Re: Take this job and shove it

must be nice to get 85% in less than 30 years. what system are you under?

Re: Take this job and shove it

DOE or DOO? "an" or "and"? Perhaps u were incompentent.

Re: Take this job and shove it

85% of his/her take home pay is probably close to 50% of his gross monthly pay. Sounds like CSRS to me.

Re: Take this job and shove it

I don't know how you figure you are getting 85% plus of your take home pay with just a little over 29 years of service. Your calculations seem to be off - 85% plus of your take home pay? I don't think so - unless you left out some other information.

Re: What happens to the Federal Contribution?

Well, if they're quitting now with only 5 or 10 years of service, more likely than not they're FERS.

But if not, CSRS employees may withdraw their retriement monies. And, should they return to federal service, they may even redeposit them in hopes of eventually earning a CSRS annuity.

Or they can leave their monies where they are and go for a deferred retirement when they hit age 62 (I'm pretty sure it's 62).

Re: What happens to the Federal Contribution?

You end up like a relative of mine - she took her money out of her CSRS retirement, never to return. Now she is close to 70 years old and there is nothing in CSRS - she has to live off of a little over $500 a month in social security benefits. She got very little (a lump sum) from a company that went out of business. What you put into CSRS, you should leave in... then when you get to retirement age, you can receive retirement money. If you take out what you put in, you lose whatever portion the government was going to give to you at retirement.

Re: What happens to the Federal Contribution?

I'm sorry about your aging relative who took her money out, but it really hits at a major point...people need to invest in their futures. That means TSP, IRA and other investments and savings. I know one kid I hired 20 years ago who borrowed from her TSP to buy a Pontiac Firebird Trans-Am...which went to her hubby in the divorce. She'll never recover from that. And she's not alone in that stupidity.

Take 10% and ALWAYS pay yourself first, like a rent payment. You'll make it on the rest. Truly, anyone who doesn't retire after 30 years service as a millionaire is a certifiable fool carrying a long list of empty excuses and unwise sacrifices. A career GS-3 is a $900,000 30-year enterprise - and that's not considering annual increases. Think, behave and develop yourself like one.

Re: What happens to the Federal Contribution?

If a CSRS employee takes their contribution out when they leave and then never returns to federal service, they have no options at age 62. They would have to return and re-deposit (or not depending on arcane rules that we won't get into here) their money to be entitled to anything.

Re: BENIFITS

"Benefits" is spelled incorrectly, can't change it...Anyhow:
If you leave on medical disability after 6 years of service and provided you have had health benefits (FEHB) for at least 5 years (or from the first time you were eligible), you can keep your FEHB. Under FERS you must apply for social security disability also. If you are approved for social security benefits, your FERS benefits will be reduced by the amount of social security benefits. So, if you are entitled to $700 a month for social security and $700 a month for FERS disability retirement benefits, you will end up with less than half of that (and they will take out for life insurance and health benefits) This means that you will end up with $90 to $100 or so from FERS and $570 to $600 from social security for a total of about $670 a month. (At full retirement age, you would receive full FERS benefits.) Do you think that you could live off of that? And, every few months you must be re-evaluated for your disability.

Re: BENIFITS

This is for the USDA Analyst (barracks lawyer) that seems to keep up with civilian benefits....

Army has a nice ABC-C, the center for us to ask our benefits questions, or go on line. Unfortunately, it's not as easy as answering one of these articles! They should take note and starte a web based "blog" through one of the newlsetters -- but I digress....

Question: On the deferred retirement are you able to pick up FEHB again at the time of retirement? One of the replies in this list said you couldn't carry it and that sounds familiar to me (don't take this as a slam on my HR title - I've been out of the benefits arena for most of the last 12 yrs - Army only trains its ABC-C folks now, and I've slept since then), anyway - I seem to remember that you had to have FEHB for the last 5 years just prior to retirement. I could seriously consider the deferred retirement part - but would want those medical benefits at retirement. What do know about this? Thanks!

Re: BENIFITS

From what I know you can't. I was going to leave a few years back because I was thinking that I could pick up my FEHB later. But I found out that it was not the case so I decided to stay and deal with it for a few more years. I thought about leaving the government and going into private industry, but I found out that most private industry firms do not cover retirees health benefit costs. So I am staying with the government until I can leave with all of the benefits that I have worked so hard for.

Re: BENIFITS

Correct. To paraphrase the old song "One Meatball", "You gets no FEHB with Deferred Retirement".

Re: BENIFITS

Hey, I just looked up the lyrics to "One Meatball." That's cute, old really really really old, but cute (written in 1868?).

Re: Take this job and shove it?

Yes, lay low. FERS folks please remember these facts:(1) you will never receive a COLA until you are age 62. That's right, a regular FERS employee can retire at MRE with 30 years of service but not get any COLA for years until you reach age 62. That loss to inflation is huge. (2) Once you get a COLA it is basically CPI minus 1%. Yes, you get a full COLA up to 2% of inflation but for higher amounts (which it most certainly will be) you will lose 1% of your purchasing power each and every year. FERS retired for 30 years--you lose 30% of purchasing power. (3) FERS folks--your retirement is a huge bet on the financial markets. Yes, stocks and bonds have returned 6% to 10% annually for decades but that is not a sure bet for the future. I would not be surprised to see stocks crash in the future and inflation rage at 4% to 5% annually. (5) Dange: War, America's national debt, unproductive future generations, smart and hard working foreign nations taking the lead, mass terror attack, etc.

Re: Take This Job and Shove It

As hard as times are now? Please tell your brother in law not to "cut off his nose to spite his face." Stay and make them miserable - I believe that some supervisors get a kick out of "sticking" it to people. Outlast them and leave when you can take full advantage of your benefits. Don't let them have the satisfaction.