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Thread: Freshly Retired - Got Some Questions

  1. #13

    Wink Re: Freshly Retired - Got Some Questions

    Quote Originally Posted by TSATSO View Post
    I have a couple questions for those who have gone before me. First one concerns payment of accrued annual leave. I had 40 days on the books when I quit. My final paycheck (PP-11) has now been posted, and did not include payment for the accrued leave. When might I expect to get the payment for the leave? Will I get any kind of paper or electronic notification of the payment, or will it just pop up in my direct deposit account without any warning?
    Hi Chuck. I'm newly retired too. My first day of retirement was November 1, 2008. My lump sum for annual leave was paid for the 11/8/08 - 11/20/08 pay period. I received my DOD Civilian Leave and Earning Statement showing the above. I was a FERS employee working for the Army. I'm hoping us FERS former employees will be able to collect money for our unused sick leave sooner than later. I haven't made any plans for receiving my TSP yet but will need to soon as I figure what my expenses will be looking forward.

    Oops. I now see Chucks message was posted way back in June. And I spent so long working up this reply. Owell, I don't work no more.
    Last edited by Handballer; 12-19-2008 at 12:47 AM. Reason: I see TSATSO's post was back in June.

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  3. #14

    Join Date
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    Default Re: Freshly Retired - Got Some Questions

    Quote Originally Posted by Handballer View Post
    Oops. I now see Chucks message was posted way back in June. And I spent so long working up this reply. Owell, I don't work no more.
    You should keep a diary here, or another thread of your own, on the transition. I know I would like to see how certain events unfold as you transition. I think your issues and these peoples' brains could be a beacon to those of us still preparing for a retirement.

    Congrats

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  5. #15

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    Default Re: Freshly Retired - Got Some Questions

    Greetings Handballer! Welcome to the good life. I have a lot of free time on my hands, too. I have thought about posting a short synopsis of my retirement experience, but wasn't sure how interesting it would be to others. Seems that at least Frixxxx is interested in this kind of stuff, so I'll try putting it in my next post. I originally wrote this up for some of the Old Guys where I worked, so they might have some clue what to expect. I was the first one to retire at our airport since TSA was rolled out, so I was pretty much on my own. Hope this is some help to others following the same path. Luck to all, Chuck Avery (TSATSO)

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  7. #16

    Join Date
    Nov 2006
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    Default Re: Freshly Retired - Got Some Questions

    Here is how my retirement went:

    FERS Retirement Process Timeline


    12 Months before PRD (Planned Retirement Date): Attended Pre-Retirement Seminar sponsored by my employer (TSA) and presented by Snow-Cap Agency, Inc. (www.snow-cap.com). This one-day program was extremely informative and helpful! I urge every FERS employee to attend a class of this type at least one year before retirement, if not earlier. Either get your employer to sponsor the class, or pay for it yourself, but make sure you get to at least one! Very Important!

    9 Months before PRD: Sent letter to my HR Services office notifying them of my planned retirement date, and requesting a annuity estimate plus a preliminary summary of all my federal service.

    8 Months before PRD: Received my annuity estimate and service summary from HR Services. This is a very important document! Read it over carefully. This is your last chance to catch and correct any errors in your service record!

    7 Months before PRD: Submitted a SF2817 Life Insurance Election form making adjustments to my insurance coverage in anticipation of upcoming retirement.

    3 Months before PRD: Mailed my SF3107 Application for Immediate Retirement to TSA HR Services.

    2 Months before PRD: Received a new up-dated annuity estimate from HR Services, which reflected the changes in my desired insurance coverage plus the increase in my base pay for the new year.

    ARD (Actual Retirement Date) May 31, 2008. Last Day Of Work!!!!! We had cake!

    ARD + 15 days: Received Statement of Earnings and Leave for my last pay period (PP-11, 2008). (Since I retired on May 31, I actually only worked one week in PP-11. My local pay officer had to wait one week until the end of PP-11 to submit my retirement folder to HR services. This may have caused everything that happened after my ARD to be delayed by a week or so.)

    ARD + 20 days: Received letter from National Finance Center (NFC) advising me that my “official record of retirement deductions” had been sent to the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) via a Register of Separations, and gave me the register number in case I needed it for some reason.

