Hi All,
I ran across an article today talking about early buyout and VERA, and as I read through VERA it started to sound really good! I'm 38 years old with 10 years in, and if I were to take VERA at 50 (in 12 years) I would have 22 years in plus a year of sick leave to add on top. I know the pension would be based on my 22 years rather than 30 years if I worked until 58, but the benefit of being able to collect a pension right away at 50 years old (even if reduced to only 22% vs 30%) seemed like a really good deal. In addition being able to take the FERS supplement starting at 57 (MRA) seemed really cool! From what I could read, the only downside seemed to be this:
Cost of Living Adjustments are not payable until age 62 – for FERS employees only
Am I missing something else, is this not a really great deal if you want to retire early and either retire or start a new non-gov't career? I'm not sure if you can just ask for VERA or you have to wait until it's offered?
I've got a ways to go but I wanted to know if anyone else has taken VERA or maybe decided not to take it b/c of some other downside that I'm not seeing?