Estimate Your Time to Retire: Federal Law Enforcement and Firefighter Retirement Countdown Clock (2024)

FAQs

How is federal law enforcement retirement calculated? ›

Annuities under both CSRS and FERS are computed according to (1) the number of years of service completed under the retirement plan, (2) the retiree's average annual salary for the three consecutive years of highest pay, and (3) the accrual rate at which benefits accumulate for each year of service.

Retirement Countdown app is a free app for Android published in the System Maintenance list of apps, part of System Utilities. The company that develops Retirement Countdown app is Copur.

Under FERS, the annual annuity of law enforcement officers and firefighters is computed under the following formula: 1.7% of high-3 average pay multiplied by 20 years of service as a LEO/FF. plus 1% of high-3 average pay multiplied by any years of service above 20 as a LEO/FF.

Eligibility is determined by your age and number of years of creditable service. In some cases, you must have reached the Minimum Retirement Age (MRA) to receive retirement benefits.

Your basic annuity is computed based on your length of service and “high-3” average salary. To determine your length of service for computation, add all your periods of creditable service, then eliminate any fractional part of a month from the total.

Countdown is a free, super easy to use countdown timer and reminder for the important events & dates in your life. In addition to receiving a notification when it is time for your event, you can receive reminders 1 day before or 1 week before the event.

We are aware that the Countdown App has been removed from the Google Play Store. We are working hard to resolve this.

I say “magic” (tongue in cheek) because if you put 10 people in a room, you'll get 10 different opinions about how much you should save for retirement. And this estimate is no different. Northwestern Mutual surveyed 4,588 adults and found: The new “magic” number for a comfortable retirement is $1.46 million.

In addition, many firefighters do not receive Social Security, meaning their pension is their only source of income. A reasonable secure pension is earned over a lifetime of sacrifice.

At what age do most firefighters retire? ›

FERS (Immediate or Early)

FERS annuities are based on high-3 average pay. Generally, the benefit is calculated as 1 percent of high-3 average pay multiplied by years of creditable service. For those retiring at age 62 or later with at least 20 years of service, a factor of 1.1 percent is used rather than 1 percent.

Generally, a federal employee's high-3 salary is the amount they've earned in their three most recent years of work. Multiply your high-3 average annual income by your total creditable years of service; then multiply that by 1%.

Generally, your FERS benefit is 1% of your “high-3” average salary multiplied by your years and months of service. If you were at least age 62 at separation and had at least 20 years of service, your annuity is 1.1% of your “high-3” average salary multiplied by your years and months of service.