What is the retirement?

badbudda

New Member
Can anyone shed light on retirement benefits? After 20 years, 25 years, etc. I can't find info on this any where.
 
Under FERS, we have a defined pension plan and also a thrift savings plan. The defined pension plan works out where you multiply your total years of service * 1.7 and then add another percent for each year over 20 which then gives you the percentage of your highest three years you will get. I calculated it out where I will get 50% of my pay(avg of high 3) at 26 years. The TSP is basically a government 401K. You can put up to a max of $15,500 per year and the government will match up to 5%. Its a pretty sweet retirement setup we have. You can retire at 20 years if you are 50 or else you have to put in 25 yrs to retire at any age.Let me know if you have any other questions. They will go over all of this with you on day one at the academy.
 
https://employees.faa.gov/employee_services/retirement/atc_new_hire/

About 1/4 way down the page you'll find what you're looking for. This is straight from the page:

If you were first hired after January 1, 1984, in a non-temporary appointment, you are a Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) employee. FERS is a three-tiered program consisting of Thrift Savings Plan (TSP), Social Security, and a FERS annuity. A detailed explanation of FERS can be found in the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) booklet FERS (An Overview of Your Benefits).

HD
 
https://employees.faa.gov/employee_services/retirement/atc_new_hire/

About 1/4 way down the page you'll find what you're looking for. This is straight from the page:

If you were first hired after January 1, 1984, in a non-temporary appointment, you are a Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) employee. FERS is a three-tiered program consisting of Thrift Savings Plan (TSP), Social Security, and a FERS annuity. A detailed explanation of FERS can be found in the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) booklet FERS (An Overview of Your Benefits).

HD

Great info. Both parents are in civil service but I wasn't aware ATC comes under FERS and has TSP. This isn't bad at all!
 
Under FERS, we have a defined pension plan and also a thrift savings plan. The defined pension plan works out where you multiply your total years of service * 1.7 and then add another percent for each year over 20 which then gives you the percentage of your highest three years you will get. I calculated it out where I will get 50% of my pay(avg of high 3) at 26 years.

Could you please clarify how you figured 50% from rates you listed? I did:

26 Years:

20 Years @ 1.7% = 34%

6 Years @ 1.0 % = 6%

34% + 6% = 40%

Where is the extra 10% from? Or did I do the math wrong?
 
This was in my answer to another thread, so I cut, editorialized, and pasted it for your review.
First, you can retire at 25 years of "good time" if you're eligible under age 50, or at 50 with 20 years "good time." You must retire the last day in the month which you turn 56.
You get 1.7% for the first 20 years, then 1% addl for each year after that. If you had military time, this would add on as 1% per year also, but does not count toward your 20 or 25 required "good time" dependent on your age. So you work for 25 years, all good time, in the FAA, you get 39% of the average of your "highest 3 years of consecutive (base + locaility, not differentials) pay". If your high-3 average was $100,000, you would get $39,000 annually. If you had 4 years of military time, you could add an addl 4% to that 39% figure, so your annual pension would be $43,000 per year pension.
You also get a social security supplement in addition to your pension from the time you retire until you reach age age 62 when you will start recieveing a real SS check. This figure is roughly 65% of what you would get if you look on that statement you get every year near your B-Day from the Social Security Admin. If you take the figure on that statement where it says on the top of the 2nd page, "If you have earned enough credits to qualify for benefits. At you current earnings rate, if you stop working.....at age 62, your payment would be (insert amount here). As another example, my figure is $1593 per month. The formula is as follows: You divide the number of years you served under the Federal Employee Retirement System (we'll use 29 years again for calculation - your 25 years of FAA ATC + 4 years military) by 40 = So, 29 / 40 = 0.725. Then you take that figure and multiply it by your number off the SS Statement (we'll use my $1593 figure just for the sake of the example) = 0.725 x $1593 = $1154.92 is what I would get monthly from when I retire (at age 48) until I turn age 62. Remember this is in addition to your pension check of $43,000 annually.
Retirements are paid once monthly instead of bi-weekly. So figure $43,000 / 12 months = $3583.33 + 1154.92 = $4738.25 is what you'd recive from the govt monthly when you retire before taxes and your share of health insurance premiums (the govt still pays their part even efter you retire), and other insurances you select to have, etc..

