Best Dates to Retire 2011

For those retiring at the end of 2010, you can't beat Friday, Dec. 31. You don't even have to go to work that day, because it's a federal holiday. It's also at the end of the 2010 leave year. As long as you have completed your 80 hours of work period, you will have earned your final leave accrual. Technically, the leave year ends on Jan. 1, 2011, but that isn't a good date to retire under FERS, because you wouldn't receive a January retirement check. Under CSRS it would be OK, except your retirement check for January would be computed at 29/30 of the full payment. Why lose 1/30 of your retirement check if you don't have to? Feb. 1-3 wouldn't be bad days for a CSRS employee. You'd be in a full pay status for those days and your first retirement check would be for 27/30 of the February payment (payable on March 1). Even though you wouldn't get to the end of a leave period, you would get three more days of service. If you added that to your unused sick leave, then you might get another month of service to compute your retirement. Feb. 28 isn't a bad date, either. Your first retirement payment would be April 1 for the month of March. Same advice as February. The first three days are good for CSRS and the last day of the month is always good to consider. Springtime retirements allow employees to contribute to their Thrift Savings Plan accounts for a few months before retirement, and make use of their flexible spending accounts. Who wouldn't want to retire on April Fool's Day? If you're under CSRS, you can become an annuitant on April 2 and your first retirement payment will be computed for 29/30 of April, payable on May 1. If you're under FERS, choose March 31 or April 30 instead. They're not as memorable, but at least you'll get your first month's retirement payment. May 2 or 3 aren't bad dates for CSRS employees who want to add a few more days of full salary to their final paycheck, along with two or three more days of creditable service. May 31 also works. Since May 30 is the Memorial Day holiday, you would report to work on Tuesday to pack up and say goodbye. June 3 is a particularly sweet day for those under CSRS. It's a Friday, it's the end of the leave period and it's within the first three days of the month. The only thing that could be better is if it were a federal holiday. For FERS employees, May 31 or June 30 would be your days. The federal holiday falls on Monday, July 4, so that doesn't work out to be a good date. Friday, July 1 isn't bad for CSRS employees for the same reason Friday, June 3 is a good date. If you need a day or two of additional service to make up another month in your retirement computation, then consider July 2 or 3. Otherwise, stick with July 1. For FERS employees, it's June 30 or July 31. For those under CSRS, Aug. 1-3 won't get you to the end of a leave period or even to the end of a week. But they are workdays, so you'll be paid your salary for those days and your retirement benefit will begin on Aug. 4. Your first check will be for 27/30 of August, payable on Sept. 1. FERS retirees should focus on July 31 or Aug. 31. Sept. 2 isn't bad for CSRS retirees. Sept. 30 looks pretty good, too. Sept. 5 is the Labor Day holiday, so you can squeeze one more of those in before you go. I'd recommend leaving at the end of September rather than Oct. 3, unless you need the extra three days of service in your CSRS retirement computation. If you leave as of Oct. 3, you'll lose three days of retirement pay and gain only one day of full salary. For FERS, it's either Sept. 30 or wait to go out on Halloween. See my comments after February and August. The advice for November is the same. Friday, Dec. 2, is a good date for CSRS employees who want to retire toward the end of the year, but not all the way at the end of December. There's a good chance you'll receive your lump-sum leave payment in 2012, which might be preferable for tax planning purposes. It's the end of a leave period, so you'll accrue leave. But if I had to decide, I'd stay until Dec. 31 and get two more leave accruals and one more holiday. Plus, if you retire on Dec. 31, you'll get your lump-sum leave payment computed at the 2012 salary rate.