    ARD + 25 days: Received a letter from OPM welcoming me to the Federal Employees Retirement System. It said they had started work on my retirement application, and it included my Retirement Services Reference Card. This card contains your Civil Service Annuitant (CSA) number, and is very important because you must use this number anytime you contact OPM for any reason. The letter also explained that my FEHB health insurance and my life insurance would continue without interruption.

    ARD + 30 days: Received a Statement of Earnings and Leave for PP-12, which included only one item - the pay for my accumulated annual leave. This was a surprise, as I didn’t expect to get another SEL. I was glad they did it this way because it gave me an early look at my total taxable income for 2008. The money (I sold back 320 hours of leave) was direct deposited into my checking account. The same day I also received a copy of a SF50 Notification of Personnel Action, showing my retirement date etc.

    ARD + 32 days: A “mystery” direct deposit showed up in my checking account. I assumed it was the first interim annuity payment, since it was fairly close to the annuity estimate I had gotten earlier.

    ARD + 35 days: Received a letter from OPM saying I had been placed in “interim payment status“, and verifying that the mystery deposit was indeed my first interim annuity payment. The 2-page letter also explained a number of other things, and said that the interim payments would continue until they completed work on my application. Once my application is finalized, I will get a retirement benefits booklet which will show the exact amount of my annuity payment, and will also supposedly include a full accounting of everything I have been paid (or not paid) from my ARD up to that point.

    ARD + 45 days: Received letter from BENEFEDS explaining how my VSP vision insurance premiums would be handled. Basically they said, “Don’t worry about it“. My VSP Insurance would continue without interruption. However, they could not resume automatic deduction of premiums until my annuity amount was finalized. It said they would bill me directly whenever a VSP premium payment became due.

    ARD + 3 months: Received a bill from BENEFEDS for three months of VSP insurance premiums.

    ARD + 5 months: Received another bill from BENEFEDS for two months VSP premium.

    ARD + 6 months: Another bill from BENEFEDS for one month VSP premium.

    It has now been six and a half months since my retirement date. I have been getting “interim” annuity payments for 6 months. I am beginning to wonder how long it is going to take for OPM to finalize my retirement application, and send me the elusive Retirement Benefits Booklet. Initially, I was very impressed with how quickly everything moved along, but now the process seems to have stalled out. Perhaps other recent FERS retirees can offer some guesstimate on how long this last step in the process might take?

    If anyone has any questions about my experience with the retirement process, I would be glad to answer. However, the process may vary greatly depending on which agency you work for, and what your individual situation is, so anything I say should be taken with a grain of salt. The best thing you can do to insure a smooth departure from government service is EDUCATE yourself! There are many resources out there to help you, including the great people on this forum. All you have to do is ask.
    Last edited by TSATSO; 12-20-2008 at 11:19 PM. Reason: typo

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  9. #17

    Default Re: Freshly Retired - Got Some Questions

    regarding Flex Spending, if you have money left when you retire (or quit), do you lose it?

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  11. #18

    Join Date
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    Unhappy Re: Freshly Retired - Got Some Questions

    It's been 9 months since I retired, and I just got my OPM booklet the other day. I am hoping that means that my January 2009 auto-deposit amount will finally be my actual payment rather than an interim one.

    My only real problem while I have been waiting for my retirement paperwork to finalize is that I won't get a bill from BENEFEDS for my vision and/or dental insurance premium for a couple of months and then I'll get a letter saying that it has to be paid by x date or it will be terminated. I've tried to pay it ahead and that hasn't worked either. But that ongoing insurance glitch has been my only problem while I'm waiting.

    As far as losing money left in a Flexible Spending Account, I'm not positive but I think that you do have to use it or lose it. I made sure that there wasn't any left in my flex account by getting both new contact lenses and those rimless glasses like Sarah Pallin wears (but I had them first ) before I left active duty.

    Lady


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  13. #19

    Default Re: Freshly Retired - Got Some Questions

    I plan to retire May 31. Couple of clarifications and questions.

    Have the interim annuity checks been about 80% of the annuity like they say? Was the supplement a partial also? Annual leave was direct deposited the next pay period?

    Thanks
    100 G
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  15. #20

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    Default Re: Freshly Retired - Got Some Questions

    Quote Originally Posted by clester View Post
    I plan to retire May 31. Couple of clarifications and questions.

