Q. I am under FERS with a CSRS component (10 years CSRS, 15-year break, FERS for the past 20 years). If my spouse receives Social Security benefits based on my work history and I predecease him, and he begins receiving an annuity, will his Social Security payments be reduced or possibly eliminated under the government pension offset? He has enough quarters to qualify on his own record and is receiving payments now. However, under my records, his payments would be higher. I will retire in a year, at age 66, and would like to know before we request that his…
Browsing: CSRS
Q. I retired in 2011 with 30 years and three months employment with the Postal Service at the age of 56 years and six months with a CSRS pension. I had 32 quarters of paying in to Social Security when I retired. I worked part time from June 2012 to October 2012 for an insurance company and earned about $6,200. How many more quarters do I have to go to receive a supplemental Social Security pension, and is it also true that I will only receive about one-third of what I would normally be entitled to? A. You have already…
Q. I’m a 53-year-old CSRS employee with 34 years of service. I may have the option of an early-out in May. I would like to carry my Federal Employees Health Benefits into retirement. I will choose no survivor benefit, but I would like to have my wife keep my insurance after my death. Can I do this? A. No, you can’t. To be eligible to continue her FEHB coverage, she would have to be covered by the self and family option when you die and be entitled to a survivor benefit. Note: You are required by law to provide a…
Q. I am so totally lost in all of this early retirement and buyouts and furloughs. I have 33 years of service with the government and am 55 years old under CSRS. Not sure which to apply for or wait until our office gives us reduction-in-force notices if our office is going to reorganize, restructure. Would I be eligible for early buyout with full benefits come May? A. You really are lost! However, everything should be clearer when I tell you that you can retire anytime you want to. That’s because you have the age (55) and service (at least…
Q. I am planning to retire Aug. 15 with 37 years, two months and 12 days under CSRS. I will be 60 years old. I know if I stay more than 40 years, I will get 80 percent of my salary. What I don’t understand, according to my retirement estimates, is that after age 62, I will be getting less of an annuity each year. How can this be? A. It can’t be. Something is wrong with either the estimator you are using or the data you are putting into it. Part of the problem may be that you misunderstand…
Q. I am almost 62 years old and qualify for a CSRS deferred annuity, even though I left federal service 18 years ago. I have not been able to find anywhere (including the Office of Personnel Management website) how to apply for the deferred annuity. Do I initiate the action? If so, how? Do they initiate the action? If so, when? The only form I can find seems to indicate that OPM will initiate the action by sending me a letter and attached form, but they do not even have my current address, and I certainly do not have all…
Q. My mother is a Postal Service retiree residing in a nursing home. She had to use up all of her own assets to pay the nursing home until she qualified for Medicaid. Now, she has nothing left. I’ve been told that as a retired postal worker, when her time comes, there is a Postal Service “death benefit” that will pay out to her beneficiaries and that Medicaid cannot take that money from her estate because it is technically a “death benefit” as opposed to “life insurance.” Is this true? A. I’ve never heard of such a death benefit and…
Q. I will be a CSRS retiree soon enrolled on my younger wife’s FEHB family plan. Does it make sense for me to enroll in Medicare part B being on her plan? Will her premiums be affected if I do? A. Her premiums won’t be affected one way or the other. Whether you should enroll in Medicare Part B is up to you to decide based on your current and projected health needs. Just remember this: If you don’t enroll in Part B and later decide that you want to do that, the cost of those premiums will be 10…
Q. I am not eligible for Social Security retirement. I have 35 quarters of coverage and need 40. I was told if I waited until after age 62 and then earned my 40 quarters and became entitled to Social Security retirement, I would not receive a reduction to my CSRS retirement check. Is this true? A. As a CSRS retiree, you would not have your annuity reduced if you were eligible for a Social Security benefit. However, because you are receiving an annuity from a retirement system where you didn’t pay Social Security taxes, you’d be subject to the windfall…
Q. I have a couple of questions about insurance plan comparisons for single and family options in retirement. For health insurance in retirement, when or should we change to two self-only plans or stay with the self and family plan in retirement? Are there any major considerations in selecting two single plans or the family plan? My wife and I, no other dependents, are CSRS retirees. We are covered by my self and family BCBS Standard 105 plan. I have been reading the plan brochure but cannot create a logical comparison of when, or if, to go with two single…