The federal pension, decoded.
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
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.
Maximizing Your High-3: The Lever That Sets Your FERS Pension (2026)
Your high-3 multiplies across every year of service, so small gains compound. What counts, the maximizing playbook, the 1.1% multiplier, and a calculator.
The FERS Annuity Supplement: The Complete 2026 Guide
The supplement bridges the gap from MRA to age 62 — and the OPM-vs-SSA estimate gap costs many retirees money they don’t know is missing. Includes a working supplement calculator.
FERS & CSRS COLAs Explained: The Diet COLA and Age-62 Wall (2026)
Why two identical retirees drift apart: the FERS age-62 wall, the diet-COLA cap, full CSRS adjustments, and why the supplement gets none — with a gap projector.
Part-Time Federal Service and the Pension Proration Trap
Part-time years count in full for eligibility, and your high-3 stays full-time — but a career-wide proration factor scales the whole annuity. How it works, plus a calculator.
Retiring: timing & filing
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.
The Worst Days to Retire from Federal Service
The FERS 1st-of-month rule, the CSRS 3-day rule, the leave-year trap, and best 2026 dates — with a best-date payoff estimator showing what your date is worth.
Your Annual Leave Lump-Sum Payout at Federal Retirement (2026)
How your unused annual leave converts to cash: up to ~448 hours, projected forward to capture a January raise, taxed at 22% — plus the timing move, with a calculator.
Surviving the OPM Wait: Interim Payments & the Income Gap (2026)
OPM pays just 60–80% interim while it finalizes your annuity. The cash cushion you need, what’s withheld, the back-pay true-up — and a gap calculator.
The Last Day of Paper: OPM’s All-Digital Retirement
OPM ended paper processing July 1, 2026 — 95%+ of claims now run through ORA. Faster, but the real wait to your first full check is still 6–9 months. The hidden delay, interim pay, and a cash-cushion calculator.
Retiring early
OPM’s Proposed RIF Rule: Performance Replaces Seniority
OPM’s proposed rule would make performance ratings — not length of service — the primary factor in who survives a RIF. Here’s the 7/5/3/0 scoring system, what it means for veterans and tenure, and the retirement paths that protect your annuity. With a retention-score calculator.
FERS MRA+10 Early Retirement: The 5% Penalty & How to Beat It (2026)
The 5%-per-year reduction under 62, the lost FERS supplement, and how postponing your annuity erases the penalty and restores FEHB — with a comparison tool.
Postponed vs Deferred FERS Retirement: The FEHB Split
The MRA+10 choice that decides whether you keep FEHB for life — the age reductions, the 5% penalty, and the reinstatement rules — with a side-by-side comparison.
VERA and VSIP: The Federal Early-Out Decision
Who qualifies for early retirement, how the $25K buyout is taxed, the FERS supplement timing, and the re-employment trap — with an early-out decision calculator.
Federal Phased Retirement: Half Salary, Half Annuity, Full Glide Path (2026)
Phased retirement lets eligible feds work half-time while drawing half their annuity. Eligibility, the mentoring rule, the composite annuity, and a calculator.
FERS Disability Retirement: When and How to Apply in 2026
The five eligibility tests, the SF-3112 forms, the 60/40 benefit math, the SSDI offset, and the age 62 conversion. With a two-phase disability calculator.
Discontinued Service Retirement (DSR): Your Pension If You’re RIF’d
Involuntarily separated at 50 with 20 years, or any age with 25? DSR pays an immediate annuity with no FERS age reduction, plus lifetime FEHB. Eligibility, the traps, and a calculator.
Deferred Resignation & Buyouts: DRP, VERA, and VSIP Compared
Three different tools with very different outcomes. What each is, how they interact with your pension, FEHB, TSP, and the supplement — plus a package-value calculator.
Stacking FERS Disability, SSDI & VA Compensation
You can collect all three at once — but only FERS is offset (60%−100% of SSDI year 1, 40%−60% after). VA stacks free and tax-free. Why the offset still leaves you ahead, plus a three-benefit calculator.
Survivor & costly mistakes
FERS Survivor Benefit Elections: The 5% vs 10% Decision
A permanent 5% or 10% reduction in your annuity that protects your spouse for life — and decides whether your spouse keeps FEHB. The math, the trade-offs, and the FEHB connection most retirees don’t know about.
Declining the Survivor Annuity
The FERS/CSRS options and real cost, the notarized spousal-consent rule, and how waiving it ends your spouse’s FEHB after your death — with a trade-off calculator.
Taking the FERS Refund
Cashing out your contributions forfeits your annuity. The redeposit rule, taxes and the 10% penalty, and the deferred-retirement alternative — with a refund-vs-pension calculator.
Death in Service: Survivor Benefits When a Fed Dies Before Retiring
The FERS Basic Employee Death Benefit pays a lump sum plus 50% of salary — and, at 10 years, a lifetime survivor annuity and FEHB. What your family gets, and a calculator.
The Fed With a Disabled Adult Child: Survivor Annuity + Special Needs Trusts
A survivor annuity that lasts a child’s lifetime — but can’t be paid into a special needs trust, so it can jeopardize SSI and Medicaid. The rules and the tools that actually work.
FEGLI in Retirement: The 75/50/No-Reduction Election
The one-time SF 2818 election that sets your life-insurance cost for life. The 75/50/No-Reduction choices, the 5-year rule, the Option B age cliff, and a three-way cost calculator.
Service credit & buybacks
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.
Deposit Service: Buying Back Pre-1989 “Temporary” Federal Time
Old temporary, seasonal, or co-op time before 1989 can be bought back for 1.3% of pay plus interest — adding real pension years. The rules, the deadline, and a payoff calculator.
Leaving Federal Service With Fewer Than 5 Years (Non-Vested)
Under 5 years means no FERS pension from that service — ever. Refund your contributions or leave them on deposit? The redeposit rule, your hire-year tier, and your always-yours TSP, with a refund 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 →