Can you work it to have option of Fed health insurance for lifetime?

Anonymous wrote:OP; I am not law enforcement...but can retire if VERA/VSIP is offered at 50yo. If I retire at 57 MRA, I will have 36 years in service and top-3 would be ~170k. We live modestly and our mortgage is almost paid off.

Okay, so the estimated pension of 5,000 you stated up thread is what you would get (pre deductions) if you wait until you reach your MRA…not if you take VERA, which was what you originally posted to ask about and in which case your pension would be significantly less.

This is why everyone is confused and not able to give you a good answer.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You haven't shared very much with us to help you make that decision. But if I were you, I would focus on increasing the amount in your TSP.

Yeah, that's a low TSP for so many years worked.

Right? Were you in G fund the whole time? If you put it in C, at least maxed out, and let it ride the whole time you would have much more.

OP; I am not law enforcement...but can retire if VERA/VSIP is offered at 50yo. If I retire at 57 MRA, I will have 36 years in service and top-3 would be ~170k. We live modestly and our mortgage is almost paid off.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:VERA won’t be offered in two years.

Do you have a crystal ball?!

I don’t, but I can see where the wind is blowing.

Anonymous wrote:VERA won’t be offered in two years.

Do you have a crystal ball?!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

The SS supplement is in the current bill for removal. If it doesn’t happen in this bill, it will eventually get cut.

Effective for retirement on or after January 1, 2028, and not applicable to law enforcement.

ah. If op is law enforcement, then their high-three is more like 135000, so a smaller TSP makes a little more sense, but it is still too light. While they might be able to pick up work that makes up the rest of their salary, it might not be as easy as it seems, and they still need to save more for retirement and college costs. But I can understand wanting to pivot out of law enforcement. But again, OP would be eligible to retire now with more than 25 years of service, and might as well. I don't see how waiting really benefits them as long as they understand they definitely need to find a civilian job.

Exactly - if op was law enforcement then they wouldn’t need to be looking at VERA to retire at 50. My guess is they’re just confused about their actual entitlements.

Anonymous wrote:

The SS supplement is in the current bill for removal. If it doesn’t happen in this bill, it will eventually get cut.

Effective for retirement on or after January 1, 2028, and not applicable to law enforcement.

ah. If op is law enforcement, then their high-three is more like 135000, so a smaller TSP makes a little more sense, but it is still too light. While they might be able to pick up work that makes up the rest of their salary, it might not be as easy as it seems, and they still need to save more for retirement and college costs. But I can understand wanting to pivot out of law enforcement. But again, OP would be eligible to retire now with more than 25 years of service, and might as well. I don't see how waiting really benefits them as long as they understand they definitely need to find a civilian job.

The SS supplement is in the current bill for removal. If it doesn’t happen in this bill, it will eventually get cut.

Effective for retirement on or after January 1, 2028, and not applicable to law enforcement.

As another poster said, you may be over estimating your pension. GS-15 took a VERA with 30 years of service at age 50 and my pension is about 3k per month. My high 3 is 15-10 from 2019 so 170k. Not sure how you are getting to 5K. I don't get the FERs supplement since I am not 57 and not COLAs. Your kids are young - work while you can.

Anonymous wrote:Should I take a VERA/VSIP if offered again in two years? Will be 50yo with 30 years of service. TSP will be at 350k, lots of equity in my current home (can move somewhere cheaper) and my investment property ~1m. Kids will be 11 and 9. DH will be 60 and still working.

You’re eligible for it right now. If I were you, I’d take it and get a job in the private sector.

Anonymous wrote:VERA won’t be offered in two years.

Do you think it will be offered next year?

Anonymous wrote:OP--DH will be drawing a military pension and working at the same time until 62 making ~180/190K a year. Both of us are government employees in a good employable field. His TSP will be about the same maybe more. My pension will be about 5K (pre-tax) a month plus other benefits like SSA supplement and another 1K per month from a prior employer. I plan to work somewhere part-time as well for groceries, discretional spending, etc.

are you at the federal reserve, or somewhere else with a higher multiplier? because otherwise, not being 62, your multiplier would be 1% per year. To get to a $5k a month pension at 30 years of service, you would have to be making at least $200,000 now. To be making $200k and have a 30-year TSP that you project will be only $350k in two more years boggles the mind. I've only been a fed for 10 years and my TSP is at $600k, and I feel behind. What is your TSP at now? What funds is it in? Do you have 529s set up? I also think its highly unlikely the supplement survives in the intervening 9 years (supplement only starts at MRA), you should exclude it from your calculations.

Honestly, not much changes if you were to take a VERA now rather than in 2 years- either way I think you'd need to continue working, just maybe not in the federal gov. But since you aren't trying to lock in the health insurance benefit, instead relying on your husbands, I don't see how well it benefits you. You need to be saving a lot more for your own retirement, and likely for college tuition as well. And retiring at 50 from the federal government and picking up only part-time work without a 401k means you lose access to catch-up retirement contributions. Moving and accessing your home equity means uprooting your kids from their schools at kind of a critical point, as well.

Of course, if you have a non-retirement $3mil brokerage account or something that you forgot to mention, then retire away.

VERA won’t be offered in two years.

If it were me, I would keep working until all kids are finished with their (undergrad) college degrees, then evaluate. YMMV.