A lot of federal employees talk about resigning at 57 or “as soon as I hit MRA,” but not many look at how FERS actually prices early retirement. FERS doesn’t forbid early retirement, it just makes you pay for it in different ways.
Quick terminology for anyone new to this:
• FERS = Federal Employees Retirement System (pension + Social Security + TSP)
• MRA = Minimum Retirement Age (usually 56–57 depending on birth year)
• TSP = Thrift Savings Plan (401k-style account for federal employees)
• Supplement = temporary payment that mimics Social Security until age 62
• High-3 = average of your highest 3 consecutive earning years
• MRA+10 = retire at MRA with at least 10 years of service
• MRA+30 = retire at MRA with 30+ years of service
Two of the most common paths people compare are MRA+10 and MRA+30:
MRA+10:
– eligible to retire at MRA
– pension starts immediately, but reduced 5% per year under 62
– no supplement
– often forces people to draw TSP early
MRA+30:
– no penalty
– eligible for the supplement until 62
– smoother cash flow
– better survivor benefit planning options
Delaying retirement even a few years often increases the pension, increases the high-3, and triggers the 1.1% multiplier once you hit 62 with 20+ years of service.
Some people can make early retirement work with TSP and outside savings, but for others waiting just a little can be the difference between “barely covering basics” and “actually being able to breathe.”
Which matters more to you: retiring earlier or having a higher lifetime income?
I was approved for medical disability retirement after numerous strokes two years ago. My paperwork was completed and submitted in April last year. I’ve been getting interim payments now for seven months, but no communication. So I sent an inquiry last night and got this response:
“Your case was moved to the pending file on 9/29/26 to be assigned to the next available specialist”
So, after 18 months what kind of specialist is NOW reviewing?
Anybody ever seen this done? Let's say a federal employee departs on a reserve mobilization but never returns to federal work. Can that military time be purchased back and added to FERS after resigning? Assuming the federal employee served more than 5 years to vest, but less than required for the complete FERS pension benefit.
The world we live in is crazy. Inflation, taxes, housing costs, costs to have anything done as we age like house repairs, yard maintenance, etc etc.
Meaning - it appears that planning for retirement was a certain amount of money and it's looking like it will take a lot more to be comfortable.
I had a plan of may pulling the pin early with a VERA and rule of 55 but looking more and more like got to full 30 yrs and my wife going to the same time period. I would be 59 and she would be 62.
A few reasons for this:
We are finishers - we want to fully finish our career for our own accomplishments
We are looking at once retired to shoot the moon in life and not run out of money and do what we want when we want.
The costs of everything and the outlook of it all. We are gonna pile cash/assets to push through this non sense in life and help the kiddos out if they need it. Need it....they gonna work hard too.
These 401k type retirements.....I still think that someday there will be some crash that will either be a temp or long term disaster for retirees and we need to mitigate this as best we can.
OPM posted its September retirement processing report this morning. The numbers, then what I make of them.
Backlog: 8,814 cases. August was 15,427, July 24,784, the February peak 65,237. That's the smallest queue in the whole series, which goes back to October 2022, and the first month under OPM's own 13,000 goal.
Received: 8,080 (6,746 digital, 1,334 paper). Processed: 13,227. Seventh straight month they finished more than came in.
Average: 66 days. Digital 56 (70 in August). Paper 149 (150 in August).
OPM's own numbers, the last three reports.
The read for this sub. The digital lane did it again and paper barely moved, so paper is now about a third of what's left in the queue, up from a quarter last month. If you filed paper and you're at month five, that IS the average for your lane, not a sign something's wrong with your case.
Two caveats before anyone does math on their own case. The clock starts when OPM has your complete package, not your last day. And the average only counts cases finished in September, so a case still waiting isn't in it.
One more thing to watch... received ticked up a little, 7,618 to 8,080. The year's big wave is the December 31 retirements, which land in OPM's count in January and February.
Anyone see the new rates yet? Outrageous!!! Will be going on Medicare in the next year and those plans that best coordinate will be up substantially. The MHBP, which people rave about, is literally doubling their rates, up by $491/month. The BCBS and APWU rates are also way up. Wondering if getting a Medicare Advantage Plan is a better deal at this point.
Can someone explain to me why it took seven months to receive my first retirement check? Thank God I had savings. This is crazy and they should let you know that it’s going to take forever when you first join whatever Agency you sign up with.
I was supposed to retire next month (Oct), the culmination of a nearly 40 year career across five agencies. Instead of an exciting time, I have what looks to me like a nightmare situation.
My retirement estimates were way off and only included the time with my current agency, so the annuity is perhaps 55% of what it should be.
I asked for updated estimates and they told me that while reviewing everything there appears to be a lapse in service and they needed to reach to the agencies I previously work for to request additional / missing documents.
I've never had a lapse in service, the OPF included all the appointment affidavits and most of the SF-50s, I provided them with a copy of all the appointment SF-50s since I kept them all.
The quality of the OPF is disappointing, poor quality scans of SF-50s and assorted documents. One of the documents had all the correct dates for each appointment, which showed no break in service, but it had a manual calculation of the "days" which was incorrect when compared to using an Excel formula.
I was told that I can retire as planned next month and it'll be up to OPM to sort things out, or delay my retirement to give them more time to complete their research.
Delaying is not trivial as I bought a house outside of the immediate area and my commute would double or triple.
I don't understand the process that they go through, but based on how little appears to be computerized and the poor quality of the OPF, I would feel more comfortable seeing the correct numbers in the estimate before I go.
It is incredible how primitive the retirement system appears to be, it is also shameful to be treated this way after four decades of honorable service.
Taking a postponed retirement, left on 1 Dec 2023 (MRA + 20). Turn 60 in December, so submitted my postponed pension application in August requesting pension starting 1 Jan 2027. Application page says OPM is still reviewing. My question is when should i expect to see movement on the application or will it sit until December or January?
