Q. Can I retire with 17 years of federal service at 59 years old? A. Yes, you could retire under the MRA+10 provision (minimum retirement age with at least 10 years of service). However, your annuity would be reduced by 5 percent for every year (5/12 percent per month) that you are under age 62. You could reduce or eliminate the age penalty by deferring the receipt of your annuity to a later date.
Browsing: MRA+10
Q. For FERS retirements, what are the differences between a deferred retirement and a postponed retirement, especially as they pertain to FEHB benefits? A. Some employees who retire under the MRA+10 provision (minimum retirement age with at least 10 but fewer than 30 years of service) postpone the receipt of their annuities to reduce or eliminate the age penalty, which is 5 percent for every year they are younger than 62. Regardless of when they activate it, if they were enrolled in the Federal Employees Health Benefit and/or Federal Employees Group Life Insurance programs for the five consecutive years before…
Q. I am a part-time regular with 14 years of service in the U.S. Postal Service under FERS. Can I retire at age 61 at any time and defer my pension until age 62 without penalty? Can I continue my health care coverage? A. You could retire under the MRA+10 provision and defer the receipt of your annuity to age 62, thus avoiding the age penalty. While your FEHB coverage would end 31 days after you retired, you could re-enroll when you applied for your annuity. In the interim, you could continue your coverage for up to 18 months under the Temporary Continuation of Coverage provision, for which you’d pay…
Q. I am 59 with 23 years’ service under FERS. If I retire now, will I receive the special retirement supplement of 50 percent of expected SSI until 62? A. If you retire now, you won’t be eligible for the special retirement supplement and you’ll be subject to the 5 percent per year penalty for being younger than 62 because you’d be retiring under the MRA+10 provision (minimum retirement age with between 10 and 29 years of service). If you want to avoid the age penalty and receive the SRS, wait until you reach age 60 to retire.
Q. I’m planning to retire under the FERS MRA+10 provisions at age 59, with 27 years of continuous federal service. I have the option to take an immediate annuity or to postpone receipt of my annuity until age 60 to avoid part of the age reduction penalty for early retirement: 5 percent per year for each year under age 62. Do I understand the following alternatives correctly? By taking the immediate annuity at age 59, I would be penalized 15 percent, but only for one year, until I turn 60. If I postpone until age 60, there would be no penalty to my annuity. Also, if I take the immediate…
Q. I am a FERS employee and will reach my minimum retirement age, 56, soon. I am thinking of retiring and taking an immediate annuity to keep health benefits. If I went back to work for the federal government in two or three years, would the 5 percent-per-year penalty remain in force when I stopped work again, or is there a way to negate this penalty? Is it set in stone because those were the conditions under which I retired? Am I correct that this would not apply if I left under a Voluntary Early Retirement Authority, even though I would…
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 am 50 years old with 24 years of service under FERS. If I am offered a buyout, would the amount of my retirement annuity be based on the amount I would receive if I retired at 62 or a reduced amount minus the 2 percent reduction per year? A. If you accepted a buyout, it would be based on the standard formula: 0.01 x your high-3 x your years and full months of service. There wouldn’t be any penalty for retiring early. P.S. For FERS employees who retire under the MRA+10 provision, the reduction is 5 percent (not 2 percent) for every year…
Q. I have been working with the federal government for eight years. I am vested in a retirement program. I earn $69,000 a year. How much will my retirement income be after I retire? A. FERS employees can retire when they meet one of the following age and service combination: age 62 with five years of service; 60 with 20; at their minimum retirement age with 30; and at their MRA+10 (at least 10 years of service but fewer than 30) with a reduction of 5 percent for every year they are under age 62. MRAs range from 55 to 57,…
Q. I retired from active duty in 2005. I made a service deposit to buy my academy time. When I reach minimum retirement age+10 next month, I will have 10 years and five months of creditable service (six years and six months since hired, plus three years and 11 months purchased service), more than 240 hours of annual leave and more than 600 hours of sick leave. I’ve gotten a formal Office of Personnel Management retirement estimate to verify my understanding that I can do a MRA+10 retirement this year. I initially used Tricare for my health insurance, however, to…