Retirement countdown checklist
Start about three years out by checking your records. Ask for an official estimate two years out. Apply for your pension in the last two to three months, and for Social Security up to four months before you want it to start. Sign up for Medicare around your 65th birthday, even if you're not retiring yet.
Tick each step as you finish it. Your ticks are saved on this device only. Steps marked Oregon PERS or Federal FERS apply only to that system. Everything else is for everyone.
Printed from publicpensionplanner.com. These are general steps, not advice. Your retirement system has the final word on dates and forms.
3 years or more before you retire
Mistakes are easier to fix while you're still working. PERS members can review their record through a data verification request. Federal employees can ask their benefits office to confirm their creditable service, including any military or part-time service.
Check that every year of your earnings is listed and see your estimates at 62, at full retirement age and at 70, at ssa.gov/myaccount.
If you'll retire before Medicare starts at 65, you need a plan for the years in between. See our guide to health insurance before Medicare.
- Federal FERS
To keep your federal health plan as a retiree, you generally need to be enrolled for the five years of service just before you retire (5 U.S.C. 8905(b)). Check this before you pick a date.
2 years before
- Oregon PERS
PERS says to request one when you're within two years of retiring. Use Online Member Services or the benefit estimates page.
- Federal FERS
Your human resources or benefits office runs FERS estimates. See OPM's retirement quick guide.
Our Retirement Date Planner puts your pension, savings and Social Security on one timeline and compares retiring at different ages.
1 year before
Your date affects your service, your early-retirement cut and when your health coverage changes.
PERS runs free education sessions for Tier One, Tier Two and OPSRP members. Many federal agencies offer preretirement seminars, so ask your benefits office.
This choice is usually permanent once payments start. A survivor option lowers your payment so your spouse keeps getting income after you die. Federal retirees have the same choice.
The IAP can be paid as one lump sum or in installments . The TSP offers several ways to withdraw. Ask a tax professional how each choice affects your taxes.
The last 2 to 4 months
- Oregon PERS
Tier One and Tier Two: book a Retirement Application Assistance Session within three months of your retirement date, and don't send your application before it. OPSRP: turn in your application within the 90 days before your retirement date. Either way, PERS must receive your application before your retirement date. Sources: the Tier One/Tier Two and OPSRP preretirement guides.
- Federal FERS
OPM says to meet your benefits office at least 60 days before your separation date. Your agency sends the application to OPM, and OPM can't start until after you've left. The whole process takes about 3 to 5 months (OPM quick guide).
You can apply up to 4 months before the month you want benefits to start (SSA: time your first payment). You don't have to start Social Security when your pension starts.
Make sure there's no gap between your last day of job coverage and your next plan. Losing job coverage lets you sign up for a HealthCare.gov plan from 60 days before to 60 days after it ends.
Your pension is taxable income. Choose how much federal and state tax to withhold so you aren't surprised at tax time.
Around your 65th birthday
Your first chance lasts 7 months: the three months before the month you turn 65, that month, and the three months after. If you already get Social Security, you're usually signed up for Parts A and B automatically. If you or your spouse are still working and covered by that job's health plan, you may be able to wait. Ask the plan how it works with Medicare. You then have 8 months after the job or the coverage ends, whichever comes first.
Medicare says COBRA isn't job coverage for this rule. Signing up late adds 10% to your Part B premium for each full year you could have signed up, for as long as you have Part B (Medicare: avoid penalties).
After you retire
PERS expects to pay your first pension payment within 92 days of your retirement date. Tier One and Tier Two members' IAP is normally paid within 120 days. FERS retirees can check OPM processing times.
- Oregon PERS
Tier One and Tier Two retirees can change their payment option within 60 days of the date their first check is issued (PERS).
Working again can affect your pension, the FERS supplement or Social Security. See PERS's work after retirement rules and Social Security's earnings limits.
General steps, not advice. Deadlines can change, and your own situation may add steps. Your retirement system has the final word on dates and forms.