Retirement & Financial Planning Report

If you are a FERS employee, you can retire on an immediate unreduced annuity with the following minimum combinations of age and service:
• 62 with 5
• 60 with 20
• at your minimum retirement age (MRA) with 30
• at your MRA with at least 10

MRAs range between 55 and 57, depending on your year of birth—currently it’s 56.

Note: If you retire under the MRA+10 provision, your annuity will be reduced by 5 percent for every year (5/12 of 1 percent per month) that you are under age 62. You can reduce or eliminate that penalty by postponing the receipt of your annuity to a later date.

Just as is true of CSRS, if your agency is offering early retirement opportunities under the Voluntary Early Retirement Authority (VERA), you can retire with the following minimum combinations of age and service:
• 50 with 20
• at any age with 25
*There isn’t any age penalty for retiring before you reach your MRA.

Unlike CSRS, FERS is a retirement system with three parts to it: an annuity, Social Security, and government contributions toward the Thrift Savings Plan.

See also: Retirement Eligibility & FERS Minimum Retirement Age (MRA) at ask.fedweek.com

If you retire at age 60 with 20 years of service or at your MRA with 30 (and below age 62), you’ll be entitled to a special retirement supplement, which approximates the amount of Social Security benefit you earned while a FERS employee. The same is true if you retire under a VERA, but only when you reach your MRA.

The SRS will continue to age 62, when you first become eligible for a Social Security benefit. However, if you have earnings from wages or self employment that exceed the annual Social Security earnings limit, the SRS will be reduced or eliminated before that.

Unlike CSRS, a FERS annuity generally won’t be increased by COLAs until you reach age 62. And your SRS, which ends at age 62, won’t be increased at all.

As mentioned above, if you retire under the MRA+10 provision, you can postpone the receipt of your annuity to a later date to reduce or eliminate the age penalty. If your annuity begins before age 62, you’ll be entitled to the SRS.