Q. I need clarification regarding the blog “2012 outlook eases slightly with COLA’s return” and the FERS annuity supplement. If I retire under FERS with 6c law enforcement coverage at age 51 and my minimum retirement age is 57, at what time will I be subject to the earnings test and my supplement reduced if my earnings exceed the permitted amount? Your comments about “two exceptions” make it sound as though those under 6c are not subject to the earnings test at all, before or after the minimum retirement age. Yet your last sentence, “In either case, when you reach…
Browsing: cost-of-living adjustment
Q. I retired with a minimum retirement age at 58, which incurred penalty percentage. At the age of 62, will I be given the full retirement benefit or will it always remain at the same penalized percentage? A. Since you mention a percentage penalty, I have to conclude that you retired under the MRA+10 provision, which reduced your annuity by 5 percent for every year you were under age 62. If so, the amount of your annuity won’t change when you hit age 62 because the age penalty is permanent. However, for the first time, you will be eligible to receive…
Q. I retired in March 2011, when I turned 62. My benefits forecast from Social Security, which was mailed to me in 2010 indicated my benefit would be $1,770 per month. When I applied for my benefit in March 2011, I was told my benefit would be $1,735 per month. When I questioned the clerk about the $35 difference in benefit, she responded, “It was an estimate and those can be wrong.” I responded that the estimate should be closer to reality. The clerk then told me that Congress had voted to reduce benefits for those turning 62 in 2011…
Q. I am a CSRS fed, planning on retiring at the end of 2012. I am debating either Dec. 31, 2012, or Jan 4, 2013. What is the effect of each date on my January 2014 cost-of-living adjustment. I know that if I retire Dec. 31, my COLA in January 2014 will be 11/12 of the consumer price index. If I retire Jan. 4, 2013, will my January 2014 CPI be 11/12 or 10/12 of the CPI? A. If you retire Dec. 31, you’ll be on the annuity roll in January 2013 and receive 11/12ths of the 2014 cost-of-living adjustment.…
Q. I am considering taking the Voluntary Early Retirement Authority that has been offered to Postal Service mail handlers for Sept. 1. I am in FERS. Is there a cost-of-living adjustment? If so, when would I receive the increase and at what percentage? A. As a rule, FERS retirees don’t receive cost-of-living adjustments until they reach age 62.
Q. My husband, age 84, has been retired from NASA since 1988. He is in a nursing home. He receives a retirement pension from CSRS. If he passes away before I do, what will be my benefits? I believe he had to decide the percentage way back in the 1950s or ’60s. A. When your husband retired, he would have had to elect a full survivor annuity for you unless you agreed in writing to a lesser amount. If he did elect the full amount, you would receive 55 percent of his original, unreduced annuity increased by any cost-of-living adjustments made…
Q. I am a civilian employee who accepted a permanent Defense Department GS-07 Target 09 position overseas. The salary in the letter of offer/acceptance that I signed was $66,941 per year, which is the salary I was receiving from my former command, Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. The $66,941-per-year salary included the cost-of-living adjustment. Because the position is an emergency essential (EE), it took me several months to complete all the requirements. Three days after my household goods were picked up and two days before my original flight schedule, I received an email from the human resources specialist notifying me the change of my pay to $52,642 per year. Nothing…
Q. I am 46 years old. I retired from the Air Force with 21 years, five months. I receive a 60 percent Veterans Affairs Department disability, and I am currently an Army GS-12 civilian. I was hired as a new GS employee on Jan. 19, 2010. So if I understand the new pension contribution, it would include anyone who was hired after Dec. 31, 2007, or those who do not have five years of government service by Dec. 31, 2013. 1. If I make a military deposit, does it change my “new” employee status? 2. Would I still be required to pay…
Q. I work in Honolulu and will be retiring at the end of 2011. Is there a form to fill in to buy back my locality pay so I can get credit for it in my annuity? A. Public Law 111-84 provided for a phased-in conversion from nonforeign area cost-of-living allowances to locality pay over a three-year period beginning in 2010. If you want to get credit for a portion of your COLA as basic pay, you’ll have to complete either a Standard Form 2803 (Civil Service Retirement System) or 3108 (Federal Employees Retirement System), show the dates of the…
Q: When a person on Federal Employees Retirement System disability reaches age 62 and a recomputation is done, are the cost-of-living adjustments added to the “high-3” salary from the regular pay schedule or from the annuity COLA schedule? My high-3 was $47,116 when I became disabled in February 2004, and I turned 62 in June 2010. I live in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. I was under the impression that COLA was determined by the GS schedule and locality pay. A: When you reach age 62, the time your spent on the disability annuity roll will be added to your actual…