FERS Retirement Calculator Guide 2026: High-3, Multipliers, and MRA

A FERS retirement is three income streams wearing one uniform: a basic annuity paid from a formula, Social Security, and whatever the TSP has grown into. The annuity is the leg people understand least and plan around most, so this guide gives it a full treatment: the high-3 salary, the years-of-service multiplier (1%, or 1.1% under a specific condition), the four eligibility paths, and the minimum retirement age that unlocks them. It then covers the wrinkles — retiring before 62, reductions, the special retirement supplement — and explains what a FERS retirement calculator can model honestly and where the estimates stop. Figures here are simplified and hedged; OPM's own computations and your agency's benefits office are the final word on any number you plan to live on.

SECTION 01The Three Legs of a FERS Retirement

FERS stands for the Federal Employees Retirement System, and its design is deliberate: no single stream is meant to carry retirement alone. The basic annuity comes from the formula this guide unpacks, Social Security accrues on FERS-covered wages, and the Thrift Savings Plan grows from your deferrals plus agency money. Retirees who plan all three together consistently out-plan those who fixate on any one.

The division of labor matters for planning. The annuity is predictable, inflation-indexed (through pay-table adjustments baked into your high-3 and post-retirement COLAs), and impossible to outlive — but sized modestly. Social Security starts no earlier than 62 with its own rules. The TSP is the flexible leg: larger, controllable, and vulnerable to being spent too fast. A FERS retirement calculator models the first leg precisely because the formula is fixed, while the other two need their own tools.

A common planning error is treating the annuity estimate as the whole retirement answer. For many long-service employees the annuity replaces roughly a third to a half of pre-retirement income, depending on years and multiplier — a floor, not the house. Sizing the TSP against the gap the annuity leaves is the structure the companion TSP pieces build on.

SECTION 02The Basic Annuity Formula: 1% or 1.1%

The formula is short enough to memorize: annuity = high-3 average salary x years of creditable service x multiplier. The standard multiplier is 1%. So twenty-five years at a $95,000 high-3 gives $95,000 x 0.01 x 25 = $23,750 a year, about $1,979 a month before taxes, survivor elections, and other adjustments.

The 1.1% multiplier applies when you retire at age 62 or later with at least 20 years of creditable service. The same twenty-five-year, $95,000 employee retiring at 62 instead computes $95,000 x 0.011 x 25 = $26,125 a year — $2,375 more every year for the identical career. That ten-percent bump is one of the most consequential numbers in federal retirement planning, and whole retirement dates get chosen around it.

Note what the multiplier does not do: it does not reward over-30 years disproportionately, and it does not apply at earlier ages regardless of service. It is a single switch — 62 with 20+ years — checked on your retirement date. Calculators model it exactly; your job is feeding the right retirement date and the right high-3.

SECTION 03High-3 Salary: What Counts and What Doesn't

High-3 is the average of your highest three consecutive years of basic pay — typically the final three years, but not necessarily, if an earlier stretch paid more. What counts as basic pay: salary, locality pay, most premium payments that are part of basic pay under OPM definitions. What generally does not: bonuses, allowances, and various one-time payments. The precise list is OPM's; treat any blog's summary, including this one, as orientation.

An example shows the mechanics. Suppose your last three full years of basic pay were $88,000, $92,000, and $96,000. High-3 = ($88,000 + $92,000 + $96,000) ÷ 3 = $92,000. Partial years are combined proportionally, so a final partial year blends with the preceding full years rather than being averaged in whole. The point of the three-year average is smoothing: one strong year does not define the pension, and one weak final year does not sink it.

Timing is the lever most feds discover late. A promotion, a step increase, or a locality change inside the high-3 window raises the average for every year of service — not just the final ones — which makes the last three years disproportionately valuable. Retiring the day before an effective pay raise locks the raise out of the average; working a few extra months past it raises the annuity for life. This is why the worked-examples piece treats retirement dates as arithmetic, not anniversaries.

SECTION 04The Four Eligibility Paths

Immediate retirement — starting right away — arrives by one of four doors. The career path: any age with 30 years of service at or past your minimum retirement age. The classic: age 60 with 20 years. The late path: age 62 with 5 years. And the reduced path: your minimum retirement age with at least 10 but fewer than 30 years, which carries an age reduction because you are retiring early relative to the system's design.

