FERS Benefit

[charmedboi82]

Hi, I don't have my FERS booklet to refer to (it's at my permanent residence), so I'm trying to make sense of the resources available about the two systems (mainly FERS though since it's the system that I'm under). I've found the following page to be very informative (http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0306/033106rp.htm).

I always believed that the 1% pertained to a lump sum benefit, but the literature that I'm finding (from the page above and OPM itself) is that it's still an annual payment. Which is it?

It seems like if it's an annual payment, it's a lot more than I thought it was going to be much lower somehow. Can anyone shed light on this? Thanks.

[Gilligan]

The $19,500 in the article is an annual amount divided into 12 monthly payments. In your last 3 years of Government service a person could have salaries of $64k, $65k and $66k. FERS takes the average high three annual salaries, in this case $65,000. ( 65,000 X 1% = 650 X 30 years = $19,500 a year/ $1625 a month) If you retire at 62 or older, FERS gives you 10% more, or 1.1% . (65,000 X 1.1% = 715 X 30 = $21,450 a year / $1787.50 a month).

LEO & firefighters are figured at 1.7% for the first 20 years.

[pyriel]

Hello, can someone help figure out with my wife's FERS benefits. She started with FERS in 99 and will quit her job on 2021 giving her 23 years federal service. She will only be 51. She is supposed to quit her job in 2016 (she'll be 46 yrs old) in line with my retirement but we decided to keep it until our youngest kid graduates from high school in the Department Of Defese School here on Guam.
Would she be able to retire and get anything from FERS? Thanks...

[Spaf]

Pyriel,

If I had your e-mail, I'd send you a copy, otherwise see:

http://www.federalhandbooks.com

Get the 2005 Federal Retirement Handbook.

Spaf

[charmedboi82]

The $19,500 in the article is an annual amount divided into 12 monthly payments. In your last 3 years of Government service a person could have salaries of $64k, $65k and $66k. FERS takes the average high three annual salaries, in this case $65,000. ( 65,000 X 1% = 650 X 30 years = $19,500 a year/ $1625 a month) If you retire at 62 or older, FERS gives you 10% more, or 1.1% . (65,000 X 1.1% = 715 X 30 = $21,450 a year / $1787.50 a month).

LEO & firefighters are figured at 1.7% for the first 20 years.

Yes, thank you. I did know they averaged the latest three years of pay (I was just trying to simplify that part). I always assumed that this FERS pension was so measily (especially with respect to CSRS) that when I calculated how much I would get annually that it seemed like it had to be a total amount instead of an annual amount. I guess I'm not gonna be so bad off after all (of course, who knows what they'll come up with 30-40 years down the line). Thanks again.