The federal pension, decoded.
The latest additions.
OPM’s Survivor Marital Status Survey (RI 25-7)
OPM mails survivor annuitants under 55 a marital survey every year. What RI 25-7 asks, and what happens if you don’t return it.
Salary Overpayment Debt After You Retire
A debt notice from your former agency after retiring usually comes from final payroll, not OPM. Causes, the waiver, and repayment options.
Federal Severance Pay After a RIF
Federal severance pay: who qualifies, the formula, the age adjustment over 40, the 52-week cap, and why an immediate annuity rules it out.
Unemployment Benefits After Federal Separation (UCFE)
UCFE pays state unemployment benefits to federal employees separated through no fault of their own. Where to file, and how severance affects it.
New to FERS? Read these first.
The Average Federal Pension: What FERS Actually Pays (2026)
The ~$2,126/month average FERS annuity, the 1%/1.1% formula, why it's smaller than CSRS, and the three-legged stool — with an annuity estimator.
How the FERS Pension Is Calculated: The 2026 Federal Employee Guide
The full FERS pension formula — high-3, multipliers, special-category rules, sick leave conversion, and the 1.1% multiplier upgrade at 62/20. With a working pension estimator.
The Federal Retirement Application: How to Actually File
The SF-3107 family, the new ORA digital system, the realistic six-month timeline, and the mistakes that delay everyone else’s case. With a timeline estimator.
Your pension
OPM Services Online: What You Can Change Yourself
What you can change yourself in OPM Services Online, what you can do without logging in, and the tax withholding default to check first.
Reading Your OPM Annuity Statement
What every line on your OPM annuity statement means, and the five things to check each time, including your spouse’s survivor amount.
Can Your Federal Annuity Be Garnished?
Child support, alimony, and IRS levies can reach a federal annuity. Commercial creditors cannot. The limits and the protections.
Starting Federal Service After 50
Joined federal service after 50? You can still earn a pension at 62 with 5 years and keep FEHB for life.
Locality Pay and Your Pension: Why Location Changes Your Annuity for Life
Locality is part of basic pay, so it flows into the high-3 and the annuity. About $9,000 a year separates San Francisco from Rest of U.S.
The Earnings Survey That Cuts Your FERS Supplement
$1 withheld for every $2 over $24,480, landing in July of the following year — and unlike Social Security, nothing is credited back.
Retiring: timing & filing
The Best Dates to Retire in 2027
October 30, November 27 and May 29 for FERS; three more for CSRS. Every pay period end date, and the December 31 catch specific to 2027.
Your HR Estimate Is Not OPM’s Computation
An estimate is a projection from agency data; OPM computes the binding figure after auditing your record. Where the two diverge, and how to check yours before filing.
The December 31 Retirement Countdown, Week by Week
Twelve weeks from October 1 to the most common federal retirement date. What has to be filed and confirmed each week, the leave-year math with 2027 pay frozen, and the two deadlines inside the window this year.
The 2027 Federal Retirement Calendar: Every Date That Matters
CPI and COLA dates, premiums and Open Season, the leave-year end, the pay order, IRMAA, TSP limits, RMD and tax deadlines, and what three different retirement dates each trigger — September 2026 through December 2027.
The Federal Retirement Application: How to Actually File
The SF-3107 family, the new ORA digital system, the realistic six-month timeline, and the mistakes that delay everyone else’s case. With a timeline estimator.
December vs January: The Federal Retirement Date Decision
The date worth $3,000+. Pension start, annual leave lump-sum, COLA proration, and the tax-year split — with a five-step decision tree for finding your optimal separation date.
Retiring early
Federal Severance Pay After a RIF
Federal severance pay: who qualifies, the formula, the age adjustment over 40, the 52-week cap, and why an immediate annuity rules it out.
Unemployment Benefits After Federal Separation (UCFE)
UCFE pays state unemployment benefits to federal employees separated through no fault of their own. Where to file, and how severance affects it.
Facing Removal: Retiring Before the Action Takes Effect
If you’re eligible to retire, you can retire before a removal takes effect and still appeal it under 5 U.S.C. 7701(j).
OWCP or OPM Annuity: The Election You Can’t Avoid
You can’t collect workers’ compensation and a FERS disability annuity for the same period. Which pays more, and why you should apply for retirement anyway.
Do Federal Employees Need Private Disability Insurance?
Federal employees have no employer disability insurance, and FERS disability retirement often replaces about half of pay after year one.
Forced Ratings Distributions Are Final — and Your RIF Score Depends on Them
Ratings can now be capped on a curve, retention standing is scored from ratings, and the grievance route is gone. Three rules, one outcome.