The paths interact with the multiplier. A 60-and-20 retiree with 25 years gets the 1% multiplier; the same person working to 62 crosses into 1.1% territory. An MRA-plus-30 retiree is immediate and unreduced; an MRA-plus-10 retiree is immediate but reduced, typically by a few tenths of a percent for each month under 62 — the precise reduction schedule is OPM's, and hedging it here is deliberate.

There is also deferred retirement: leaving federal service before eligibility, then claiming the earned annuity later, with its own rules and reductions. And discontinued service retirements for involuntary separations carry special provisions. A calculator models the standard immediate paths cleanly; the exotic paths deserve a benefits-office conversation before any date is fixed.

SECTION 05The MRA Table, Simplified

Minimum retirement age — MRA — depends on your birth year, rising from 55 for those born before 1948 to 57 for those born in 1970 and later. The commonly cited anchors: born 1953–1964, MRA is 56; born 1970 or after, MRA is 57. Between the anchors it moves two months per birth year — 55 years and 2 months for 1948 births, up through 56 years and 10 months for 1969 births.

Why MRA matters: it gates the MRA-plus-30 and MRA-plus-10 paths, it triggers the early-retirement reduction clock for the latter, and it interacts with the special retirement supplement's availability. Two employees with identical service can face different MRA-and-therefore-eligibility math purely because of birth years — which is why any decent FERS calculator asks for a birth date rather than an age.

If you are within five years of any eligibility threshold, write down your exact MRA from the OPM table and your exact creditable service from your pay records. Estimates at this stage cause the expensive errors: an MRA assumed as 57 when it is 56 years and 8 months changes a planned retirement date, and the annuity's first payment, by months.

SECTION 06Retiring Before 62: Reductions and the Supplement

Two mechanisms dominate the pre-62 conversation. First, the MRA-plus-10 reduction: retiring at MRA with 10+ years permanently reduces the annuity, and many feds choose instead to postpone the application — leave service, wait, and start the annuity later, trading income gap for an unreduced lifetime benefit. The math is personal: gap income versus decades of higher annuity, and it deserves its own spreadsheet, not a forum verdict.

Second, the special retirement supplement — often called the SRS — approximates the Social Security benefit earned under FERS for eligible early retirees, generally those retiring at MRA with 30 years or at 60 with 20. It stops at 62, when Social Security eligibility begins, and it is subject to an earnings test similar to Social Security's. Eligibility and computation are precise matters of law; the calculator can flag whether the supplement plausibly applies, but the benefits office confirms.

The planning frame: pre-62 years are the expensive years, funded from the TSP, wages, or the supplement if eligible. Run the bridge math explicitly — how many years between retirement and 62, what income covers them, and what the annuity covers after. Retirements fail in the bridge years far more often than in the later ones, and the failure mode is always the same: income nobody modeled.

SECTION 07What a FERS Calculator Can Model — and What It Can't

A good calculator nails the deterministic core: high-3 from your inputs, years of service, the 1% versus 1.1% switch, MRA from birth year, and the eligibility path in effect on a chosen date. It can compare retirement dates side by side — the annuity at 60 versus 62 versus 63 — and quantify the multiplier bump. That comparison is the tool's highest-value output, because the formula is fixed arithmetic once the inputs are honest.

What it cannot do is verify your creditable service. Unused sick leave conversion, military service deposits, civilian service refunds, and part-time prorations all change the years figure, and they live in official records: your pay history, your SF-50s, your E&D record. The calculator estimates with what you tell it; OPM computes with what the record proves. The gap between those two is where retirement surprises live.

Use a FERS retirement calculator as a scenario engine, then confirm: order your official pay records, list any prior military or refunded service, and take the estimate to a benefits officer for a reality check. The calculator-to-OPM pipeline works far better when the estimate is treated as a draft — revised with real inputs — rather than a verdict to be defended.

SECTION 08The Method Every Scenario Uses

Each example applies one formula: annuity = high-3 x years x multiplier, with the multiplier at 1% unless the scenario qualifies for 1.1% by retiring at 62 or later with 20 or more years of service. Annual results divide by 12 for a monthly figure. Taxes, survivor benefit elections, health insurance premiums, and deposit requirements all modify the final paycheck — they are deliberately outside these computations so the formula stays visible.

