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Is Retirement On Your Christmas List?

John Faith
December 4, 2014

Many Federal Employees See the End fo the Year as a Good Time To Retire

Are you planning to retire at the end of the year, starting 2015 as a retiree instead of an active Federal employee? You might hear a number of rules and reasons when you should retire. However, the day you retire is a very personal decision hopefully based on planning and sharing with your family and close friends. Everybody’s circumstances are different and should not be compared to anyone else’s.

Many people start planning for retirement 20 or more years prior while others allow retirement to creep up on them. Whether you fit into the first group, the second or none, when you retire is a decision that is yours and yours alone. Nobody knows better what your circumstances are and how you are equipped to deal with them. You do, however, want to get the greatest value possible out of your benefits when you retire.

You want to make sure you are retiring at a time where you have gotten the maximum benefit from your annual and sick leave. For both the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) and the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) sick leave adds value to your retirement so you want to save as much as possible. Only months and years are used when calculating your years of service, days are dropped off. If you need to work a while longer so that your days can be turned into months or perhaps years, hold on a while longer if you can to reap the benefits.

By the same token, save up as much annual leave as allowed because you will need it if you have to wait to receive your annuity. Your annual leave lump sum payment generally gets to you fairly quickly and can often serve as a gap filler while waiting on your annuity check. Even when you receive your annuity check, it might be an interim check which is not equivalent to your full retirement annuity. Although your lump sum annual leave check is generally taxed at the 20 percent rate, it will still be a life saver if you need extra money and your budget is tight.

It might be a good idea to delay costly vacations when preparing to retire and save your leave to enhance the way you are able to live in retirement. On the other hand, you might have a completely different perspective on how you should handle your leave and your retirement years. Whatever decision you make, be certain you have done your homework, put some plans in place so that your retirement is comfortable and secure.

P. S. Always Remember to Share What You Know.