Best Date To Retire – Whenever

A strategically-minded fed recently e-mailed us this queston: ” What is the best day to retire in the year 2017?”

2017?

Now that’s thinking ahead! I don’t know what or where I’m going to have dinner tonight. I was late for work because I couldn’t find my shoes. Yet this person is looking 9 years into the future. Smart move. Planning minimizes mistakes.

And there are two answers to the “best date” question:

1. The best date is the one that works for you. The date that gives you the maximum benefit to guarantee a long retirement where you won’t have to eat dog food. It could be any month that best suits you and your plans.
2. The largest number of retirements take place in December or January. If that is your time frame, consider December 31 (for FERS employees) or January 1, or 3 for CSRS employees. Because…

If you retire on the 31st (FERS) or of December, or January 1, 2 or 3rd, several good things will happen:

• You will be able to carry over the maximum amount of annual leave, and be paid for that unused annual leave.
• Most of the annual leave payment you receive will be based on the new higher pay rate, rather than the rate in effect when you actually retire. For instance of you retire Dec. 31, 2008 under the FERS system, or January 1-3 under the CSRS system, most of your lump sum annual leave payment will be made at the new higher 2009 rate. Even though it takes effect after you are gone.
• Finally, that lump sum annual leave will be counted as part of your 2009 income for tax purposes.

The person who discovered this miracle of timing, and who first made it available to us, is benefits expert Tammy Flanagan. She’s with the National Institute of Transition Planning and also is a columnist for Government Executive magazine.

She bases the “best date” on the following:

CIVIL SERVICE RETIREMENT SYSTEM: If you are under that system and retire on the first through the third day of the month, your annuity starts the following day. “Set any other date,” she wrote in GovExec, “and the annuity will kick in on the FIRST DAY of the following month.”

FEDERAL EMPLOYEES RETIREMENT SYSTEM: Regardless of which date you pick, the annuity starts on the first day of the FOLLOWING month.

Hope that helps!

Next, the mystery of my missing shoes. They turned up. One in the bathtub. The other under the bed. Grady, a mischievous and easily-bored black and white pup who is visiting my house is at the center of the investigation.

Nearly Useless Factoid

There are 284 rest rooms in the Pentagon. According to their website, it was constructed with twice the number of bathrooms needed for the number of employees at the time (1941) because segregated Virginia required separate facilities for “white” and “colored” persons.

To reach me: mcausey@federalnewsradio.com

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