Figures are rounded to the nearest dollar and salaries are illustrative. Where a rule is schedule-dependent — the MRA+10 reduction, sick-leave conversion — the scenario states the assumption and hedges the detail, because those schedules belong to OPM and change rarely but legally. The purpose is pattern recognition: after six examples, the formula stops being intimidating and starts being a lever you can pull on purpose.

SECTION 09Scenario 1: The Career Thirty at MRA

Aisha, born in 1962 (MRA 56), retires with 30 years of creditable service and a $78,000 high-3. Step one: check eligibility — MRA with 30 years qualifies for immediate retirement. Step two: multiplier — she is 56, not 62, so 1%. Step three: annuity = $78,000 x 0.01 x 30 = $23,400 a year. Monthly: $23,400 ÷ 12 = $1,950 before deductions.

The instructive part is what the number replaces. If her final salary was around $80,000, the annuity replaces roughly 29% of pay — the classic reason long-service feds plan the TSP to cover the other two-thirds. Had Aisha been born a decade later with identical service, MRA 57 would not change the arithmetic at all; the formula does not care when, only how much and how long.

SECTION 10Scenario 2: The 62-and-20 Multiplier Switch

Ben, 25 years of service, high-3 of $95,000, is deciding between retiring at 60 and at 62. At 60: multiplier 1%, so annuity = $95,000 x 0.01 x 25 = $23,750 a year. At 62 with the same 25 years: multiplier 1.1%, so annuity = $95,000 x 0.011 x 25 = $26,125 a year. The difference: $2,375 every year for life.

Working two more years also adds service — if Ben's high-3 rises to $97,000 and he retires at 62 with 27 years, the annuity becomes $97,000 x 0.011 x 27 = $28,809. Two years of work bought $5,059 a year of permanent income in this illustration. Whether that trade suits Ben depends on health, plans, and the TSP income covering the gap years — but now the trade has a price tag, which is exactly what a FERS retirement calculator exists to attach.

SECTION 11Scenario 3: Building High-3 from Three Real Salaries

Carmen's last three full years of basic pay, including locality, were $88,000, $92,000, and $96,000. High-3 = ($88,000 + $92,000 + $96,000) ÷ 3 = $276,000 ÷ 3 = $92,000. With 24 years of service retiring at 60 (multiplier 1%): annuity = $92,000 x 0.01 x 24 = $22,080 a year, about $1,840 a month.

Now the timing lever. Suppose a 4% raise takes effect three months before her planned retirement date. Retiring the day before the raise freezes her high-3 near the old pay table; working those months pulls the raise into the average. At her service level, even a $2,000 rise in high-3 adds roughly $480 a year for life — twenty-four years times $20. Retirement dates around pay-raise effective dates are, arithmetically, a real decision.

SECTION 12Scenario 4: The MRA+10 Question

Dmitri separates at his MRA of 57 with 12 years of service and a $90,000 high-3. The unreduced formula gives $90,000 x 0.01 x 12 = $10,800 a year — but MRA+10 carries an age reduction for retiring early, on the order of a few tenths of a percent per month short of 62 under OPM's schedule. Roughly hedged, that could trim the annuity meaningfully if he starts payments immediately at 57.

His alternatives: postpone the application and start an unreduced $10,800-plus annuity later (funding the gap from savings), or return to federal service to add years. If a return took him to 17 years by age 62 with a $95,000 high-3, the annuity becomes $95,000 x 0.01 x 17 = $16,150 — more service, a higher high-3, and no early-retirement reduction, though the 1.1% multiplier still requires 20 years. This scenario is exactly where a calculator beats memory: three dates, three annuities, one visible trade-off.

SECTION 13Scenario 5: What Unused Sick Leave Is Worth

Elena retires with 6 months of unused sick leave on the books and a high-3 of $85,000. Under OPM's conversion rules, that leave adds creditable service — roughly half a year here. The annuity effect: $85,000 x 0.01 x 0.5 = $425 a year for life, about $35 a month, on top of her earned service. It does not help her cross an eligibility threshold, but it raises the payment once eligible.

The general lesson scales: at a 1% multiplier, each year of additional creditable service is worth 1% of high-3 annually — at $85,000, that is $850 a year per year. Sick leave, bought-back military time (where deposit rules apply), and refunded civilian service all feed the same years input. The precise conversions are OPM's business; the planning instinct — track your leave balance and service record — is yours.

