Federal Employees
Your federal retirement is built from a pension, a health plan you can carry with you, life insurance that gets expensive at exactly the wrong time, and a Thrift Savings Plan that eventually has to turn into income. The calculator below shows what your FERS annuity is likely to pay — live, as you type.
Three numbers. The result updates instantly, tells you which retirement rule you fall under, and nothing you enter is sent or stored anywhere.
High-3 is the average of your highest 36 consecutive months of basic pay, including locality pay. Years of service should include deposited military time. Sick leave adds to the computation but never to eligibility.
This is an estimate of the FERS basic annuity only. It does not include the Special Retirement Supplement, Social Security, or TSP withdrawals, and it does not model part-time service, deposits and redeposits, or the specific proration OPM applies to partial months. Your agency HR office and OPM produce the official figure. We use this number as the starting point for the income conversation, not the ending one.
FERS Calculations
FERS has three legs: the basic annuity, Social Security, and the TSP. The basic annuity is the one with a formula, and the formula is short.
That's it for most people. Retire at 62 or later with at least 20 years and the multiplier becomes 1.1% — a 10% raise on the pension for life, which is why so many federal employees hang on until their 62nd birthday. Special-provision employees (law enforcement, firefighters, air traffic controllers) get 1.7% on the first 20 years and 1% after.
Basic pay plus locality pay, averaged over the highest-earning three-year stretch. Overtime, bonuses, awards, and most differentials don't count. For most people it's simply the last three years, but a late-career step increase or promotion moves the number more than people expect.
Age 62 with 5 years. Age 60 with 20 years. Your Minimum Retirement Age (MRA) with 30 years. Or MRA with 10 years — but that last door comes with a permanent 5% reduction for every year you're under 62, unless you postpone the start date.
Born before 1948, your MRA is 55. From 1953 to 1964 it's 56. Born in 1970 or later, it's 57. The years between step up two months at a time. The calculator above works this out from your age automatically.
Since 2014, 100% of unused sick leave counts toward the computation — roughly 2,087 hours per year of credit. It cannot get you to eligibility, but once you're eligible, a year of banked sick leave is a year on the multiplier. Don't burn it on the way out.
Electing the full 50% survivor annuity costs 10% of your pension; the 25% option costs 5%. It also keeps your spouse eligible for FEHB after you're gone, which is often the real reason to take it. This is one of the places where a life insurance or annuity strategy can sometimes do the same job for less — we'll run both.
Retire before 62 on an unreduced annuity and FERS pays a Special Retirement Supplement that approximates the Social Security you earned as a federal employee. It stops at 62 whether or not you claim Social Security, and it's subject to an earnings test if you keep working. Many people are surprised when it disappears.
FERS cost-of-living adjustments generally don't start until age 62, and when inflation runs over 2%, the FERS adjustment is capped below it. Over a long retirement that gap compounds, which is why the income plan around the pension matters as much as the pension.
FEHB
The Federal Employees Health Benefits program is, for many retirees, the single most valuable benefit they have. It's also the easiest one to lose by accident.
To carry FEHB into retirement you must be enrolled for the five years immediately before you retire (or since your first opportunity to enroll), and you must retire on an immediate annuity. Drop coverage in year four to save a few dollars and you can't get it back.
Unlike almost every private employer, the government continues to pay roughly 70–75% of the premium after you retire. Your share is deducted from your annuity instead of your paycheck, and the premium is the same one active employees pay.
While working, your FEHB premiums come out pre-tax. In retirement they come out after-tax. Same dollar amount, slightly bigger bite — worth building into the budget.
FEHB doesn't require you to take Medicare Part B, and many plans now offer Part B premium reimbursements or coordinated options that make the combination cheaper than either alone. The decision is plan-specific and worth a real side-by-side before your Initial Enrollment Period closes.
Since January 2025, USPS employees and retirees are covered under the Postal Service Health Benefits program rather than FEHB. The structure is similar, with new Medicare Part B rules that depend on when you retired.
Your spouse can stay on FEHB after your death only if you elected a survivor annuity and had Self Plus One or Self and Family coverage at the time. It's the most common reason to take the survivor election even when the math looks close.
FEGLI
FEGLI is convenient and, in your 30s and 40s, cheap. Basic coverage is a good deal at any age because the government pays a third of it. The optional coverage is age-banded, and the bands get steep after 55 — which is when most people are thinking about retirement, not shopping for term insurance.
Employees pay $0.16 per $1,000 biweekly regardless of age; the government pays the rest. Under 45 you get an "extra benefit" that doubles the payout at 35 and phases out by 45. Postal employees typically receive Basic at no cost.
Option A is a flat $10,000. Option B is 1–5 multiples of your salary. Option C covers your spouse ($5,000 per multiple) and children ($2,500 each per multiple), up to 5 multiples. All three are priced by five-year age bands.
OPM rate schedule effective October 1, 2021. Your current age band is highlighted from the calculator above.
| Age band | Option Bper $1,000 | Option A$10,000 flat | Option Cper multiple |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 35 | $0.02 | $0.20 | $0.20 |
| 35–39 | $0.03 | $0.30 | $0.24 |
| 40–44 | $0.04 | $0.40 | $0.37 |
| 45–49 | $0.06 | $0.70 | $0.53 |
| 50–54 | $0.10 | $1.10 | $0.83 |
| 55–59 | $0.18 | $2.00 | $1.33 |
| 60–64 | $0.40 | $6.00 | $2.43 |
| 65–69 | $0.48 | $6.00 | $2.83 |
| 70–74 | $0.86 | $6.00 | $3.83 |
| 75–79 | $1.80 | $6.00 | $5.76 |
| 80 and over | $2.88 | $6.00 | $7.80 |
| Basic: $0.16 per $1,000 biweekly at every age. Rates are set by OPM and can change; confirm the current schedule at opm.gov before making an election. | |||
Enter your age and salary in the calculator above to see what FEGLI costs you.
For Basic you choose a 75% reduction (premium-free after 65, coverage shrinks 2% a month to 25% of the original), a 50% reduction, or no reduction, both of which cost extra for life. Options B and C offer full reduction or no reduction, by multiple. You need five years of continuous enrollment before retirement to keep any of it.
Five multiples on a $100,000 salary is $500,000 of coverage. At 50 that's $50 a pay period. At 60 it's $200. At 70 it's $430, and at 80 it's over $1,400 every two weeks. If you still need the coverage past 60, a level-premium policy bought while you're healthy is usually the cheaper route — and it's a comparison we'll run for you at no charge.
TSP
The Thrift Savings Plan is a superb accumulation vehicle. It's a limited distribution vehicle. Once you separate, you can leave it, take installments, buy the TSP annuity, or roll some or all of it to an IRA where the full universe of contracts — including guaranteed lifetime income annuities — becomes available. Which of those is right depends on your pension, your spouse, and how much of your monthly budget is already covered by guaranteed sources.
Federal employees within ten years of retirement, anyone weighing the survivor election or an Option B renewal, and retirees whose TSP is still sitting in the plan with no income plan attached. If you also have an old 401(k), 403(b), 401(a), or 457(b) from a prior employer, that review runs the same way.
Schedule a Complimentary Federal Benefits Review
This content is for general educational purposes only and is not financial, tax, legal, or investment advice, nor a recommendation to buy or sell any product. Stream Income Group is an insurance and financial services firm and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, the Thrift Savings Plan, the United States Postal Service, or any federal agency. Your agency HR office and OPM are the authoritative source for your specific benefits. Any guarantees referenced are backed solely by the financial strength and claims-paying ability of the issuing insurance company. Please consult qualified tax and legal professionals regarding your individual situation.
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