Hello,
This question is very specific to those working for the federal government and covered by the Federal Employees Retirement System, FERS. I am eligible for an immediate annuity as I have enough time working (33 years) and I meet the minimum retirement age. I wanted to work 5 more years to take advantage of a 10% increase in my annuity for working to age 62. When I told this to my neuro he flatly said I will not be able to work that long given that I am secondary progressive and my symptoms are worsening faster every day it seems.
My neuro has given me a letter stipulating that I can only work 4 days/week and I have been approved for reasonable accomodation. I am using sick leave and am still considered full time but my neuro has suggested that it may be time to consider going out on Disability Retirement, DR.
What I am trying to determine is, if I go out on FERS DR, which requires that I apply for SSDI, do I receive the full amount of both payments? According to the SSA website, the amount I would receive for SSDI is close to what I would receive if I waited to start receiving social security at age 67. If I receive both my FERS DR and the full amount of SSDI, my wife and I would be alright financially but I don't want to start this process until I know for sure if there would be any deductions from these payments.
Once payments start, there is no going back and I've heard stories of folks not receiving as much as they anticipated and winding up in a bad financial situation. I want to avoid that, especially as my wife is already on SSDI and is not able to work. I am still able to work but I know my performance is declining and my quality of life is not great as I have no energy to do anything else other than work. My neuro told me I am shortening my life by being stressed and pushing myself to continue working.
I hear his words in my head saying I am shortening my life and it has me thinking more and more about priorities in my life and killing myself in order to work is not a priority for me!
I know this is a specialized situation but I thought I would post this question here in case someone else working for Uncle Sam has experienced this process. Any suggestions, thoughts or input is welcome!
This question is very specific to those working for the federal government and covered by the Federal Employees Retirement System, FERS. I am eligible for an immediate annuity as I have enough time working (33 years) and I meet the minimum retirement age. I wanted to work 5 more years to take advantage of a 10% increase in my annuity for working to age 62. When I told this to my neuro he flatly said I will not be able to work that long given that I am secondary progressive and my symptoms are worsening faster every day it seems.
My neuro has given me a letter stipulating that I can only work 4 days/week and I have been approved for reasonable accomodation. I am using sick leave and am still considered full time but my neuro has suggested that it may be time to consider going out on Disability Retirement, DR.
What I am trying to determine is, if I go out on FERS DR, which requires that I apply for SSDI, do I receive the full amount of both payments? According to the SSA website, the amount I would receive for SSDI is close to what I would receive if I waited to start receiving social security at age 67. If I receive both my FERS DR and the full amount of SSDI, my wife and I would be alright financially but I don't want to start this process until I know for sure if there would be any deductions from these payments.
Once payments start, there is no going back and I've heard stories of folks not receiving as much as they anticipated and winding up in a bad financial situation. I want to avoid that, especially as my wife is already on SSDI and is not able to work. I am still able to work but I know my performance is declining and my quality of life is not great as I have no energy to do anything else other than work. My neuro told me I am shortening my life by being stressed and pushing myself to continue working.
I hear his words in my head saying I am shortening my life and it has me thinking more and more about priorities in my life and killing myself in order to work is not a priority for me!
I know this is a specialized situation but I thought I would post this question here in case someone else working for Uncle Sam has experienced this process. Any suggestions, thoughts or input is welcome!
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