Q. If a person does 23 years of active-duty (enlisted) Regular Army service and then gets a federal General Schedule job, can he still receive his military retirement pay, military disability check, Social Security and federal retirement check if he retires after 10 years? I was born in 1959. A. Yes, you can receive all three. However, you need to be aware that you would be retiring under the MRA+10 provision (minimum retirement with at least 10 but no more than 29 years of service). As such, your annuity would be reduced by 5 percent for every year you were under age…
Browsing: military service
Q. I am active-duty Army, and I am considering not re-enlisting the next time it comes up. At that point I will be at 11 years, and I don’t want that time to go to waste. What federal jobs can I get into from which I can still retire after 20 years? I heard of a program for buying back your time but don’t know how this work or where to find more information on it. A. Eligibility to retire from the federal civilian service is based on a combination of age and service: age 62 with 5 years, 60 with…
Q. I am a new federal employee with 10 years of military service since 2002. I plan to buy my military service time toward retirement, but I want to wait until just before the interest starts to kick in at three years. Is there any reason I should pay the deposit now instead of waiting and earning interest on that money in the meantime? I had also considered using payroll deduction to buy back my time until I learned it wasn’t a pre-tax deduction. Aren’t FERS contributions normally pre-tax? Isn’t this an example of being double-taxed? A. Check with your…
Q. I worked for NAF from Sept. 1, 1970, to August 1990 in the Air Force. With no break in service, I ported into FERS. Early in my FERS career, I had the option of taking my NAF retirement in a differed annuity or transferring it into FERS with my NAF service. I chose to move all of my NAF retirement money ($6,500) into FERS, hoping it would combine with my FERS retirement. In November, I started looking at the possibilities of taking the VSIP. From November to April, I spoke with BEST counselors five times trying to get an…
Q. I served nine years in the military and bought back that time. When I retire at 56, I will have 33 years in Civil Service. Will I be eligible to receive the FERS annuity until I am 62? Also, does the high-3 consecutive salaries mean for the last three years? My income has remained the same since the pay freeze was implemented. Will my high-3 include these years, or will it be based on the last three pay increases I received? I am close to retirement, and my decision to retire will be based on the answer to this…
Q. I recently accepted a two-year term position in a federal department. I have nearly nine years of service in the Army. Since the term position is guaranteed to end in two years, is there any value in my buying back my military time for retirement? A. Only if you were to be employed for five years. That’s the minimum amount of time you’d need to be employed to be vested in the retirement system.
Q. Hi, I am a veteran of the Army. I retired Nov. 30 with 27 years of active-duty service. I am going to work for the National Park Service very soon. It is in FERS. I know I can buy back my military service. I also have a TSP account that I had with the Army. It is just sitting there for now. Will buying back some of my military service affect my military retirement pay, which I receive now? Also what is the minimum time I will have to work to qualify for a FERS annuity? I am 50.…
Q. I am prior Army Reserve for eight years, about two-plus years on active duty. Got out in 1992. If I were to take a GS position, would I be able to add my time in service to those years at retirement? My plan is to work at least 10-12 more years. I worked as contract for the Air Force for the past 3½ years and previously at Brooke Army Medical Center for one year as contract. Would taking a GS or Department of Veterans Affairs position be to my benefit? A. I don’t know if it would be to…
Q. I am an active federal employee with eight years active-duty military behind me, for which I haven’t made a deposit. I have 14 years total service and want to optimize my potential for retirement benefits and most of what I have read is very hard to understand. What I am looking at are my options as to when I can retire and the negative effects of that decision based on each specific date and time in service. 1. I was thinking of retiring at 49 years old, which would give me 30 years federal service. Are there any benefits to this…
Q. I served on active duty from March 1987 to August 1993. I was on the temporary disability retirement list for five years, then placed on the permanent disability retirement list. I was active during the first Gulf War but did not serve in country. I was stationed in Japan. I was told that time does not count for leave accrual because my disability was not caused by instrumentality of war. I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in 1992, and that is why the Coast Guard medically retired me. A. To see the rules on leave accrual for retired…