Q. Regarding your article on survivor benefits published Feb. 18, it was my understanding that under CSRS, an employee could designate a permanent reduction in their annuity to enable a surviving spouse to receive a portion of the annuity upon the employee’s death after retirement. Since I saw no reference to this in the article, and it would have no impact on the employee while still working, is my understanding incorrect? Outdated? A. That column included information about specific death benefits available to the survivors of federal employees who die in service. What you are asking about is the survivor benefit that…
Browsing: annuity reduction
Q. I am a 45-year-old letter carrier under CSRS with 25 years of service. If I accept an early retirement offer from the Postal Service, will I still be subject to the 2 percent-a-year penalty for being under my minimum retirement age? What other penalties will I face accepting a VERA at an early age? A. Yes, as a CSRS employee, you’d be subject to the 2 percent per year permanent reduction in your annuity. Another effect would be that your annuity would be based on fewer years of service than if you’d waited until you reached age 55 and…
Q. I have 26 years of uninterrupted federal service, am 58 years old, in FERS, no military service. 1. Is Voluntary Separation Incentive Pay ever offered without Voluntary Early Retirement Authority, or VERA without VSIP? 2. Can I, at less than 60 years old, accept the VERA/VSIP and retire if one or the other is offered? 3. If I take VERA and am not 60 years old but have over 25 years of service, will I be eligible to receive the special retirement supplement immediately or have to wait until age 60? How about under VSIP only? 4. If I…
Q. In February 2014, my FERS and Social Security disability retirements will convert to regular retirements. Will my Social Security retirement be reduced by any offsets? A. According to the Social Security Administration, “If you receive workers’ compensation or other public disability benefits and Social Security disability benefits, the total amount of these benefits cannot exceed 80 percent of your average current earnings before you became disabled.” You’ll have to do the math to find out if this limitation will affect you.
Q. I am a CSRS Offset GS14/10 employee who left Veterans Affairs Department employment in 1985 after 11+ years and returned to VA employment in 1991. I will be 66 years old in July and am considering retiring Jan. 3, 2014. At that point, I will have 24 years of offset employment, 30 years of Social Security contributions (including the 24 offset years) and 37 years of service (including sick leave). My wife is in a similar CSRS Offset situation and is also considering retirement Jan. 3, 2014, at age 61. She will not take Social Security benefits until age…
Q. I have been a postal Service employee for 19 years and a member of the Air Force, Air Force Reserve and Air National Guard for 26 years. I have approximately three years of active-duty time. If I buy back my military time to put toward my postal retirement, will that affect my military retirement? Also, when is the earliest I can retire/separate from the Postal Service and keep my pension, and what effect will retiring early have on my benefits? A. First, making a deposit for your active-duty service will have no effect on your reserve retired pay. Second,…
Q. My December federal retirement take-home pay was $1,609.11. My January federal retirement take-home pay was $1.645.66. My February federal retirement take-home pay was $1,511.67. My take-home pay was reduced by $133.99. In my 15 years of retirement pay, I have never seen this much taken for medical at once. For the past few years, my take-home pay has continued to reduce. Inflation is not keeping up with medical costs. What’s going on? A. All plans in the Federal Employees Health Benefits program are experience-rated. This means that the premiums in the current year are based on an analysis of…
Q. I will be RIF’ed on July 29 with 24 years and seven months of service. Do I qualify for a discontinued service retirement? How much will my annuity be reduced? I am 43 years of age. I am covered in a law enforcement officer position. Additionally, I have six months of sick leave. Can I use this time to meet the 25-year DSR time period for any age? A. You aren’t eligible for a discontinued service retirement. To be eligible for a DSR, you’d have to be age 50 with 20 years of service or any age with 25.…
Q. I have decided to retire June 1. I’m in CSRS Offset, will have 36½ years of actual service, and 2,200-plus hours of unused sick leave, for 37½ years of credited service time. This is my 35th year of credited Social Security earnings. I’m aware of the offset reduction. I’m a widower and my retirement forms have been sent in as such. If I were to remarry after the effective date of my retirement but before I were to receive the first full annuity payment, and sent in a revised retirement form, marriage certificate, beneficiary forms, etc., to the Office…
Q. I will retire in six months and have joint physical custody of my 8-year-old child. I am not married, nor was I previously married. My retirement counselor said that if I wanted my child to receive my annuity should I die post-retirement (and she is under a certain age and a full-time student), it would be very costly, and not only would my annuity be reduced greatly but she would only get small amount. I recently read somewhere that I could elect a survivor annuity benefit for my child at no cost. So: 1. When retiring, can I elect my…