Browsing: annuity calculation

Q. I have 38 years with the federal government. I have 240 hours of stored leave and, if I save my annual leave this year, I will have 208 hours of annual leave. This equates to 448 hours times my base pay, which is $33.92 for $15,196. When I retire at the end of this year, can I roll my lump-sum payment over to my Thrift Savings Plan account before taxes? A. No.

Q. I have a two-part question. I am a federal firefighter and, as of December, I will have 25 years and 10 months on the job and I am 50 years old. What is the salary they will be basing my retirement on: base pay or actual pay? When can I collect my Thrift Savings Plan? I would like to receive checks like a retirement. A. Mike: You may begin withdrawing your TSP balance, or use it to buy an immediate annuity, as soon as you are separated from service. Reg: Your annuity will be calculated using your basic pay.…

Q. I have 33 years in and am under CSRS. I will be 60 years old in May. I served less than two years in the Army in my 20s. I am a WG-8 making almost $25 an hour. I receive correspondence statements from Social Security that if I retire at age 62, I would be eligible for approximately $300 based on a second job 12 years ago and jobs before joining the government in the 1980s. 1. Should I buy back the time I have in the Army? 2. Will the buyback help increase my Social Security? Or will…

Q. My husband was a temporary federal employee for the Defense Department for five years. He was laid off in August. He had two years of military service, which he bought that time back, so in essence he has seven years of federal service. He is 60 years old. He put 10 percent of his salary in the Thrift Savings Plan. Should he leave that money in TSP or put it in another vehicle? Also, when he reaches retirement age (62), will he receive a pension for the seven years of federal service? He left DoD with a sick leave…

Q. I’ve been doing some estimates for retirement with the TSP calculator. I plan on leaving my money in G Fund after retirement, and for interest, I’ve been putting 3 percent. Is that a conservative enough amount? A. The calculator is unrealistic in that: 1. It assumes that a constant rate of investment return will be earned each and every year, like clockwork; 2. You can predict what this rate will be; 3. You know how long you’re going to live; 4. Inflation isn’t a factor. Each of these assumptions is absurd. I think that the calculator is, at best,…

Q: I saw the following comment in response to the question regarding the Thrift Savings Plan annuity rate being 3.625 percent: “The annuity rate is used to determine, at the time of purchase, the size of the payment you’ll receive in exchange for the annuity purchase price.” My question is surrounding the phrase “annuity purchase price.” Are you telling us that after all the years of contributing our own, hard-earned money into the TSP to secure a better retirement life for ourselves and our families, that we have to buy back that money from the TSP in order to use…

Q: I was reading a question submitted to you about the Thrift Savings Plan annuity rate being 3.625 percent. What does this rate have to with withdrawing from our accounts in retirement in the form of an annuity? If I have $200,000 in my account and buy an annuity with it, once it is purchased I get the monthly amount for the rest of my life, Right? I don’t understand what this annuity rate is for. A: The annuity rate is used to determine, at the time of purchase, the size of the payment you’ll receive in exchange for the…