What are the retirement benefits?
There are three retirement plans: Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS); Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS); and CSRS Offset. Retirement benefits are based on age and years of service at the time of retirement. In general, the following information applies regarding these three plans. FERS serves permanent Federal employees first hired after December 31, 1983. CSRS serves permanent Federal employees hired before January 1, 1984. CSRS Offset is available to permanent Federal employees first hired before 1984 who were covered by CSRS, but left Federal service for more than one year and were then rehired after 1983. To reenter CSRS, these employees must have had 5 years of CSRS eligible service by January 1, 1987. Contact your Human Resources Office for answers to more specific questions.
Most companies in the US offer a defined contribution 401K retirement program where the employee makes a contribution and the company matches the contributions up to a certain percent of the employee’s salary. Some companies still offer a defined benefit pension. [For terms see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/401k and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retirement_plan.
