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In the civilian LEO community it is common for officers to have a pension available to them after 20 years. I was not aware of an age requirement.
It is also common, for any prior military service to be 'counted' into your 20 year career in LEO. They simply want you to contribute into the pension fund to make up for those years.
So if a LEO had served in the military for 6 years, and then went to work in a civilian PD; he could pay into their pension fund 6-years worth [automatic allotments from his paycheck], and after 14 years in that PD he would become eligible for their 20-year pension.
I'm sorry but that is not correct as far as federal law enforcement retirement is concerned. Even someone with military service as an MP for example, would still need to put in 20 years as a civilian law enfrocement officer in order to be eligible to retire under the enhanced provisions of CSRS or FERS hazardous duty retirement.
Although the military service will be credited, it is only AFTER the 20 years of civilian FERS service is accomplished.
I have no knowledge of how municipal government retirement systems are structured, so I don't answer those types of questions with information that may be erroneous. However, I am an expert on federal retirement and am well-qualified to address those issues.
My last tour of duty was doing LEO work. I joined one of the LEO unions while on that duty station [FOP]. As a F.O.P. member here stateside I have attended a few of their meetings, and I have been rubbing elbows with civilian LEO at those meetings.
One of my elder brothers did 6 years in the Army [doing intell work] followed by a civilian LEO career. His Army time did count in that civilian PD, which is the norm within the LEO community coast-to-coast. He did pay into their pension fund, to contribute into it to make up for those years. After 14 years in that PD he did become eligible for their 20-year pension, and he did retire on that pension. Just as thousands of other LEOs do nationwide.
I was offered [via my F.O.P. connections] a follow-on civilian LEO career. Most of my military career was not LEO related [I only did 2 tours of LEO duties]. I was told that I could have contributed to their pension fund to account for some of my military career time. However it was never made clear to me, if there would be a limit to how many years of my military career would 'count' for their civilian pension. It was guessed that a former US servicemember could likely do up to 50% of the civilian LEO department's normal time, but nobody there seemed to know for certain. I did not accept the offer [I like being retired] and today they do not have any openings due to the economy.
I know many LEO who have done this, and a few who are doing this. As well as my own brother who did it. And I have been offered the option of doing such myself.
I do not know much about the FERS system. I am only familiar with the Federal DOD's system and how municipal PDs seem to handle their LEO.
My last tour of duty was doing LEO work. I joined one of the LEO unions while on that duty station [FOP]. As a F.O.P. member here stateside I have attended a few of their meetings, and I have been rubbing elbows with civilian LEO at those meetings.
One of my elder brothers did 6 years in the Army [doing intell work] followed by a civilian LEO career. His Army time did count in that civilian PD, which is the norm within the LEO community coast-to-coast. He did pay into their pension fund, to contribute into it to make up for those years. After 14 years in that PD he did become eligible for their 20-year pension, and he did retire on that pension. Just as thousands of other LEOs do nationwide.
I was offered [via my F.O.P. connections] a follow-on civilian LEO career. Most of my military career was not LEO related [I only did 2 tours of LEO duties]. I was told that I could have contributed to their pension fund to account for some of my military career time. However it was never made clear to me, if there would be a limit to how many years of my military career would 'count' for their civilian pension. It was guessed that a former US servicemember could likely do up to 50% of the civilian LEO department's normal time, but nobody there seemed to know for certain. I did not accept the offer [I like being retired] and today they do not have any openings due to the economy.
I know many LEO who have done this, and a few who are doing this. As well as my own brother who did it. And I have been offered the option of doing such myself.
I do not know much about the FERS system. I am only familiar with the Federal DOD's system and how municipal PDs seem to handle their LEO.
Retiring at a 'young' age is great!
Nobody is disputing your own experience. Only that it is not the same for everybody across the board in the federal Civil Service as well as all municipalities across the nation. Your specific retirement and LEO experience is a relatively small subset of the over all public servant benefit structure and it affords a higher benefit at a younger age than most can qualify for. I'm glad it works out for you, but I do not have the same options and would not unless I followed the exact same path.
That you could not get a clear answer to your own prospect of civilian LEO employment benefits should tell you something. The federal civil service rules are clear cut and fully public. They apply to everyone who meets the criteria. Municipalities do whatever they set up and have nothing to do with the federal civilian service. If they allow military time to count, they do so because they decided to do so. They are not obligated by anything the federal govt. does. Furthermore, state and local employment does not count towards subsequent federal retirements at all. There is no pay back option.
I was talking to my daughter the other day on the phone. She asked me, "what did you do today?"
I replied, "nothing". She then asked, "what are you going to do tomorrow?" I replied, "I haven't finished yesterday's job".