As for the 401K plan, its called "Thift Savings Plan" or "TSP" in govt service. The maximum you can put in annually right now is $15,500 per year. I put in $596 per pay period, and the FAA matches me ON PAY DAY(it is not deferred like Comair and ASA does to its employees) with $235.88. I have always maxed this out since the day I started, so I cannot remember the formula for their match, but you can find more info at www.tsp.gov.
 
DR

are you sure that military time counts twards the SSI sup,i was told that it dose not, that only FERS time is what is counted.
 
Queeno,
I was not military, so I may be wrong on including that in the SSI Sup. But the rest is correct. Its been awhile since I went to a retirement briefing, I built that post out of my notes from a seminar about 2 years ago.
DR
 
Queeno,
I was not military, so I may be wrong on including that in the SSI Sup. But the rest is correct. Its been awhile since I went to a retirement briefing, I built that post out of my notes from a seminar about 2 years ago.
DR

i havent been to one yet,but some of my peeps said that military buy back time didnt count for the SSI sup, thanks.
 
sorry dude but the 1.7% is only for the first 20 years than 1% per year on any years after 20.


This is what I was assuming with my calculations, and this seems to more closely match the verbage from the FAA website.

Thanks for clarifying.
 
You are correct!!!

This is from the OPM website.
Firefighters, Law Enforcement Officers, and Air Traffic Controllers
These groups of employees receive an unreduced benefit at age 50 with 20 years of service, or at any age with 25 years of service. Your annual annuity is:
<B>
1.7% of your high-3 average pay $100,000 X .017=$1700
times
years of service 29 x $1700= $49,300
plus
1.0% of your high-3 average pay $100,000 x .01= $1,000
times
years of service exceeding 20 $1,000 x 9 = $9,000


so 49,300 + $9,000 = $58,300
</B>​

 
esw, I think the faa website contradicts that information. To quote:

"
Your annuity is:

  • 1.7 percent x the high-3 average salary for the first 20 years of service
  • 1 percent x the high-3 average salary for the years of service over 20"
So it would be more like:

$100,000.00 Average:

$100,000.00 X 1.7% = $1700

$1700 X 20yrs (the first 20 years of service) = $34,000.00

Then:

$100,000.00 X 1% = $1000.00

$1000.00 X 9yrs = $9,000.00

$34,000.00 + $9,000.00 = $43,000.00
 
Queeno,
I looked thru the booklet provided by a NATCA Retirement Briefing (from about 3 years ago) and you are right, the military time does not add in for the purposes of your SSI Supplement, but it does for the pension portion. Thanks for pointing that out!
DR
 
esw, I think the faa website contradicts that information. To quote:

"
Your annuity is:

  • 1.7 percent x the high-3 average salary for the first 20 years of service
  • 1 percent x the high-3 average salary for the years of service over 20"
So it would be more like:

$100,000.00 Average:

$100,000.00 X 1.7% = $1700

$1700 X 20yrs (the first 20 years of service) = $34,000.00

Then:

$100,000.00 X 1% = $1000.00

$1000.00 X 9yrs = $9,000.00

$34,000.00 + $9,000.00 = $43,000.00


Your absolutely right....I also found the above computation on the OPM website. This is weird because the computation that I posted earlier I found on the OPM website too. Oh well now we can put this to rest.
 
Ive done alot of figuring and it pretty much looks like you can retire at almost 100% with 25 years. If you max your TSP once checked out. Youll get your Basic annuity, Social Security Supplement and then Social Security at 62, plus your TSP if you set up an Annuity with that should fill it out. That is with pretty conservative interest gains too. Like around 5-6%.
 
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