When do I have to go, and when can I go?
Early eligibility at 25 years, or age 50 with 20 — and the mandatory separation age that may decide it for you.
Special provisions retirement — law enforcement, firefighters and controllers
Most of this group retires in their fifties, and most of them go straight into a second career. The planning question is rarely “can I afford to stop”. It is how these two incomes interact — and almost nobody in this market writes to that.
The questions
The questions we get asked most
How is my annuity calculated?
The enhanced computation on covered service, and the standard computation on anything that is not.
Is all of my service covered?
Time in a non-covered role, details and promotions can change the mix more than people expect.
How does the special supplement behave?
It is paid before your MRA, and the earnings test does not treat it the same way throughout.
What happens when I start the second career?
The interaction between a new salary, the supplement, and eventually Social Security.
What about FEHB and FEGLI at 50?
Longer to carry the cost, and a longer horizon to plan across.
Where it goes wrong
The mistakes we see most
Each of these is recoverable if it is caught early, and most of them are not caught early.
- Assuming every year of service counts as covered service — what we do about it
- Planning a second career without modelling what it does to the special supplement — what we do about it
- Being surprised by mandatory separation rather than planning the date — what we do about it
- Carrying FEGLI from 50 without pricing what it costs across the whole retirement — what we do about it
- Drawing down a TSP from your early fifties on assumptions built for a retirement at 62 — what we do about it
The review
What a review covers for you
All reviews are done online and take about 30 minutes. There is no cost and no obligation afterwards.
- Your covered and non-covered service, separated out and computed correctly
- Your earliest eligibility date and your mandatory separation date
- An annuity estimate using the enhanced computation where it applies
- How the special annuity supplement behaves before and after your MRA
- What a second-career salary does to the supplement and, later, to Social Security
- FEGLI and FEHB priced across a retirement that may run forty years
- A TSP withdrawal conversation built for an early-fifties start date
Common questions
Questions we answer every week
When can I retire under special provisions?
Generally at any age with 25 years of covered service, or at 50 with 20 years of covered service. Covered service is the qualifying time in a law enforcement, firefighter or air traffic control position — not simply your total federal service, which is where the two figures often part company.
What is the mandatory separation age?
Most covered positions carry a mandatory separation age, commonly 57 for law enforcement and firefighters once the service minimum is met, with controllers subject to their own rule. Because the date can be set for you, the planning question becomes what the years immediately before and after it look like.
How does the special annuity supplement differ from the regular FERS supplement?
Special provisions retirees can receive the supplement before reaching their MRA, and the earnings test is applied differently over that earlier period than it is afterwards. If you intend to work after you separate — and most of this group does — the timing of that work matters to what you keep.
Does time in a non-covered position hurt me?
It does not disappear, but it is computed under the standard formula rather than the enhanced one, and it does not count toward the 20- or 25-year covered service thresholds. Details, temporary promotions and moves into supervisory or headquarters roles are the usual sources of surprise, which is why we reconstruct the service history rather than take the total at face value.
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.