SECTION 14Scenario 6: The Three-Legged Income Picture

Farid retires at 60 with 30 years, high-3 of $88,000. Leg one: annuity = $88,000 x 0.01 x 30 = $26,400 a year. Leg two: Social Security does not start until at least 62 — for the bridge years, income comes from the annuity and savings, or the special retirement supplement if his eligibility (MRA-plus-30 applies here, so plausibly yes, subject to the earnings test) holds; its amount approximates his FERS-covered Social Security accrual and is best confirmed officially.

Leg three: a $600,000 TSP at a hedged 4% withdrawal rate suggests about $24,000 a year of flexible income. Rough picture: annuity $26,400, plus supplement-or-savings in the 58-to-62 window, plus roughly $24,000 of TSP draw from 60 onward. Total pre-62 income lands in the mid-five figures against a final salary near $90,000 — comfortable or tight depending on housing and debts, which is precisely the conversation a FERS retirement calculator plus a TSP projection is built to inform.

SECTION 15Mistake 1: Estimating from Final Salary Instead of High-3

The single most common shortcut is plugging your current salary into the annuity formula. Sometimes it is close; often it is not. High-3 is the average of your highest three consecutive years of basic pay, which differs from final salary when a recent raise, a change in locality, or a downgrade moved the pay curve. A $5,000 error in high-3 is $1,250 a year of annuity at 25 years of service — real money, compounding against you every retirement year.

Fix: build the high-3 deliberately. Pull your pay history, list the last three to five years of basic pay including locality, average the best consecutive three, and use that number everywhere — in a FERS retirement calculator, in savings targets, in the retirement budget. Ten minutes of records beats a decade of approximation, and the same number sharpens every downstream decision from TSP sizing to withdrawal rates.

SECTION 16Mistake 2: Missing the 1.1% Multiplier Window

Retiring at 60 with 20 years earns the 1% multiplier; working to 62 with 20-plus years earns 1.1% — about a ten percent raise on the whole annuity, on top of the extra years themselves. Feds who fixed a retirement date years in advance, or who let a milestone birthday choose for them, routinely leave five figures a year unexamined. The multiplier is a switch on your retirement date; it deserves to be flipped deliberately, and five figures a year is the typical size of what gets missed when it is not.

Fix: run the date comparison explicitly — the annuity at 60, at 62, and at 63, each with projected high-3 and service. The gap years need funding and health coverage, and sometimes 60 genuinely wins on personal grounds. But the decision should happen with the $2,000-a-year price of the switch visible, not after it quietly expired at a retirement party.

SECTION 17Mistake 3: Assuming the Supplement Runs Until 62 Automatically

The special retirement supplement approximates the Social Security benefit earned under FERS, stops at 62 by design, and — critically — can be reduced or eliminated by earnings through an income test that resembles Social Security's. Retirees who take a private-sector job or consulting income at 57 sometimes watch the supplement shrink mid-year and mistake it for an error. It is the rule working as written.

Fix: model the supplement as conditional, both in eligibility (MRA-plus-30, 60-with-20, and specific other categories) and in amount (earnings-tested, ends at 62). Ask the benefits office for an estimate where possible, and build the bridge-years budget so that zero supplement is a survivable scenario rather than a crisis. Supplements are a bridge material, not a pillar.

SECTION 18Mistake 4: Ignoring Deposits for Prior Service

Military service after 1956, refunded civilian service, and certain other periods generally require a deposit to count toward the FERS annuity — and the cost of that deposit grows as pay rises and as the deadline pressure of an actual retirement date approaches. The classic disaster: three years of army time assumed as creditable for decades, discovered unpayable-at-comfort in the final year, worth thousands per year of annuity.

Fix: inventory any non-FERS service in your fifties, not your sixties. Ask the benefits office or OPM for a retirement summary showing creditable service, request the deposit cost estimate, and pay it while pay history is stable. The deposit is one of the few FERS purchases that directly buys lifetime annuity — usually a strong deal, occasionally not, but only if you price it with runway.

SECTION 19Mistake 5: Retiring on Anniversaries Instead of on Math

Retirement dates cluster around birthdays and service anniversaries for sentimental reasons, and the formula does not care. High-3 smoothing means a few months can straddle a pay raise; the 62-and-20 switch flips on the day; sick-leave balances convert at the balance on the books. Dates chosen by calendar instead of computation routinely cost hundreds a month for life.