I'm sorry but that is not correct as far as federal law enforcement retirement is concerned. Even someone with military service as an MP for example, would still need to put in 20 years as a civilian law enfrocement officer in order to be eligible to retire under the enhanced provisions of CSRS or FERS hazardous duty retirement.
Although the military service will be credited, it is only AFTER the 20 years of civilian FERS service is accomplished.
I have no knowledge of how municipal government retirement systems are structured, so I don't answer those types of questions with information that may be erroneous. However, I am an expert on federal retirement and am well-qualified to address those issues.
That really depends on the retirement system. In Texas you can buy you military time into the system and its increased by matching by employer . In 20 years combined time you can retire or any time your 60. This is with the Texas municpal retirement system.Many counties systems are different. There is even alot of local options such as rate of comtibtuion by per cenatge;how its matched and COL.In my system the employeee contibutes all the money until he/she retires . The the city double that amount and provide COL.When the system makes over 5% interest for a year it also distributes a formulaed extra checks at the end of year to retirees beyond the fixed amount for guranteed annuity.
I'm sorry but that is not correct as far as federal law enforcement retirement is concerned. Even someone with military service as an MP for example, would still need to put in 20 years as a civilian law enfrocement officer in order to be eligible to retire under the enhanced provisions of CSRS or FERS hazardous duty retirement.
Quote:
Originally Posted by texdav
That really depends on the retirement system. In Texas you can buy you military time into the system and its increased by matching by employer . In 20 years combined time you can retire or any time your 60. This is with the Texas municpal retirement system.Many counties systems are different. There is even alot of local options such as rate of comtibtuion by per cenatge;how its matched and COL.In my system the employeee contibutes all the money until he/she retires . The the city double that amount and provide COL.When the system makes over 5% interest for a year it also distributes a formulaed extra checks at the end of year to retirees beyond the fixed amount for guranteed annuity.
I'm only going to state this one more time.
I have highlighted the relevant part of my post to once again point out that I am referring to the FEDERAL retirement systems.
Not Texas.
Not any municipalities.
F - E - D - E - R - A - L.
You need 20 years of federal civilian service in a position designated as hazardous duty in order to retire under the special enhanced provisions of hazardous duty/law enforcement.
This really shouldn't be that hard of a concept to grasp.
I think the key is to stay active and do things that are meaningful to you. In that sense, you'll never be retired, whether you are being paid for it or not.
But if all you do is sit home and watch TV most of the time, then it is better to work.
Glad you have a perspective on what works for YOU. I am sure others have a plan that is different and works for them.
Has anyone had second thoughts of retiring too early?
I retired at 55. Some of my co-workers thought that was a bad decision saying that was too early to retire, but I could afford to getting a full pension after 34 years of service. That was two years ago and I find I don't miss work at all. I enjoy my free time golfing and travelling. I have a casual position driving cars for a dealership and do that when I am not busy for something to do and it gives me some extra cash.
I did the same thing, retiring at an early age. I retired from the Federal Gov't. I do however work part time for a car rental agency. I work 3 days a week and can take off when I want to. I do keep my time off to a minimum right now though due to the sluggish economy, and the fact the company has been laying off.
I do not miss having a full time career at all anymore after 31 years with the Gov't.
FERS is an acronym for the Federal Employees Retirement System and covers civilian employees employed by the federal government since the mid 1980s. It is a three-tiered retirement system that consists of a basic annuity, a 401(k) style plan in which the government contributes up to 5% of salary depending upon the employee's contribution, and Social Security. Since FERS employees can retire in their 50s, they receive a special supplement until they are eligible for Social Security at age 62. The formula for the annuity is roughly 1% of an employee's highest three years averaged earnings for each year worked.
With regard to the other statement about the federal government requiring 20 years of service for a pension, that only applies to military retirees. Civilian employees can retire with as little as 5 years of employment if they are at least 62. They can also retire at their minimum retirement age (55-57 depending upon their DOB) with as little as 10 years of service. This is referred to as MRA +10, but there is a reduction in the annuity formula for people who retire under this provision. People in hazardous duty positions (law enforcement, fire fighters, etc.) can retire with 20 years service, but they have to be at least 50 years old. They can retire at any age with 25 years of service. For most civilian employees, full retirement constitutes 30 years of service with retirement eligibility at their MRA.
That is a brief explanation of the current federal retirement system without getting into all of the nuances. I hope that explanation has been beneficial.
Has FERs been in existence for 30 years, yet? It could just be people (non-hazardous, non-law enforcement, non-militay) I know under FERS don't have 30 years of service even if they are older than I am. Then they wouldn't get the special supplement until they're SS eligible.
Has FERs been in existence for 30 years, yet? It could just be people (non-hazardous, non-law enforcement, non-militay) I know under FERS don't have 30 years of service even if they are older than I am. Then they wouldn't get the special supplement until they're SS eligible.
No, FERS is not 30 years old. But some people converted to it who would have age and years.
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