When can I actually retire?
MRA, MRA+10, 30 years, 60 with 20 — and the difference between eligible and advisable.
FERS retirement planning
FERS pays from three places — your annuity, Social Security, and whatever you built in the TSP. You can decide when you would like to start taking income from any of the three.
The questions
The questions we get asked most
What will the annuity actually pay?
High-3, service computation date, unused sick leave, part-time service, deposits and redeposits.
What is the supplement and will I keep it?
The FERS annuity supplement, the earnings test, and when it stops.
Is my TSP enough?
What it has to produce, given what the other two legs cover.
Should I keep FEGLI?
What it costs at 65, 70 and 75, and what the alternatives look like.
What does the survivor election cost, and what happens if I decline it?
Including the effect on your spouse’s FEHB.
The review
What a review covers for you
About 30 minutes, with one of our benefit counselors.
- The earliest date you are eligible under FERS, and whether it is the best one
- A high-3 based annuity estimate built from your own service computation date
- Whether the FERS annuity supplement applies to you, and what the earnings test would do to it
- Where the TSP sits against the gap the annuity and Social Security leave
- What FEGLI will cost you at 65, 70 and 75, and whether to keep it
- The survivor election, its cost, and what declining it does to your spouse’s FEHB
- Which forms you need, in what order, and how long OPM is currently taking
Common questions
Questions we answer every week
What is my MRA under FERS?
Your Minimum Retirement Age depends on your year of birth and sits between 55 and 57. Reaching your MRA is not the same as being able to retire on an unreduced annuity — under MRA+10 you can go with ten years of service, but the annuity is reduced for each year you are under 62. We work out both your eligibility dates and what each one actually pays.
What counts toward my high-3?
The highest average basic pay over any three consecutive years of service — usually, but not always, your final three years. Locality pay counts; overtime, bonuses and allowances generally do not. Part-time service, breaks in service and periods of leave without pay all change the calculation, which is why a generic online calculator so often disagrees with the eventual OPM figure.
Will I keep the FERS annuity supplement?
The supplement is paid to eligible retirees who go before 62, and it stops at 62 whether or not you claim Social Security at that time. It is also subject to an earnings test, so post-retirement work can reduce or eliminate it. If you are planning a second career, this is one of the first things to model.
Should I keep FEGLI after I retire?
It depends on what the coverage is for and what it will cost you as you age. Basic coverage has reduction elections at 65; Option B premiums rise steeply starting in your fifties. The right answer for someone whose mortgage is paid and whose spouse has their own pension is often different from the answer for someone still supporting a dependant.
What happens to my spouse’s health insurance if I decline the survivor benefit?
A surviving spouse can only continue FEHB coverage if they are receiving a survivor annuity. Declining the survivor election — which requires your spouse’s notarized consent — therefore ends their FEHB eligibility at your death, not only their income. This is one of the decisions that genuinely cannot be revisited later.
The best time to look at this is before you have set a date.
A benefit review takes about 30 minutes. Getting the date, the TSP, or the survivor election wrong costs considerably more, and most of it cannot be undone.
Book a No Cost Retirement Review
Or call 800-484-5993 — we answer during business hours, 9:00AM - 5:00PM EST, and we will call you back if you leave a message.