Q: I’m a single FERS. My MRA is 56 with 23 ½ years of service. I’d like to defer retirement until 60, which would be this December. I’d like to confirm the MRA +10. In essence I’d really be resigning from the government. My human resources department says they would complete a PAI and SF-50 with the reason for resignation, then I would file my papers directly to OPM in 2014, 60 to 90 days before I’d like my benefits to start. I could wait longer than 2014 if I had outside employment. My main question is, if I don’t…
Browsing: MRA
Q: I have a question about the MRA + 10 rule for retirement under FERS. My understanding is if I have at least 10 years of federal service when I turn 56, which is my minimum retirement age, then I can apply for an immediate annuity under the MRA + 10. I have six years under FERS and am 48 years old. So I will actually have 14 years at my MRA. Is my assumption correct? A: Yes, you are correct; however, if you retire under the MRA+10 provision, your annuity will be reduced by 5 percent per year (5/12…
Q: Nobody can seem to give me a straight answer to this question: I’m 59 years old and under the Federal Employees Retirement System, with 18 years of service. I had heart bypass surgery four years ago, and I’m now having complications. Because I have to have 20 years of service to qualify for a pension, it appears that my wife will not get my pension if I die before I hit the 20-year mark, which is 20 months away. However, I have reached the minimum retirement age, so if something happens soon, can my wife get my pension, less…
Q: I’m 56 years old, which is my minimum retirement age, with 12 years of credible service. If I applied for disability retirement, would I receive benefits based on my years of service or the “60 percent first year, 40 percent thereafter” rule? If I would only receive the “high-3” times years of service calculation, what would be the advantage, if any, of disability retirement? A: Because you aren’t eligible for an immediate unreduced annuity, your benefit would be calculated under disability rules. You’d receive 60 percent of your high-3 minus 100 percent of any Social Security disability benefit to…
Q: Thank you for your recent article on key dates for retirement in the Oct. 4 edition of Federal Times. I have a question that wasn’t completely answered by the article. I am a veteran with more than 22 years of active-duty service. I joined the Food and Drug Administration two years ago, so I am under the Federal Employees Retirement System. I turned 51 this year and plan to retire sometime between age 62 and 65. I will not have 20 years of service at age 60, but I certainly will have five years of service at age 62.…
Q. I served 14 years active duty in the military and got out under Higher Tenure for which I received Involuntary Separation Pay. Now I’m receiving 40 percent disability from the VA, and in the reserves and planning on retiring from there once I reach 20 years. In addition, I just started working for the VA, and planning on buying back my military time. Can I receive retirement from both the VA and the reserves? How early can I retire from the VA? And how is the Involuntary Separation Pay and the disability affect all of this? A. Yes, if…
Q. I was active-duty military (Title 10) from 1987 to 1999. I became a military technician in 1999 under FERS and am currently still buying back those 11 years of active duty. I recently took an AGR (Title 32) position with the National Guard after 10 years of federal service as a military technician. At age 56 I intend to retire with 20 years of active duty as an AGR. This coincides with my federal MRA+10 (age 56 years). Can I collect a FERS retirement and a military retirement? Is there a particular strategy I should employ with these two retirements? i.e. submit…
Q. I am a military physician with 18 years in service and four years of service at the Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences, USUHS. Note these four years at medical school, though on active duty, do not apply for military retirement until you have 20 years in service, not counting those four years (this means a USUHS military physician must do 24 years to retire from the military). My question is, I am considering leaving the service and joining NSPS as a physician. I will be 45 years old and have 22 years of military service (not retired) –…
Q. I retired from a federal law enforcement position at the end of August with 25 years of service at age 53. I was born in 1957. I was eligible to retire at age 50. I started a new position with a nonfederal agency on Sept. 1. When am I subject to the earnings test for my annuity supplement? Is it age 56 since I was born in 1957? A. The earnings limit won’t apply until you reach your MRA (Minimum Retirement Age), which in your case would be 56.
Q: I am a National Guard technician. I am older than 50 but not at my MRA with almost 30 of service under FERS. If I am found medically unfit to stay in the National Guard, would I retire with a medical under federal service or would I receive regular retirement as if I were involuntary separated because of my age and years of service? A: If you are separated because of a disability that disqualifies you from membership in the National Guard or from holding your military grade, you would be eligible for disability retirement. This assumes, among other…