Fix: pick two or three candidate dates and run each through a FERS retirement calculator with projected pay raises included. Check where pay-raise effective dates land relative to the high-3 window, whether the date crosses the 62/20 line, and what the final sick-leave balance looks like. Then choose with the deltas visible — sentiment can still win, but it should win on purpose.

SECTION 20Mistake 6: Trusting an Estimate Over an Official Record

Every number in every calculator, including ours, is arithmetic on inputs you supplied. The inputs that matter most — creditable service, high-3 history, deposits on file — live in official systems with their own quirks and errors. Employees who never requested a retirement summary discover, at filing time, that a personnel action never posted or a deposit never recorded, and corrections take months they no longer have.

Fix: five years out, order the record: your E&D summary, SF-50 history, and an official retirement estimate where your agency provides one. Reconcile the calculator's inputs against the record annually. When the two agree for two consecutive years, your estimates have earned trust; until then, they are drafts awaiting evidence. Most retirement-year surprises are reconciliation failures rather than formula failures — the formula never moves, but the record behind the inputs does.

SECTION 21Pro Tips for the Final Two Years

Tip one: run the retirement date comparison every year, because pay raises keep moving the high-3 and the multiplier switch keeps approaching. Tip two: build the bridge-years budget explicitly — annuity, supplement-if-eligible, TSP withdrawals — and stress it at zero supplement. Tip three: decide survivor elections with real numbers, since the reduction is permanent and the spousal math is household-specific.

Tip four: take a benefits seminar from your agency or a reputable provider, then verify every claim against OPM publications — seminars are excellent at raising questions and occasionally wrong on details. Tip five: use the FERS retirement calculator as the scenario engine it is, bring the shortlist to the benefits office, and let the official estimate close the loop. The feds who retire well are not the ones with the best math — they are the ones who checked the math against the record early enough to fix it.

🔑 Key takeaways

• The formula is fixed: annuity = high-3 x years x multiplier, at 1% standard and 1.1% when retiring at 62 with 20+ years.
• The 1.1% switch is worth roughly $2,400 a year on a $95,000 high-3 and 25 years — retirement dates move real money.
• High-3 is your highest three consecutive years of basic pay, including locality; bonuses and most allowances do not count.
• Four immediate paths: MRA+30, age 60 with 20, age 62 with 5, and MRA+10 with a reduction — the path you take sets the math.
• MRA rises from 55 (born before 1948) to 57 (born 1970 or later), moving two months per birth year between anchors.
• Pre-62 years are the bridge years: reductions, the supplement's eligibility rules, and TSP-funded income gaps deserve explicit modeling.
• Calculators estimate from what you enter; OPM computes from the record — verify creditable service before trusting any date.
• Every scenario reduces to one multiplication: high-3 x years x 1% (or 1.1%), divided by 12 for the monthly figure.
• At a 1% multiplier, each additional year of service is worth 1% of high-3 per year for life — about $850 a year at an $85,000 high-3.
• The 1.1% multiplier at 62 with 20+ years can add thousands per year; retiring at 60 versus 62 is a measurable trade, not a feeling.
• High-3 is the average of your best three consecutive years of basic pay — a raise inside the window lifts the whole annuity.
• MRA+10 trades a permanent reduction for immediate payment; postponing the application is the arithmetic alternative.
• Unused sick leave converts to creditable service at OPM's rules — worth real money, but it never creates eligibility by itself.
• The annuity replaces roughly a third to a half of pay for long careers; the TSP and Social Security leg fill the rest by design.
• Build your high-3 from actual pay records including locality; a $5,000 estimation error costs $1,250 a year at 25 years of service.
• The 62-and-20 multiplier switch is worth about 10% of the entire annuity — compare retirement dates before sentiment picks one.
• Treat the special retirement supplement as conditional: eligibility-limited, earnings-tested, and gone at 62.
• Price deposits for military and refunded service years early; uncredited service is the classic last-year disaster.
• Choose retirement dates by computation — pay raises, the 1.1% switch, and sick-leave balances all land on specific days.
• Reconcile calculator inputs against official records five years out, then annually; trust estimates only after they match the record.
• Model the bridge years to 62 explicitly, including a zero-supplement scenario, before any retirement date becomes final.

❓ Frequently asked questions

How do I calculate my FERS annuity?

Multiply your high-3 average salary by your years of creditable service and by 1% — or 1.1% if you retire at 62 or later with at least 20 years. Example: $95,000 x 0.01 x 25 = $23,750 a year. A FERS retirement calculator automates this and compares dates.

