Re: govt. type jobs. least amount of years one st
It was probably an incorrect statement on your mom's part, but i can see how one might look at it that way. Let me explain from a Fed government position.
After 30 yrs of service, and if you're 55, you can get a pension that pays 30% of your original salary, a benefit that climbs by 1% every year after that (with a multiplitive factor that kicks in at 62). On top of that, if you retire under those terms, you get a SS suppliment until you reach 62 when you get your real SS.
By not retiring when you're eligible, you dont get those monies so from a point of view, you're only making your salary minus pension minus SS suppliment. Mathematically those two things would probably never equal the full original salary but they might get close.
Perhaps she was thinking of a 401(k) he might have had too, that he could have annuitized. Annuity + pension + SS suppliment could very well have exceeded his working salary.
All this is to say you lose a lot of things by retiring too; TSP matches, your IRAs are being drawn on now instead of added too, Your potential SS check doesnt grow any more, your potential pension doesnt grown anymore, etc.