FERS Retirement Steps in Order: A Pre-Retirement Checklist

5 Years Out: Verify Your Records

The most expensive retirement mistakes happen years before separation — they're record errors that compound into incorrect annuity computations. Starting five years out gives you time to fix problems without delaying your retirement date.

Request your service computation date (SCD) from HR. This is the date OPM uses to calculate your years of creditable service. If it's wrong — and it often is after agency transfers, military service, or temporary appointments — your annuity calculation will be wrong too. Correcting an SCD takes months, which is why you want to catch it now.

Download your electronic Official Personnel Folder (eOPF). Every SF-50 (Notification of Personnel Action) from your career should be in there. Missing SF-50s can cause OPM to question periods of service, stalling your application. If any are missing, work with your HR office to reconstruct them.

Audit your Social Security earnings record. Log in to ssa.gov/myaccount and check every year of your career. Your FERS service years should show FICA wages matching your basic pay. If any years show $0 or incorrect amounts, file Form SSA-7008 (Request for Correction of Earnings Record) with supporting documentation — W-2s, pay stubs, or tax returns.

Confirm military service credit. If you have military service and want it counted toward your FERS annuity, you must make a military service deposit. The deposit is 3% of your military basic pay, plus interest. If you don't make the deposit before separation, your military time may not count — and after retirement, the option to pay disappears entirely.

2 Years Out: Run the Numbers

Calculate your projected annuity. The FERS formula is: High-3 Average Salary × Creditable Service Years × 1% (or 1.1% if you retire at 62+ with 20+ years). Your high-3 is the average of your highest three consecutive years of basic pay, including locality adjustments but excluding overtime, bonuses, and premium pay.

Estimate the FERS supplement. If you're retiring with MRA+30 or age 60+20, you'll receive the Special Retirement Supplement from your retirement date until the month before you turn 62. The formula: (Estimated age-62 SS benefit) × (FERS service years ÷ 40).

Review your FEGLI options. Federal Employees Group Life Insurance premiums increase sharply in five-year age bands after 50. Option B (additional coverage) becomes very expensive after 55, and Option C (family coverage) follows the same pattern. Decide now whether the coverage is worth the cost in retirement — you can reduce or cancel coverage, but you generally can't increase it after retirement.

Attend a pre-retirement seminar. Your agency likely offers one. These seminars aren't a substitute for doing your own verification, but they walk through the administrative process and often surface questions you didn't know to ask.

6 Months Out: Start the Application

Notify your supervisor and HR. Most agencies want at least 60 to 90 days notice, but six months gives everyone time to process paperwork without rushing.

Submit your retirement application. OPM has transitioned to the Online Retirement Application (ORA) system, which has significantly faster processing times than paper — about 34 to 66 days for digital versus 87 to 100 days for paper submissions. If your agency supports digital filing, use it.

The application itself requires decisions on several items:

• Survivor annuity election: Do you want to provide a survivor annuity for your spouse? A full survivor annuity (50% of your unreduced annuity to your surviving spouse) costs 10% of your annuity. A partial survivor annuity (25%) costs 5%. Electing no survivor annuity requires your spouse's written consent.

• FEHB continuation: You can keep FEHB in retirement if you've been enrolled continuously for the five years immediately preceding retirement (or since your first opportunity to enroll). Your premium remains the same government-employee split.

• FEGLI continuation: Basic coverage continues into retirement automatically (with scheduled reductions starting at 65 unless you elect a higher premium for no-reduction coverage). Optional coverages continue only if you've had them for the five years before retirement.

90 Days Out: Set Up the Cash Bridge

Build a three-month cash reserve. Your last regular paycheck and your first interim annuity payment will have a gap — typically several weeks. Interim payments are only 60% (FERS) to 80% (CSRS) of your estimated net annuity. Budget for the difference.

Decide on TSP withdrawal timing. You can start taking TSP withdrawals as soon as you separate. If you're 55 or older in the year of separation, there's no 10% early withdrawal penalty. You don't have to take any TSP money immediately — but knowing the option exists helps with cash flow planning.

Verify your tax withholding setup. During interim payments, OPM applies a default tax withholding. You can adjust it after final adjudication, but the interim period may result in over- or under-withholding. If you plan to claim Social Security simultaneously, consider filing IRS Form W-4V to set up voluntary withholding from those payments too.

After Separation: The Post-Retirement Verification

Verify your first interim payment. It should arrive within about 7 to 9 days of OPM receiving your completed application from your agency. If it doesn't, contact OPM Retirement Services.

Monitor final adjudication. You'll receive a Civil Service Annuity Statement (CSA) when OPM completes adjudication. Compare the annuity amount against your own calculations. If there's a discrepancy, file within 30 days using OPM's reconsideration process.

Confirm FEHB premium deductions. During the interim period, FEHB premiums aren't deducted. When final adjudication completes, OPM will collect back premiums through increased deductions — this can make your first few full annuity payments lower than expected.

Check your Social Security timing. The FERS supplement bridges the gap until 62, but you still need to decide when to claim Social Security. After the WEP/GPO repeal, your benefit is calculated at the standard rate — no windfall reduction, no government pension offset. The Social Security for Federal Employees guide provides the complete claiming timeline and verification checklists to confirm your benefit amount matches the post-repeal calculation.

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