What is the minimum retirement age for FERS?

It depends on birth year: 55 for those born before 1948, rising two months per birth year to 56 for 1953–1964 births, and 57 for those born in 1970 or later. Check the OPM table for your exact birth year rather than assuming 57.

Does unused sick leave count toward my annuity?

Generally yes — unused sick leave converts to additional creditable service at retirement under OPM's conversion rules, which can add months to your years-of-service figure. It affects the annuity calculation but not eligibility thresholds, and the official conversion happens at OPM, so treat it as a bonus, not a plan.

What is the FERS special retirement supplement?

It approximates the Social Security benefit earned while covered by FERS for eligible early retirees — commonly MRA with 30 years or age 60 with 20 — and stops at 62. An earnings test can reduce it. Confirm eligibility and amounts with your benefits office; estimates online, including here, are hedged.

Is my locality pay included in high-3?

Yes — locality pay is part of basic pay for annuity purposes, which is one reason duty station matters at retirement. Bonuses, allowances, and most one-time payments generally are not included. OPM's definitions govern edge cases.

How accurate are online FERS calculators?

They are accurate at arithmetic and only as good as your inputs. Creditable service quirks — deposits, refunds, sick leave, part-time proration — are where estimates diverge from OPM's official computation. Use the calculator to compare scenarios, then verify inputs against your official records.

Are these examples official computations?

No — they are illustrative arithmetic with rounded inputs. OPM's official computation uses your verified pay history, service record, and any deposits, and it governs. Use the examples to understand the method and the calculator to compare your scenarios.

How many years do I need to retire under FERS?

For an immediate, unreduced annuity: 30 years at or past your MRA, 20 years at age 60, or 5 years at age 62. With 10+ years at MRA you can retire with a reduction, or separate and postpone. Deferred retirement has its own rules.

What happens if I retire at 57 with 12 years?

That is the MRA+10 path: an immediate annuity reduced for early retirement under OPM's schedule, or the option to postpone and take it unreduced later. Many feds model both dates — the gap income versus the reduction — before choosing.

Does my annuity get cost-of-living increases?

FERS annuities receive COLAs under a formula that generally matches inflation above 2% and partially below it, with details set by law. New retirees also typically wait until the year after turning 62 for COLAs — a nuance worth confirming for any specific retirement year.

How does survivor benefit election change these numbers?

Electing a survivor annuity reduces your gross annuity — commonly by around 10% for a full survivor benefit — in exchange for a lifetime benefit to your spouse. The base scenarios here exclude elections; any real plan should re-run the numbers with the election included.

Do I include military time in my years of service?

Post-1956 military service generally requires a deposit to credit toward the FERS annuity, and the cost depends on when you pay it. Unpaid time may not credit, so investigate early — this is one of the most common last-minute surprises, and the fix years earlier is cheap by comparison.

How is high-3 calculated exactly?

It is the average of your highest three consecutive years of basic pay — salary plus locality and qualifying premiums, generally excluding bonuses and allowances — with partial years prorated. OPM's definitions govern edge cases; your pay records supply the numbers.

What is my MRA?

Minimum retirement age depends on birth year: 55 for births before 1948, rising two months per year to 56 for 1953–1964, then to 57 for 1970 and later. Look up your exact birth year on OPM's table — a wrong MRA assumption shifts every eligibility calculation.

Can I retire with 10 years of service?

At your MRA with 10+ years, yes — as an MRA+10 retirement, which is immediate but reduced, or deferred with postponement options. Whether the reduction, the postponement gap, or more service wins is exactly the comparison a FERS retirement calculator is for.

Is the FERS annuity enough to retire on?

For most long careers it replaces roughly a third to a half of high salary — a strong floor, rarely the whole house. Retire comfortably when the TSP and Social Security legs cover the gap the annuity leaves; the three-legged arithmetic is the planning frame.

Do I pay taxes on the FERS annuity?

Generally yes — it is taxable federal income, with a portion of each payment potentially recovered tax-free if you made post-1990 deposits to the system. State treatment varies. Confirm specifics with a tax professional; the planning habit is budgeting on after-tax figures.

When should I start checking my FERS numbers?

Seriously at five years out — order records, verify service and deposits, and start the annual date comparison. Casual awareness can start now: the earlier you know your MRA, multiplier mechanics, and high-3 trajectory, the more decisions remain open to you.

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