or the other.
Q. My husband worked for a company and retired after 31 years and was able to keep his group health plan coverage, too. He then began working for the post office and enrolled in the Federal Employees Health Benefits Blue Cross Blue Shield (105) health plan. He has now retired (FERS) from the post office with 18 years of service. We both have enrolled in Medicare Part A and B. The first employer required that we be enrolled in Medicare Part B to keep its group health plan coverage. We also kept his FEHB plan when he retired. When he worked…
Q. I retired from the Postal Service in August 2010. Do I need to keep all the paperwork, such as Forms 50, etc., from my 26 years of employment? I am assuming the Office of Personnel Management has all the records. A. Your employment files would have gone to the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis. However, if you are a belt-and-suspenders guy like me, you’ll hold on to that paperwork. More than once, I’ve needed to pull something out of my Official Personnel Folder and would have hated to go through the time and trouble of asking the NPRC…
Q. What is the limit of unused sick leave that can be accredited toward a CSRS employee’s annuity? It is widely agreed at 2087. However, I can’t find any documentation. If I have over 3,000 hours, what happens to the rest? Does it boost survivor benefits if the annuitant passes away? A. What is “widely agreed” is pure nonsense. There is no limit to the amount of sick leave that can be credited to a CSRS retiree’s account. The mistake in thinking that 2,087 is the maximum number is simply a byproduct of the fact that most sick leave conversion charts stop…
Q. I’m medically retired from the Air Force with more than 10 years on active duty. I was retired on disability, not on longevity. I have over 24 years in civil service. I’d like to be able to use those years to add to my service years. I’ve been told I can, but if I did I’d have to waive my disability retirement when I retire from civil service, which I would not like to do as it’s all tax-free. I entered service before 1978. So, can I use the years and still keep my disability retirement pay? A. What…