Quick Decision

Your agency may be downsizing and you do meet the age and service requirements for early retirement

Whether or not you may be involuntarily retired should not be a key factor in determining which retirement plan you choose. You should be aware of the differences between CSRS and FERS, however.

If you meet the age and service requirements and retire early, your CSRS benefit (or the CSRS component of a FERS annuity) will be reduced if you are under age 55; your FERS benefit will not. However, the CSRS retirement benefit is larger than the FERS benefit to begin with. Even with the reduction, the CSRS benefit is likely to be larger than the FERS benefit. This is especially true if you retire below your Minimum Retirement Age under FERS, because your Special Retirement Supplement will not be paid until you reach your Minimum Retirement Age. FERS COLA's do not begin until age 62, but CSRS COLA's start immediately.

If you expect to continue working after you have Federal service, you also may want to begin accumulating Social Security credits. (If you are under CSRS Offset, you already have Social Security coverage.)

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To read more about this:

• Involuntary Retirement and "Early-Out" Retirement
• Minimum Retirement Age