Q. I am a 51-year-old Defense Department employee with 13 years of continuous service under FERS and am considering relocating out-of-state and working in the private sector. Since my MRA is 56, I am not eligible for the optional (voluntary) retirement or MRA+10. My plan is to apply for a deferred annuity and leave my FERS retirement untouched after separation to avoid benefit reductions. However, I plan on returning to federal service. Having recently attended the FERS midcareer retirement planning workshop, I am aware of the pros and cons of each retirement option. More specifically, under MRA+10, FEHB and FEGLI…
Browsing: FEGLI
Q. I joined the Marine Corps in 1988, served until 1992 and bought back my deposit. I then worked under federal law enforcement — 6(c) coverage — until 2001, when I transferred to a non-6(c) covered position until 2004, with no break in service. I then immediately obtained a position under the 6(c) provisions with no breaks in service as a special agent and am still employed. I am 43 years old and will have 32 years of federal service at age 50. At what age can I switch to a non-6(c) position and still retire with the law enforcement/firefighter…
Q. I am a FERS employee with 22 years of service. I will have 30 years of service in eight more years and will also be 50. Can I retire with 30 years of service and collect (i.e., request an early retirement package)? I’ve read the deferred retirement, but my understanding is I would not be able to receive a pension until my MRA, 57.
Q. I entered federal service as a 1811 in 2001. I will reach 20 years of service in 2021 and would like to retire (at 20 years), but I will only be 46 years old. Can I retire with partial retirement and then, upon reaching age 52, receive full retirement benefits? OR am I required to have 20 years and minimum retirement age? I am confused as to when I can retire as an 1811.
Q. If I have 20 years of federal service (including more than 15 in the foreign service) but I haven’t turned 50, can I retire but defer receipt of my benefits/pension until I am eligible at age 50? For example, an employee is 47 years old and has completed 20 years of federal service. Can that employee leave the service and still receive full retirement benefits beginning at age 50?
Q. My father who lives in Puerto Rico, is retired from the Postal Service, and is 64 years old. He told me that if he passes, I’m listed to get his pension which would be $1,200 a month, what he gets now. He is not married, and I’m curious if it’s that simple. Am I eligible? Will I get that much? For how long? I am 34.
Q. I was a federal employee for 26 years and, from 1987 onward, was under FERS. I left my last federal job in June 2009 at age 58, after having passed the minimum retirement age and having been enrolled in the Federal Employees Health Benefits plan over the entire 26 years of my federal employment. In June 2009, I said that I intended to take a postponed retirement, some time after I reached age 60. It is my understanding that my enrollment in FEHBP was suspended at the time I left my last federal employment, in June 2009. I had…
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 am a former CSRS employee who retired in 2000. I have life insurance. Can I increase my death benefits? A. Assuming you are talking about Federal Employees’ Group Life Insurance, no.
Q. While the human resources department was preparing my CSRS retirement notice, it discovered an error in my life insurance. Twenty years ago, I elected an amount equal to “five times my salary.” However, my agency has only been deducting premiums from my salary for “one times my salary.” They now want me to repay almost $30,000 in back premiums covering the past 20 years. Is there not a statute of limitations on premium recovery or other reasonable remedy? A. No, there isn’t.