FERS Retirement Eligibility in 2026: MRA+10 vs 30 Years, and What Leaving Early Costs

FERS eligibility is four short combinations of age and service, and almost every expensive federal retirement mistake is a misreading of one of them. People leave two months before their minimum retirement age and turn an immediate pension into a deferred one. People take an MRA+10 annuity at 57 without noticing that waiting three years to start it — not to work it, to start it — would have paid them 33% more for the rest of their lives.

The four doors, and what each one actually is

"Immediate" has a precise meaning at OPM: the annuity starts within 30 days of the day you stop working. That distinction is the whole game, because an immediate annuity carries your federal health insurance into retirement and a deferred one does not.

Note what is not a door. Twenty-five years at any age and 20 years at 50 are only available when OPM has authorized a Voluntary Early Retirement Authority for your agency, or when you are being involuntarily separated. You cannot elect them.

Your MRA depends on the year you were born

The months are not decoration. MRA+30 requires that you have reached your MRA on the day you separate, so someone born in 1966 with 30 years in hand who walks out at 56 and 2 months has not retired — they have resigned, and their pension becomes deferred.

The 1.1% multiplier, and the word "separation"

The FERS formula is years of service × 1% × your high-3 average salary. It becomes 1.1% — a 10% raise on the entire pension — in one case: OPM's computation rule reads age 62 or older at separation with 20 or more years of service.

Twenty years and a $100,000 high-3 pays $20,000 a year at 61 and $22,000 at 62. That is $167 a month for life in exchange for one more year of work, which is the single highest-return year in most federal careers. Run your own service and high-3 through the FERS pension calculator with two different retirement ages and the gap shows up immediately.

The word doing the work is separation: the 1.1% rate is about how old you were on your last day, not when the money starts arriving. Someone who resigns at 57 and starts a postponed annuity at 62 is computed at 1%, not 1.1%, no matter what age is printed on the first payment.

One person, three exits

A federal employee born in 1970 (MRA 57), high-3 of $100,000, 20 years of service on her 57th birthday. Holding the high-3 flat so the eligibility rules are the only variable:

Exit A gets a three-year head start worth $45,000. Exit B closes that gap at $5,000 a year and passes it at age 69 — and every year after that is pure gain, $80,000 of it by 85. Exit C does not begin collecting until 62, by which point A has banked $75,000, but at $12,500 a year more it overtakes A at age 68, having also earned five more years of salary and five more years of agency contributions to the TSP match on the way.

None of this counts cost-of-living increases, which make the later exits better still: regular FERS retirees receive no COLA at all until 62, so Exit A spends five years watching a reduced pension lose purchasing power. Nor does it count a survivor election, which takes another 10% for a full benefit or 5% for a partial one — put your own numbers into the FERS pension estimate to compare the exits.

What the reduction actually looks like

Under MRA+10 the annuity is reduced by 5/12 of 1% for each month — 5% a year — that you are under 62 when the annuity begins. On the $20,000 base above:

The cliff between 59 and 60 is the 20-year exception: OPM does not apply the age reduction if you have 20 years of service and the benefit starts at 60 or later. Waiting from 59 to 60 is worth $3,000 a year, not $1,000. With fewer than 20 years there is no exception and the ladder continues — 10% at 60, 5% at 61.

Postponing is not free. Life insurance ends at separation and does not come back. Health coverage can be continued for 18 months at the full premium plus a 2% charge, and then reinstated when the annuity begins if you carried FEHB for the five years before you left. The application goes to OPM at least 60 days before you want payments to start; nobody sends it to you. Model both start dates in the FERS pension calculator before you pick a separation date, because the reduction it shows is permanent — there is no recalculation at 62.

The bridge payment, and who does not get it

Retirees who leave with an unreduced immediate annuity before 62 — MRA with 30 years, or 60 with 20 — also receive the FERS annuity supplement, a monthly payment approximating the Social Security benefit earned during federal service, which stops at 62. MRA+10 retirees do not get it, whether they take the annuity immediately or postpone it. That is a second, quieter penalty on Exit A and Exit B above; for the 30-year retiree who does qualify, it is often worth more than $1,000 a month. The mechanics, the earnings test and the handoff to Social Security at 62 are covered in the FERS supplement explained.

What this does not cover

Special provisions for law enforcement officers, firefighters, air traffic controllers and nuclear materials couriers run on different ages and a 1.7% multiplier for the first 20 years. Part-time service is prorated. Disability retirement has its own formula and needs only 18 months of service. And a military deposit converts active-duty years into creditable civilian service, which can move your eligibility date by years — worth an appointment with your agency's benefits officer rather than a calculator.

FAQ

I am 56 with 30 years of service. Can I retire now?

Only if 56 is your MRA. It is if you were born between 1953 and 1964. If you were born in 1965 your MRA is 56 and 2 months; in 1968, 56 and 8 months; in 1970 or later, 57. MRA+30 requires that you have reached your MRA on the day you separate. Miss it by two months and the immediate annuity becomes a deferred one — with 30 years it can still start at your MRA with no age reduction, so the money is barely delayed, but a deferred retirement carries no FERS supplement and no reinstatement of health or life insurance. Two more months of work protects the coverage you spent a career paying for.

Does unused sick leave get me to 30 years faster?

No. Unused sick leave is added to your service for the annuity computation only; it can never be used to meet an eligibility requirement. At 2,087 hours to the year, a full year of sick leave adds 1% of a $100,000 high-3, or $1,000 a year for life. A more typical 400-hour balance is just over two months of service, worth roughly $192 a year. Useful, but it will not open a door that your actual service has not opened.

I want to quit at 45 with 20 years. What do I actually get?

A deferred annuity, payable at 62, computed at 1% — not 1.1%, because you were not 62 at separation — so $20,000 a year on a $100,000 high-3. You can start it as early as your MRA under the MRA+10 provision with the 5%-per-year reduction. There is no FERS supplement, and OPM is explicit that health and life insurance cannot be reinstated under a deferred retirement. One more trap: if you take a refund of your retirement contributions on the way out, the deferred annuity disappears with it.

Does the MRA+10 reduction go away when I turn 62?

No. It is applied once, based on your age when the annuity commences, and it is permanent — there is no recalculation at 62 and no back pay. The only lever is the commencing date, and it is a large one: on the 20-year, $100,000 high-3 case above, starting at 60 instead of 57 pays $5,000 a year more for life and about $80,000 more by age 85.

Sources

• OPM — FERS eligibility, including the minimum retirement age table
• OPM — FERS types of retirement (MRA+10, postponed and deferred)
• OPM — FERS computation
• 5 U.S.C. §8412 (eligibility) and §8415 (the 1% and 1.1% computation rules)