r/FedEmployeeRetirement

The world we live in is crazy. Inflation, taxes, housing costs, costs to have anything done as we age like house repairs, yard maintenance, etc etc.

Meaning - it appears that planning for retirement was a certain amount of money and it's looking like it will take a lot more to be comfortable.

I had a plan of may pulling the pin early with a VERA and rule of 55 but looking more and more like got to full 30 yrs and my wife going to the same time period. I would be 59 and she would be 62.

A few reasons for this:

1. We are finishers - we want to fully finish our career for our own accomplishments

2. We are looking at once retired to shoot the moon in life and not run out of money and do what we want when we want.

3. The costs of everything and the outlook of it all. We are gonna pile cash/assets to push through this non sense in life and help the kiddos out if they need it. Need it....they gonna work hard too.

4. These 401k type retirements.....I still think that someday there will be some crash that will either be a temp or long term disaster for retirees and we need to mitigate this as best we can.

What you think for current and planning retirees?

Anybody ever seen this done? Let's say a federal employee departs on a reserve mobilization but never returns to federal work. Can that military time be purchased back and added to FERS after resigning? Assuming the federal employee served more than 5 years to vest, but less than required for the complete FERS pension benefit.

I’m considering retiring early in April when I hit MRA +10. I work for an HHS subagency. Does anyone know how long the process takes? How early would I need to submit my request? Is it possible to change my mind before the date if I decide to stay a whole longer? Thanks!