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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]GS15 
Lawyer
$175k now
50 years old 
15 years in gov

Ballpark pension if stay: 175k x 30 (years) x 1.1% = ~$58k
Ballpark pension if leave: 175k x 15 (years) x 1%= ~$26k
(I realize salary will grow so Est pension isn’t 100% correct)

Given the above, what is the min salary you would accept from private sector to leave?[/quote]
Don't forget the effects of inflation, OP.

If you stay with the feds another 12 years (you could actually retire at 62 with 27 years of service), the pension would be ~$52k, adjusted for inflation.  Assume 4% inflation per year for the next 15 years, and that would be abut $83k in 2034 dollars.  If you left now and took deferred retirement, you could get $26k/year when you hit 62—but that, too, is in 2034 dollars.

Retire at 65, and those numbers become about $104k in 2027 dollars if you stay a fed...and still $26k if you take deferred retirement.

Hang on until you're 68, and those numbers become $129k (and $26k) in 2030 dollars.

Of course, all that assumes that federal salaries will keep up with inflation, and they don't (especially the cap).  So the actual inflation-adjusted numbers will be lower if you stay.  But I assume you get the idea: over the next 12-18 years, inflation will make a much bigger difference than your numbers suggest.

Also, don't forget that if you do leave, you can cash out your FERS contributions and and invest it.  You've been a fed long enough that your contributions are still only 0.8%, so even over 15 years I don't think cashing out will get you enough money that you can do better than the pension by investing it, but it may at least be worth running the numbers.[/quote]

These calculations confuse me. What’s with the inflation adjustment? Fed salaries aren’t being adjusted for inflation at all. We might get some minor 1-2 percent increases.[/quote]

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