Q. I have been offered an opportunity in FERS. I retired from the Navy Reserve in 2009 with 25 years of creditable service. I will not be drawing this pension until age 58 (credit for post-9/11 active-duty lowers from 60). How would making a deposit for military service work? Like active-duty retirees, would I then waive my reserve retirement? Would the decision simply be a calculation to see which retirement would yield the biggest pension? I retired as an O-5 and would be entering FERS at grade 13. I am 49 years old and would work until at least 62.…
Browsing: 5 percent-per-year penalty
Q. I am a FERS employee, and I’m considering a June 1, 2013, retirement date. I will be 57 years old and have 29 years of service on that date. I understand that I would take a 5 percent reduction on my FERS pension for each year under age 62. Will I be eligible for the special retirement supplement? Can I take monthly withdrawals for my Thrift Savings Plan account without being liable for the early withdrawal penalty? A. Reg: No one who retires under the MRA+10 provision is eligible to receive the special retirement supplement. Mike: If you retire…
Q. I am 58 years old, under FERS, and in November, I will have 25 years of service. Am I eligible to retire? A. Yes, you can retire under the MRA+10 provision; however, your annuity would be reduced by 5 percent for every year you are under age 62. You could, of course, reduce of eliminate that penalty by retiring and postponing the receipt of your annuity to a later date. If you don’t want to retire under the MRA+10 provision (and your agency doesn’t offer you an opportunity to retire early), you’ll have to stick around to age 60.…
Q. I am 53 years old with 24 years of FERS service and considering either a deferred or postponed retirement option in the next year or two. How does the newly enacted benefit for FERS employees to get service longevity credit for unused accumulated sick leave operate under the postponed or deferred retirement scenarios? I know you get 50 percent credit for longevity purposes for all unused accumulated sick leave for retirements between now and Dec. 31, 2013, and full day-for-day credit for unused accumulated sick leave for longevity credit for retirements on and after Jan. 1, 2014 in the…
Q. If you buy back your military time, does the time count toward a 20-year retirement, or is the time only used in figuring your annuity? A. If you make a deposit to get credit for your active-duty service, it will be used in determining your length of service and in your annuity computation. Whether it will result in your being able to retire when you have 20 years of service will depend on your age. Only those who have 20 years of service when they reach age 60 can retire on an immediate unreduced annuity. However, although those who reach their…
Q. I have 11 years total service (eight years military buyback and three years federal civilian employment) and I am 49 years old. If I leave federal employment at age 51 (with a total of 13 years service, five as a civilian employee), can I apply for deferred MRA+10 retirement and receive my pension and health care benefits when I turn 62? Or do I need to be my minimum retirement age (57 years old) when I leave federal employment? A. To retire under the MRA+10 provision, you’d have to be 57, your minimum retirement age. To avoid the 5…
Q. I am 59 with 23 years’ service under FERS. If I retire now, will I receive the special retirement supplement of 50 percent of expected SSI until 62? A. If you retire now, you won’t be eligible for the special retirement supplement and you’ll be subject to the 5 percent per year penalty for being younger than 62 because you’d be retiring under the MRA+10 provision (minimum retirement age with between 10 and 29 years of service). If you want to avoid the age penalty and receive the SRS, wait until you reach age 60 to retire.
Q. I’m planning to retire under the FERS MRA+10 provisions at age 59, with 27 years of continuous federal service. I have the option to take an immediate annuity or to postpone receipt of my annuity until age 60 to avoid part of the age reduction penalty for early retirement: 5 percent per year for each year under age 62. Do I understand the following alternatives correctly? By taking the immediate annuity at age 59, I would be penalized 15 percent, but only for one year, until I turn 60. If I postpone until age 60, there would be no penalty to my annuity. Also, if I take the immediate…
Q. I am a FERS employee and will reach my minimum retirement age, 56, soon. I am thinking of retiring and taking an immediate annuity to keep health benefits. If I went back to work for the federal government in two or three years, would the 5 percent-per-year penalty remain in force when I stopped work again, or is there a way to negate this penalty? Is it set in stone because those were the conditions under which I retired? Am I correct that this would not apply if I left under a Voluntary Early Retirement Authority, even though I would…