Retiring a Year Earlier Than I Thought!

[KimInWis]

Had a nice surprise a couple of months ago. I thought I had another 2 years before I could retire at my Minimum Retirement Age (MRA). A previous colleague of mine was in town visiting and he said "Well, I'm bailing ship on you in Nov".. and I said.. "you can't yet, you (we) have 2 more years (he's same age as me)." He said "No, I'm 56 in Nov".. I said.. "We have to be 57".. he said No.. I said Yes, etc.. etc... then he proved me wrong! Our MRA **IS** 56, and I'll be 56 March 2017! Woo hoo! I just put in my paperwork to get an Estimate Retirement workup for Sept 2017 when I'll have 36 years in Federal IT employment. I did this in 2013 and the numbers were great even back then!
SO... bottom line.... 295 of actual working days.. and that's without vacation or sick leave!
I'm definitely going to be making this board my 2nd home until then!

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[Dawg52]

Congrats. The next 295 days will go fast. Easy to put up with the bs knowing the exit date is less than a year.

 

[Big_Hitter]

what's MRA?

 

[KimInWis]

MRA = Minimum Retirement Age

 

[Big_Hitter]

for what? seems like that is age 0 for most of us

 

[KimInWis]

In the Federal Govt.. your MRA depends on the year you were born.
So for me, my MRA is age 56. This means.. I have to be at least 56 years old with 30yrs in service before I can even THINK about retiring without penalty.
I already have 35 years in service, so I was just waiting to reach my MRA before I threw in the towel.

 

[Big_Hitter]

In the Federal Govt.. your MRA depends on the year you were born.
So for me, my MRA is age 56. This means.. I have to be at least 56 years old with 30yrs in service before I can even THINK about retiring without penalty.
I already have 35 years in service, so I was just waiting to reach my MRA before I threw in the towel.

Ah okay thanks

 

[Car-Guy]

In the Federal Govt.. your MRA depends on the year you were born.
So for me, my MRA is age 56. This means.. I have to be at least 56 years old with 30yrs in service before I can even THINK about retiring without penalty.
I already have 35 years in service, so I was just waiting to reach my MRA before I threw in the towel.

I retired at ~60, but "could have/should have" retired at 56 or 57, Really wish I "would have" since those are years I'd like to have back for enjoying retirement.

Congratulations.

 

[Walt34]

Sometimes, surprises are good!

 

[ABQ2015]

How exiting! Welcome to the Class of 2017!!! I'm also a federal employee retiring in September 2017 although at age 62 with 32 years as I started late.

 

[highlow65]

Congrats, must have been a special day for you

 

[KimInWis]

Actually it was like Oh No! I need to get busy, I only have a year!!

 

[mystang52]

Bravo!

 

[Katiek]

Congrats!

 

[Golden sunsets]

Congrats. Are you CSRS or FERS?


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[KimInWis]

Fers

 

[Luv 2 Travel]

Fers

Ditto. I just reached 20 with MRA. I can punch but it's a huge hit. Trying to hold for another 1047 days. But who's counting?

 

[Proteus126]

I actually like FERS. I wouldn't say I prefer it to CSRS, but I do like the diversified nature relative to CSRS. Just speaking personally, I don't see being a FERS employee as being a negative.

In FERS you get about half the pension of CSRS (1% per year worked vice 2% x your high-3 salary) with a mildly watered down COLA relative to CSRS full COLA.

You get Social Security. CSRS didn't, although I guess you could go back to work to get your 40 quarters after your fed career is done. Not exactly a core part of the ER philosophy, however.

You get the TSP (401k plan) which they match 5%, and in which you can build both non-Roth and Roth balances as you see fit. CSRS didn't. 5% is really great in this day and age.

If you save reasonably you are golden in the TSP. Between the pension and SS you get about half your final salary inflation-indexed (mostly) for the rest of your life. You also get the SS offset (3/4 of age 62 benefit) between MRA and age 62.

Solid system. Very nice post-retirement income stream, with the opportunity to build some real wealth on the TSP side.

 

[Golden sunsets]

Kimin; Did you attend a retirement seminar? That was a very valuable conference that DH(who was CSRS-Offset) attended and spouses were also invited to attend. I think all government agencies have to provide a retirement seminar, so you might want to check.


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[KimInWis]

Yes, I've attended a couple of different retirement seminars. Very informative and I'm sitting pretty darn good!