FERS Question

[Anonymous]

This might be an easy answer but u couldn’t figure it out from the OPM website. I am a federal employee in my mid 30s and have been working for the federal government for about 10 years. If I decide to leave government service, and never return, how would my pension through FERS be calculated taking into account inflation/cost of living adjustments? I know the calculation is 1 percent of your high-3 average salary for each year of service. But is that amount adjusted at all when I turn 62 and retire?

[Anonymous]

No adjustment

[Anonymous]

short answer is no adjustments to the base FERS pension, but there are COLA adjustments once you are receiving a pension and are over 62.

Aka, ideally you'd try to get rehired by the federal gov before retiring, otherwise the pension will just be a smol monthly bump thanks to basically only being 10% of whatever salary you made in 2023.

[Anonymous]

Just stick with the Fed job. It is much better than the private sector in terms of stability, work-life balance and stress levels. IMO, it is not worth quitting unless you can get a job offer that is more than double the cap on fed salaries. So unless they want to pay you 400k+ probably not worth it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just stick with the Fed job. It is much better than the private sector in terms of stability, work-life balance and stress levels. IMO, it is not worth quitting unless you can get a job offer that is more than double the cap on fed salaries. So unless they want to pay you 400k+ probably not worth it.

Pretty much this! DH is a fed and I do envy him.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just stick with the Fed job. It is much better than the private sector in terms of stability, work-life balance and stress levels. IMO, it is not worth quitting unless you can get a job offer that is more than double the cap on fed salaries. So unless they want to pay you 400k+ probably not worth it.

Pretty much this! DH is a fed and I do envy him.

NP. Same here. My Fed spouse is 40 years old, makes around $170K/year. Works from home. Never has to work evenings or weekends. Has complete job security. Only has to travel 2X a year for a few days. I make $255K/year, but in a very high stress job, have to work longer hours at various points in the year, and I work at the office. I am jealous of the low stress, completely flexible, work from home, make good bank, and not have to worry about losing your job all the time work life.

[Anonymous]

If your Fed husband dies at age 50, does the widowed spouse get the pension? Do they have to wait until a certain age for it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just stick with the Fed job. It is much better than the private sector in terms of stability, work-life balance and stress levels. IMO, it is not worth quitting unless you can get a job offer that is more than double the cap on fed salaries. So unless they want to pay you 400k+ probably not worth it.

It depends. My spouse worked very long hours as a Fed. Salary was fine and pension was OK. But she left and tripled her Fed salary over the next three years. Still works long hours and travels, but no worse than as a Fed. If you are very good, job security isn't something you worry about much...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If your Fed husband dies at age 50, does the widowed spouse get the pension? Do they have to wait until a certain age for it?

Yes, "If a FERS employee dies, recurring monthly payments may be made to the surviving spouse if the deceased employee completed at least 10 years of creditable service (18 months of which must be civilian service)" https://www.opm.gov/retirement-center/fers-information/survivors/