    Have the interim annuity checks been about 80% of the annuity like they say? Was the supplement a partial also? Annual leave was direct deposited the next pay period?

    Thanks
    My interim check was more like 90%. If by supplement you mean the Social Security type interim check you get from 60 to 62, I didn't get that one so I don't know. My annual leave was deposited about 2 1/2 months after I retired - just showed up in my account one day. I didn't get the paperwork on it for almost 3 weeks after the $ arrived.

    Lady

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  17. #21

    Join Date
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    Default Re: Freshly Retired - Got Some Questions

    roskopfm: You asked about the Flexible Spending Account (FSA). I never had one of these accounts, so I have no direct knowledge on the subject. However, it took me about 3 minutes to find the answer online! I went to the FSA website ( https://www.fsafeds.com ). On the first page there is a link to a "Did you know...?" section. Jumped to that section, and near the bottom of the page is the answer to your exact question. The answer provided above by XL-entLady is correct: it seems you must "use it or lose it" prior to separation. Your question illustrates exactly what I was talking about when I said you must EDUCATE yourself about all the aspects of retirement. Asking questions here is one way to do it, but I think it is better to ferret out the answers yourself by going to the official sources of information. That way you not only get the answer to your specific question, but you also have the opportunity to learn a lot more. You might find answers to questions you hadn't even thought of!

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  19. #22

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    Default Re: Freshly Retired - Got Some Questions

    clester: Interim payments. I wasn't eligible for the SS supplement, so don't know about that. As for the percentage of the interim payment - my experience seems to agree well with that of XL-entLady. My interim check is 88% of the amount given on my final pre-retirement estimate. As far as timing on the accrued annual leave payment, I did a lot better than XL-entLady. As I noted above, I retired halfway through PP-11. The paycheck for PP-11 was deposited in my account on the normal payday. Then, two weeks later on the next regular payday, the check for my accrued annual leave was deposited in my account! I was surprised it showed up so fast. This is why I think there may be significant differences in the timing of events, depending on each person's individual situation.

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  21. #23

    Join Date
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    Default Re: Freshly Retired - Got Some Questions

    XL-entLady: I concur with your BENEFEDS billing experience - it is a little erratic. My first bill was for 3 months premium, my second bill for 2 months, and the third and forth (just got it yesterday) bills were for one month each. It seems like they have kind of "gotten up to speed" on my account, and the billing has smoothed out. I don't think they are actually too rigid on that "pay or be terminated" date. I had to go out of town for a month right after I retired, and I actually missed paying one of my invoices on time by about a week. Never heard anything about it from them, and the insurance still works, cuz I just used it last month.

    Now it's MY turn to ask a question. Since you just got your OPM booklet, I'm hoping you will know the answer. What exactly was included, and not included, in the interim payments you were receiving? Was income tax withheld? Were your health insurance and life insurance premiums being deducted, or will you have to "make up" the payments on those items? These questions have really been bugging me, which is why I've been anxious to receive my booklet. I was gonna call and ask about it, but since it took you 9 months to get yours, I guess I'll be patient a bit longer. Thanks for any help you can give me, and I'll also take the opportunity to say thanks from all the other people you help with your thoughtful answers to questions. You are one of the "Go To" people on this forum, and your presence is greatly appreciated. Chuck Avery (TSATSO)

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  23. Default Re: Freshly Retired - Got Some Questions

    I retired on May 31,2008. I will relate to you my experience. I was half CSRS and half FERS and ATC to boot so my computation was a little more complex than the average retiree. I did not recieve any interim deposits and it was the end of August that I recieved what was supposed to be my full annuity deposit. Of course it was much lower than the estimate given me by HR so I went to battle. After several back and forth emails(they don't answer their phone much) and several weeks, they saw the light and re-computed my annuity the way it should be. My question is, the new annuity seems a little high and I am wondering how often OPM audits these annuities for accuracy. I am worried that 5 yrs down the line I will get a bill for overpayment. I'm hoping OPM is right when they refigured the higher annuity and my HR person was wrong. As to the folks that are waiting 9 months for there final annuity figure, call and email them because something is not right to be taking that much time. Even with my complexity it only took them around 3 months and that is about the average of all the retirees that I have talked with. Good luck and enjoy retirement.

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