Timing & filing.
When to retire, the best and worst dates, how to actually file, your annual-leave payout, and surviving the OPM interim-pay gap.
Every guide in this cluster
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.
Back to the full pillar
This is one cluster of the FERS & CSRS pillar. Explore your pension, retirement timing, retiring early, survivor decisions, service credit, and special situations in the full pillar.
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