Freedom Federal Educators Issue 1 - Summer 2021 | Page 9

THE DATE THAT TENDS TO BE THE MOST POPULAR IS DATE IS THE END OF THE YEAR

An employee must be in considered “ employee status ” for his or her entire last pay period of work in order to receive the full amount of annual leave hours for that last pay period . At most agencies , an employee who works a Monday-through-Friday , eighthour-per-day work schedule and who retires before the official end of the pay period — the second Saturday of the pay period — will not accrue any annual or sick leave hours for that last period worked .

Retiring employees who have more than 240 hours of unused annual leave towards the end of the leave year do not want to retire after the start of the new leave year . This is because of the “ use or lose ” rule for unused annual leave that affects most employees . In particular , most employees cannot carry over more than 240 hours of unused annual leave into the new leave year .

TREATMENT OF UNUSED SICK LEAVE AT THE TIME OF RETIREMENT Effective since January 1 , 2014 , retiring employees get credit for unused sick leave in the computation of their FERS annuities . As previously mentioned , a retiring employee will want to retire at the end of a pay period in order to accrue the full amount of sick leave hours for the last pay period worked ( four hours for full-time employees ). Note that unused sick leave hours can be used for FERS annuity computation purposes but not for retirement eligibility purposes .

With this background information in mind , the table below presents the best dates for FERS employees to retire during 2021 , 2022 , 2023 , and 2024 . The dates presented were selected using the following guidelines : 1 . With the exception of December 31 , 2021 , January 3 , 2022 , December 31 , 2023 , and December 31 , 2024 , all of the dates presented are the official end of a pay period . That is , the second Saturday of the pay period .

2 . For FERS /“ Trans ” FERS employees , the best day of the month to retire is within the last three days of the month .

The dates that are shown in the table below were based on OPM ’ s 2021 , 2022 , 2023 , and 2024 leave-year calendars used by most federal agencies .

UNDERSTANDING WHEN NOT TO RETIRE As important as it is to know when to retire , it is equally important to know when not to retire . Here are a few rules as to when not to retire : 1 . Don ’ t retire on an impulse . Consider all the ramifications of your decision . 2 . Don ’ t retire without considering your financial needs , having developed a budget , and understanding your income options . Consult with a Federal Retirement Consultant ( FRC ) to help you through this process .

3 . Don ’ t retire without making sure you have been given credit for all your years of federal service — both civilian and military .

4 . Don ’ t retire if you have not been covered by Federal Employees Health Benefits ( FEHB ) for the most recent five years ( or from your first opportunity to enroll ).

Brian Ross , FRC specializes in helping federal employees in the areas of TSP protection strategies , FERS and CSRS retirement annuities , FEGLI life insurance and retirement income planning . He has over 30 years of experience in the retirement industry and has help hundreds of clients invest millions of dollars into IRA accounts . He has completed the FedEd training through FFEBA and earned the FRC ( Federal Retirement Consultant ) designation . He is an authorized federal benefits trainer with Freedom Federal Educators . Brian is also Vice-President of Retirement Services with Freedom Financial , a financial firm specializing in retirement income planning for federal employees .

2023

1 / 1 / 2023 to 1 / 13 / 2024 ( 26 pay periods )

Jan . 28 , Sept . 2 , Sept . 30 , Dec . 31 Jan . 28 , Sept . 30 , Dec . 31

FREEDOMFEDED . COM RETIREMENT 9