Paid Administrative Leave Before You Separate: What to Do With the Months
Service credit keeps accruing, eligibility milestones can arrive inside the window, and separating as a resignation instead of a retirement costs the annuity and FEHB for life.
The Accommodation Record Decides Your Disability Retirement
FERS disability turns on whether your agency could accommodate you, and that evidence is built before you apply. Why light duty does not count.
OPM’s New RIF Rules Took Effect September 2: Performance Replaces Seniority
Bump and retreat are gone and retention standing is now a numeric score from your last three ratings. What the final rule says, a worked register, what happened to veterans’ preference, and the retirement options a notice opens — with a retention-score calculator.
Survivor & costly mistakes
OPM’s Survivor Marital Status Survey (RI 25-7)
OPM mails survivor annuitants under 55 a marital survey every year. What RI 25-7 asks, and what happens if you don’t return it.
Salary Overpayment Debt After You Retire
A debt notice from your former agency after retiring usually comes from final payroll, not OPM. Causes, the waiver, and repayment options.
The Insurable Interest Survivor Annuity
Leave part of your FERS annuity to a partner, child, sibling, or parent. Cost by age gap, who qualifies, the medical requirement, and the alternatives.
The FERS Children’s Survivor Annuity
When a federal employee or retiree dies, eligible children receive a monthly survivor annuity to 18, or 22 as full-time students.
Remarrying Before 55 Ends the Survivor Annuity
A surviving spouse who remarries before 55 loses the survivor annuity and survivor FEHB, unless married 30+ years.
Two Federal Retirees in One Household
When both spouses retire from federal service: survivor elections, one FEHB plan or two, and how Social Security survivor rules change the math.
Service credit & buybacks
Peace Corps and VISTA Service Credit: A Small Deposit, a Lifetime Return
Peace Corps and AmeriCorps VISTA service counts toward your federal pension if you pay a small deposit. Cost, value, and how to apply.
Coming Back to Federal Service After You Left
Returning to federal service after a break? Your old service still counts, a refund can be redeposited, and you may keep the 0.8% FERS rate.
Unused Sick Leave to Service Credit: The 2,087-Hour Rule (2026)
Unused sick leave converts to service credit and permanently raises your FERS or CSRS annuity. The 2,087-hour rule, the full-month trap, and a calculator.
Military Service Buyback for FERS: The 2026 Complete Guide
The deposit pays for itself in months. The math, the deadlines, the military retired pay waiver decision, and the process — for veterans who joined federal civilian service.
Buying Back Refunded FERS Service: The Complete 2026 Guide
Eligibility under the 2009 rule, the cost math at the 2026 OPM interest rate of 4.25%, the SF-3108 process, and when the buyback actually pays off. With a break-even calculator.
Special situations
CSRS Voluntary Contributions: The "Poor Man's Mega Backdoor Roth"
The obscure CSRS-only program that moves up to 10% of your lifetime pay into a Roth IRA in one move — no income limit. Who qualifies, the traps, and a calculator.
FERS Special Provisions: The 1.7% Formula for LEOs, Firefighters & ATCs (2026)
The enhanced 1.7% multiplier, age-50/20 and any-age/25 eligibility, mandatory retirement, and the supplement perk — with an enhanced-annuity calculator.
Working After Federal Retirement: The Reemployed Annuitant Salary Offset (2026)
Your salary is offset by your full annuity, the NDAA waiver expired in 2024, and the supplement earnings test can erase your bridge — with an income estimator.
FERS & CSRS Annuity in Divorce: Court-Ordered Apportionment (COAP) (2026)
Not a QDRO but a COAP: the prorata marital fraction, gross vs net base, the former-spouse survivor annuity, and the supplement split — with an apportionment calculator.
CSRS Offset Explained: The Hybrid System and the Age-62 Reduction
CSRS Offset pays a full CSRS annuity that's reduced at 62 by your Social Security. How it works, the offset formula, the delay trap, and a calculator.
The big numbers to know
- 1.0% — your FERS multiplier under age 62 with less than 20 years of service
- 1.1% — your multiplier at age 62+ with 20+ years (the upgrade that doubles for some retirees)
- 3 years — the high-3 period that defines your pension
- 5 years — minimum continuous FEHB enrollment to keep coverage in retirement
- 57 — the Minimum Retirement Age for anyone born 1970 or later
The full federal retirement picture
FERS & CSRS covers leg one of the three-legged stool. The TSP pillar covers leg two. The Social Security pillar covers leg three. The Tax Strategy pillar covers how each stream is taxed. The FEHB & Medicare pillar covers your healthcare in retirement.
Explore the TSP pillar →