Why Is December 31 Such a Common Retirement Date?

[@richardb9419]

I don’t know how common it is, but I retired in 8/30/24 and had my first pension check in my account by 10/1/24…didn’t even get my leave payout til 10/11/24…if your paperwork is in order it’s entirely possible to not even go a month without income…by 11/1/24 OPM had completed their reconciliation and my final monthly payment was calculated…Very impressed with the clockwork-like pacing of OPM’s work

[@barano9729]

I retired at the same time. We have an almost identical timeline. I was going to mandatory retire at 57 in July 2025 but decided to go in 8/30/2025. Started a new gig a week later.

[@KevinGonzalez33470]

It’s also popular because since you retire on December 31st, you’re already in the following year for tax purposes. Example: You retire on December 31, 2024, it’s taxed as 2025 income.

[@llett681]

Could you consider doing an updated video on VERA and VISP?

[@terryneal5569]

I hope you feel better

[@SSS-wo2hn]

I retired Sept 30, 2024 and received my partial check Nov 1, 2024.

[@luckypenny4263]

Great advice and yes I am seeing lots of employees retiring this month

[@mbjkdajensen]

Plz do a show that covers the new Social Security Fairness Act that justed passed. Ty

[@zenawarrior7442]

Thanks Dallen. I almost pulled the trigger this year on Dec 31st🎉😊

[@ralphz3849]

However, if you joined the government on January 20, 2004, shouldn’t you wait until January 2024 to retire? That way, you would have 20 years of service instead of 19. This ensures that the calculation of your annuity becomes (average pay for the last 3 years) * % * 20 years instead of (average pay for the last 3 years) * % * 19 years.

[@wadsbanks7068]

YES

[@jimmywalters3071]

Yes, but I believe your time of service is calulated by months of service . So if you started on the 20th , retire on the 20th to get credit for that month... you can also use sick leave towards retirement.

[@joghog]

Assuming you qualify by also being at least 60 years old (60 years old & 20 years of service)

[@jimmywalters3071]

@@joghog yep for sure

[@deborahanderson4211]

Is October 31st a good date?

[@DeanMaryann]

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[@ArnoldoTegan]

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[@hossfly4820]

I've said this before, schedule your accrued annual or sick to take off most of January and February. Retire end of pay period after MLK day. Get that quick holiday money before you leave.

[@David-cv3bp]

If you work for the Fed Gov, the new year for USE/lose leave is never that late in the month, from what I remember.

[@dqbluff]

That doesn't make sense.

[@erickarnell]

I was hired in June, so I'll qualify for my full retirement in the middle of the year. I'll have to decide if the benefits described here for waiting until the end of the year is worth working the extra six months.

[@joghog]

I was hired on July 7. No decision for me. I'm retiring at the end of that pay period...not even waiting until the end of the month. 😂

[@David-cv3bp]

Retiring in the middle of a month means you go a longer period of time of possibly not being paid. The FERS retirement clock for pay starts the 1st day of the month following the month you retire.

[@joghog]

@@David-cv3bp That's true that my pension pay won't start accruing until the first of August, but I'll have enough saved for a year's worth of expenses, so it's OK with me to retire as soon as possible...kind of sentimental/symbolic though not fiscally sound. 😄 I'll at least wait until the end of the pay periods though, heck, I may use annual leave for any days after the 7th until the end of that pay period....just a couple of days anyway since I'm part-time.

[@dqbluff]

I would use GRB site it shows ur actual dates of retirement

[@johngrubb5486]

I am in the DoD USAF Program office. Strange, but I know of only one person in our entire organization that retired this month. I look around at my coworkers and the majority of them have less than 10 years of service. I am one of the oldest employees and plan to retire next year, however, no one else is even close. Is this pretty common across the federal government now?

[@gradosa8272]

yes, many in my agency retired in the last 3 years because the work load is unbearable and management madness. I was planning too but I’m holding out hopefully 🤞 two more years. The pressure it’s not bothering me anymore. If they want to pip me the last lag of my career I don’t care. 🤷🏼‍♀️

[@johngrubb5486]

@gradosa8272 I totally understand!! I am there with you!!

[@jimmywalters3071]

My salary will decrease from $120,000 to $35,000 per year in retirement....like most people ... If I didn't have any savings and expenses of $10,000 per month , I would be in terrible shape in Retirement. I would get Social Security but that is not too much. Older people need to reduce expenses anyway possible .. by perhaps moving to a cheaper cost of living area,, such as lower property taxes and cost of living.

