A Few Ways to Apply Your Military Service to One or More Pension Plans by Jennifer Vernon

A Few Ways to Apply Your Military Service to One or More Pension Plans by Jennifer Vernon

As per Jennifer Vernon, A majority of working Americans do not know what a pension truly is worth, nor do many realize the ability to work for such a retirement income that provides a steady monthly stream of money until death. Though a pension may or may not be enough to live on, it would still be helpful to have some income coming in to help with your living expenses while in retirement.

Jennifer Vernon by as stated before, not many have access to such great benefit, as less than 5 percent of employers in the public sector provide pensions. A majority of the pensions provided in the United States are offered to government workers.

However, those that have active-duty military service under their belts have the upper hand among us in possibly receiving a pension. That also includes those that did not stay long enough in active duty to receive a military pension.

Those that did serve enough time in active duty service to receive a military retirement pension may have the ability to put some of their military service toward another pension.

Jennifer Vernon said We will go over a few methods on how to credit your military service for a pension.

If you have continued your service into the Reserves or the Guards, your active duty service will be carried toward retirement from the Reserve or Guards.

Those that retire from the Reserve Component will not be able to claim their retirement pay for military service until they are age 60. However, their retirement benefits and pensions will be available to support them in the meantime.

Another thing you can do is to work for an agency that is federal or of the government while in the Guards or Reserves.

  If you want to take this to the next level, then consider coupling your service in the Reserve Component with joining a federal agency or another governmental agency.

Only Guards or Reservists are allowed to apply their active duty service to a Reserve retirement along with civil service retirements.

Individuals that have active duty service worked can also “buy back” their military service when they start employment as a federal civil service worker.

Under FERS, for every active duty year you buyback, it will count for one year of civil service.

Buying back your military service will be 3 percent of your active duty base salary when you were a service member. However, military service from ’99 to ’00 will be more costly.

For many, this method is quite favorable as they will be purchasing military service credits when their income was low, which allows them to get retirement benefits that are calculated on their three highest-earning years under FERS.

Another benefit of putting your military service time toward your civil service position is that the time will be considered in your “service computation date for leave.” This means that you will earn vacation time faster than those that have zero military service.

Military service credits can be available in many local and state government positions, such as first responders, college professions and teaching organizations, some city, county, and state jobs as well.

Of course, this can be different depending on where you are, so make sure to ask about being able to apply your service time toward a new government position.

In some organizations or agencies, you may have to buy these military service credits, whereas in others, you will not have to. There may be some limitations on how many years you are able to buy as well.

Now, is it possible to receive more than a single pension with your military service time?

More often than not, it is possible, but it depends on the organization.

Former active duty service members are able to purchase back their served time under FERS as well as accumulate more credits toward a FERS annuity. However, they cannot use their service time for both their military retirement and FERS retirement.

Those that continue their service in the Reserves or the Guard will be able to use their service for both FERS and military retirement.

There are other agencies that are non-federal that will allow all types of former military members to use their served time toward their new retirement plan. However, the number of years you can receive or buyback may be limited.

If you are a former or current active duty service member, you will be able to decide how you wish to work toward a pension or even two.