Retirement and You

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Retirement and You

• Retirement and You
• What You Need To Know!
• Meyer J. Persow, US Office of Personnel Management

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Eligibility for Federal Retirement Benefits - CSRS

• 55 years old with 30 years of service
• 60 years old with 20 years of service
• 62 years old with 5 years of service
• Also known as immediate or optional retirement

• Early Out
• 50 years old with 20 years of service
• Any age with 25 years of service
• Other types include disability, discontinued
  service, and deferred

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Eligibility for Federal Retirement Benefits
FERSMinimum Retirement Age

• If you were born
• Before 1948
• In 1948
• In 1949
• In 1950
• In 1951
• In 1952
• In 1953 through 1964
• In 1965
• In 1966
• In 1967
• In 1968
• In 1969
• In 1970 and after

• Your MRA is
• 55
• 55 and 2 months
• 55 and 4 months
• 55 and 6 months
• 55 and 8 months
• 55 and 10 months
• 56
• 56 and 2 months
• 56 and 4 months
• 56 and 6 months
• 56 and 8 months
• 56 and 10 months
• 57

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Five Years before Retirement

• Important because you must have health benefits
  and life insurance coverage for 5 years
  immediately before retirement in order to keep it
  after retiring.
• You may also need some preliminary information to
  make decisions about when you can afford to
  retire and make any necessary payments to get
  credit for military or FICA service or repay any
  retirement contribution refunds.
• In order to keep health benefits after retiring
  you must
• be covered when you retire
• have been continuously covered by FEHB, TRICARE
  or CHAMPUS for 5 years immediately prior to
  retirement or during all of your Federal
  employment since your first opportunity to enroll
• OPM can waive the five-year requirement under
  certain circumstances

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Five Years before Retirement

• In order to keep life insurance coverage after
  retiring you must
• be covered when you retire
• have not converted your coverage to an individual
  policy
• your annuity must begin within 30 days, or if you
  are retiring under the MRA10 provision of FERS,
  your coverage is suspended until your annuity
  begins
• you were insured for life insurance for the five
  years immediately preceding retirement or the
  full periods of service when coverage was
  available
• You can keep your optional life insurance in
  retirement if all of the following conditions are
  met
• you were eligible to continue your basic
  coverage and
• you were covered by the optional life insurance
  for the five years immediately preceding
  retirement

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Five Years before Retirement

• Other Important Things to Do
• Review you OPF to make sure that all of your
  service has been verified
• Make any deposits for military service performed
  after 1956
• Make any deposits for any Federal service in
  which retirement contributions were not withheld
  from your salary
• Make any redeposit of any funds that were
  refunded to you if you had a break in service
• And most important

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One Year Before Retirement

• Confirm when you will be eligible to get a
  retirement benefit
• Decide when you want to retire
• Get information on other benefits you may be
  eligible for (TSP, SSA, IRA, pensions from
  private industry
• Tell your supervisor about your plans
• Attend a pre-retirement counseling seminar
• Review your OPF
• Contact OPMs Retirement Operations Center in
  Boyers, PA to ensure that all of your Individual
  Retirement Records (SF 2806) are on file. NOTE
  The ROC will only have an IRR if you changed
  agencies during your career or your payroll is
  being cross serviced by a different agency such
  as GSA or NFC

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Six Months Before Retirement

• Resolve any financial indebtedness to your
  agency. Examples of causes for indebtedness
  include outstanding travel advances,
  overpayments of salary, advanced leave.
• If you are receiving military retired pay, decide
  on whether you want to waive it in order to
  receive credit for your military service in your
  annuity.
• Start looking for that warm, sunny place to call
  home.

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Two Months Before Retirement

• If you havent already done so, choose your exact
  retirement date. Your benefit can be estimated
  based on the exact date.
• Complete an application for retirement (SF-2801)
  which is available for the OPM website or your HR
  office.
• If you made a deposit for military service, check
  with your payroll office to ensure that they
  forwarded the correct information to OPM.
• Make sure someone is planning a huge retirement
  party for you!

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Important Contacts

• US Office of Personnel Management, Retirement
  Operations Center, Boyers PA 16017 or via email
  at retire_at_opm.gov
• www.opm.gov/retire
• DFAS, Cleveland Center, Retired Pay Operations,
  P.O. Box 99191, Cleveland OH 44199-1126
• Local Social Security Office (to check on
  Medicare eligibility)

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Happy Retirement