[@David-cv3bp]

If you are FERS, it seems like you have bout 30 yrs credit for retirement, which if you paid attention over the years would consider your “work pension, SS and TSP” as your retirement package! So doing basic math, your SS should be @$20k a year and THEN your TSP another $24k bringing your “retirement pay package” to @ 80k. When you subtract out taxes, fica, tsp contributions, your yearly income was really bout 100k. So you only need to cut about 20% of pre retirement spending.

[@Sherrie-zb5hf]

So I am retiring January 31, 2025. Cause I will have my 5 years of health insurance. And definitely wish to add my husband to the health insurance next open season. As, his insurance will expire on his birthday in December. Am I doing this correctly?

[@David-cv3bp]

Your dates don’t make sense to me. Open season already closed so you have to wait until November 2025 to add your husband, unless you convince the FEP that his retirement is a sudden change and then add him immediately. You don’t have to have health coverage for 5 yrs to put him on, but you need the minimum 5 yrs to carry the insurance into retirement. Also fyi, you must have a survivor benefit for him to keep the insurance if you should die first.

[@Sherrie-zb5hf]

So he does not answer questions? 😢

[@serapheum]

I retired today because it is the end of the pay period. You sound like you have a cold...get some cold-eeze 🙂

[@wadsbanks7068]

Thats OK. You just miss two days to getting paid. Enjoy retirement.

[@joghog]

Congratulations! 🎉

[@billykellum]

Congrats! I retired at the last pay period of the year for us which was Dec 20th.

[@joghog]

​@@billykellum Congratulations! 🎉

[@serapheum]

@@wadsbanks7068 2 days into a new pay period...

[@barano9729]

Dalen get some chicken soup and some rest.

[@jimmywalters3071]

I'm sorry , if someone doesn't have at least one month of living expenses saved when they retire after working 30 some years , then they shouldn't retire . In retirement most people have to live off of 50% of their income.. and if they didn't save anything in their working years for retirement , then they shouldn't retire. If someone has 400 hrs of annual leave when they retire , maybe they should start enjoying life beforehand and get use to having alot of free time buy using annual leave throughout the year and enjoying life .. delaying retirement as long as possible.. still not working but earning more leave and adding months to your time of service. When I retire I will have 0 leave, 0 sick leave, at least one year of living expenses saved.

[@joghog]

I have heard some bad stories in the past of it taking 6 or more months for OPM to process some retirement applications, so I believe it's safer to have closer to a year's worth of savings for living expenses. As far as leave goes, I also go for safer. I carryover the 240 hrs annual leave every year & have 1676 hrs of sick leave (& ⅔rds of my time has been part -time....mostly 50%) for a catastrophe. (Plus, at my workplace, sick leave is for if you're really sick. It's not looked at fondly if one is always calling-in sick at my place of work because that makes the work harder for the rest of the team to cover, kind of like an assembly line at a factory.)

[@jimmywalters3071]

@@joghog my comments apply for someone who is within 2 years of retirement with tons of leave .. start using it. In your 50's and 60's one has many Dr. appointments and need leave for just wellness days off. I'm old and there are any days where I wake up and have aches and pains .. My supervisor begs her older staff to take time off constantly !! If you work for someone who doesn't allow you not to take off .. they can't do that .. they have to understand that older workers need to take time off due to health reasons ...which is normal to occur for older workers. Older workers who don't take any time off will have a harder time in retirement .. as they only care about work, work, work , which is very sad !! In the federal workplace they want people to retire when they are first eligible.

[@Kenbot2]

@@jimmywalters3071 I don’t know anyone who follows your advice. Any retiree I have ever known has saved their annual leave to cash out in retirement. Retiring with zero hours of annual and zero hours of sick leave is unheard of in my federal employment.

[@jimmywalters3071]

@@Kenbot2 my advice makes financial sense .. My agency managers urge people to use up all of their leave before retirement if they wish to do so. The longer you are on the books , the bigger your retirement annuity will be for lifetime . My federal agency supervisors do tell younger employees to use their sick leave wisely and build up and save for old age and when you will need it for an operation, heart attack ( hopeful it won't happen) .. and no use for a minor thing. You get paid for annual leave when your retire but not sick leave.. so use up all your sick before retirement and get full pay for it .. which is always much more than the retirement pay which will be less money... yes , you will prolong your official retirement out but in the long run you will be much better off for years to come in retirement.

[@joghog]

​@@jimmywalters3071 Wow, I wish my supervisor did that. 😂 I only work part-time, so I can't complain, but our work is nonstop busy & someone calling-in all the time is a burden on everyone else. I have about 2.5 years until I'm retirement eligible, & I'm retiring as soon as eligible. Even those that have retired from my workplace did not call-in constantly in the last few years unless they were really sick because they would feel bad, but all workplaces are different.