Q. I’m currently 31 and have 8 ½ years of government service. I’d like to retire as soon as possible, so what is the most practical course of action if you were in my shoes? Working to MRA of 57 (37 years of service), assuming the annuity is enough to support me in retirement, or waiting until 59 ½ to be able to collect the annuity and TSP payments? Or resigning at an earlier age?
A. It’s impossible to answer this question. You should start by establishing some lifetime goals and then evaluating how well each of these alternatives will support them. It’s requires some complex multi-variate analysis, so you may want to seek professional help.