Have any of you Feds retired at 50 or been offered an early retirement option or buy out to retire early? I'm 39, been in gov't service for almost 12 years, so will have MRA at 57 and 30 years in at 58. My plan is to go until 58 so I can collect my full pension and medical immediately, but I've been thinking more about retiring before then. I know that if there is a RIF or something like that then they can offer early retirement for those age 50 who have 20 years in or something like that, but I didn't know if the pension and medical are immediate or if you have to wait until 62 to collect your pension and have no medical? Ideally I wouldn't want to retire until I meet medical age. I might be able to deal with a deferred pension at age 62 but ideally I'd be able to get full medical into retirement and the 22% of my salary that I would have at age 50 if I retired. So I'm curious if anyone has retired early under FERS between ages 50-58?
Bonus question - has anyone been able to maneuver an early buy out or retirement option by talking to their bosses? I read on this forum a few times about people mentioning it to their bosses and being able to get that option, but that may have been the private sector, I can't remember.
