Retire Well – How Long Should I Work?
Deciding how long to work to ensure you retire well.
That question is easily answered by another question – What do you want? Many employees want to work long enough to retire well and take control of their choices and options. They want to have enough money to live on. In other words, they want to retire rich. Does retiring rich mean having a million dollars in your Thrift Savings Plan? Not according to my calculations, it means very simply having enough money to take care of all your expenses with some left over to do as you will without feeling strained. It means further having the option to work or play and whatever the option, it is based on want and not need.
Any of us will gladly take the millions, but having your assets outweigh your liabilities will put you in the comfortable category and ensuring you retire well. Now, it helps to know as you are evaluating what you want, what are the maximum benefits you can receive based on your length of service.
If you are a part of the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) you must work 41 years and 11 months in order to receive the maximum 80% of your high-3 average salary. However, if you are a Law Enforcement Officer (LEOs) under special computation provisions you may be eligible to receive the 80% limit with fewer years of service.
Individuals under the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) are not subject to the CSRS limitation, but use a different computation for length of service and high-3 average salary. Understanding which limitations apply to you are key to retire well.
It is also important to know that if you work beyond the years needed to achieve the maximum benefit under CSRS, the time will not be used to compute your annuity. The contributions you make during that time will, however, be automatically refunded to you with interest at a rate of approximately 3% per year, compounded annually.
P.S. Always Remember to Share What You Know.
LINKS
You should consider your TSP.gov contributions and balances and allocation.
Postal Employees – LiteBlue.usps.gov
