Duffy Says: Age Increase, Raise & Safer? Offer Coming?

[EEKK]

51%
43%

 

[Phillytroll69]

1st example assuming youre retiring vision 100 = 30 years x 1.7%. 51% pension. No fers supplement. No cola until 62

2nd example normal ATC retirement = 20 years x 1.7% and 9 years x 1%. 43% pension. Fers supplement for two years until age 57 then it’s subject to earnings test which means basically every ATC will lose the fers supplement past age 57. Cola immediately upon retirement. You’ll need to crunch those numbers individually what they mean for you. Normal ATC retirement is better the earlier you retire I believe because you get the fers supplement longer and the immediate cola, but thats my honest assessment

So let's say your high 3 is 175k. I get the math (at 175k it's 14,000 dollar difference-51% vs 43%)

What I'm not understanding is would social security supplement /cola equal a little over 1k a month? Should you just go as soon as possible versus staying as it is today

 

[EEKK]

Everyone gets a SS supplement until 62 which you then get SS.
The supplement is subject to an earnings test from 56-62 regardless of which retirement you choose.

The V100 does not give you a Cola until 62. Regular retirement does.

 

[SolicitSVFR]

So let's say your high 3 is 175k. I get the math (at 175k it's 14,000 dollar difference-51% vs 43%)

What I'm not understanding is would social security supplement /cola equal a little over 1k a month? Should you just go as soon as possible versus staying as it is today

To be honest man in your situation I’d sit down with a financial counselor to work out the math. Fers supplement is individually based and if you retire at 55 you can only get it for two years until 57. Cola you can look at history to see what the averages are to see what your percentage increase could be. But 14k is a big difference and I’m not sure which would be better in your situation you retiring so close to the mandatory retirement age

 

[ClearanceClarence]

The problem is not people retiring. The problem is people outright quitting long before they’re eligible because the pay and benefits of this job oftentimes don’t outweigh the negatives anymore.

 

[Mike Kilo]

Man, 15 years in and this is the first time I’m hearing that we won’t get the social security supplement after 57 lol. So from 57-62 we don’t get anything from it? Then we collect normal SS?

 

[SolicitSVFR]

Man, 15 years in and this is the first time I’m hearing that we won’t get the social security supplement after 57 lol. So from 57-62 we don’t get anything from it? Then we collect normal SS?

I say you don’t get it past 57 because it is earnings tested past that age. The exempt amount is $23,400. Even level 4 controllers will surpass that amount in retirement. Your supplement gets reduced 1$ for every 2$ you exceed that limit. Then yes you can collect SS
At 62 for reduced benefit or 67 for full

 

[blarg]

I say you don’t get it past 57 because it is earnings tested past that age. The exempt amount is $23,400. Even level 4 controllers will surpass that amount in retirement. Your supplement gets reduced 1$ for every 2$ you exceed that limit. Then yes you can collect SS
At 62 for reduced benefit or 67 for full

Not sure if I'm misunderstanding, but do you think your pension offsets the supplement? It does not.

The earnings test is for if you get a 2nd job while you're retired. If you get some part time gig making 23k on top of your pension and supplement, you get to keep it all. If you start making more than 23k from your other job, then the money beyond that will start offsetting the SS supplement until whatever the math ends up being basically 2x your supplement per month. If you make more than the (23k + (2x SS supplement which negates the supplement entirely)) + however much more, that however much more is all yours again. At that point you'll get your pension + 2nd job income, and have no SS supplement until you start making less than the ((x)) part of the equation above.

If you don't work at all, you'll get pension + supplement, no matter how large the pension is.

 

[SolicitSVFR]

Not sure if I'm misunderstanding, but do you think your pension offsets the supplement? It does not.

The earnings test is for if you get a 2nd job while you're retired. If you get some part time gig making 23k on top of your pension and supplement, you get to keep it all. If you start making more than 23k from your other job, then the money beyond that will start offsetting the SS supplement until whatever the math ends up being basically 2x your supplement per month. If you make more than the (23k + (2x SS supplement which negates the supplement entirely)) + however much more, that however much more is all yours again. At that point you'll get your pension + 2nd job income, and have no SS supplement until you start making less than the ((x)) part of the equation above.

If you don't work at all, you'll get pension + supplement, no matter how large the pension is.

Yes I thought the pension counted as income, but happy to hear it’s not, my mistake. Glad to get educamacated on this!

 

[Mike Kilo]

Not sure if I'm misunderstanding, but do you think your pension offsets the supplement? It does not.

The earnings test is for if you get a 2nd job while you're retired. If you get some part time gig making 23k on top of your pension and supplement, you get to keep it all. If you start making more than 23k from your other job, then the money beyond that will start offsetting the SS supplement until whatever the math ends up being basically 2x your supplement per month. If you make more than the (23k + (2x SS supplement which negates the supplement entirely)) + however much more, that however much more is all yours again. At that point you'll get your pension + 2nd job income, and have no SS supplement until you start making less than the ((x)) part of the equation above.

If you don't work at all, you'll get pension + supplement, no matter how large the pension is.

Thank you for this clarification. This was what I thought was correct and the other guy had me scared. 😆

 

[Shikaka]

Congresspeople are literally dangling a carrot for NATCA and they're mute.

 

[the inquirer]

Plus if you work for saic or contract tower, that doesn’t count against earnings. So you can theoretically make more money retiring at 50 and working your local contract tower vs staying in til 56.

 

[Gauff]

Plus if you work for saic or contract tower, that doesn’t count against earnings. So you can theoretically make more money retiring at 50 and working your local contract tower vs staying in til 56.

Does it not count because they are government contractors?

 

[Redacted]

Does it not count because they are government contractors?

Several exceptions were added years back including in-facility contract instructors because otherwise they had no incentive to stick around

 

[Pointsixtynine.10]

We should get rid of the 10 hour rule. I’m trying to make a living.

 

[32andBelow]

They need to get rid of leave not counting as rest. If I took a day of leave I should be able to work OT and not have it count as 7 day. I think it’s just a limitation of ghetto art mostly.

 

[Dontbotherme]

Does it not count because they are government contractors?

There is a rule that if you’re actively helping train air traffic controllers that your pay is exempt for the purposes of reducing your SSS. So you could have your pension, SSS, and work for SAIC (or whomever has the contract now) and keep all of them at full value.

 

[97on33off]

Regular ATC vs Vision100
Aside from the pension calculation, there are few other key differences when considering whether to retire under Vision 100 or regular ATC retirement. In both instances, the retiree is eligible for SRS upon retirement; however, regular ATCs will not be subject to the earnings test until reaching Minimum Retirement Age. Since Vision 100 employees will already have reached Minimum Retirement Age, they will be subject to the earnings test for SRS upon retirement.

Another important difference to be aware of is that regular ATCs will get cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs) upon their annuities at retirement. Vision 100 retirees will not receive a COLA on their annuities until age 62. It’s vital to understand this difference when deciding between these two options.

 

[32andBelow]

Regular ATC vs Vision100
Aside from the pension calculation, there are few other key differences when considering whether to retire under Vision 100 or regular ATC retirement. In both instances, the retiree is eligible for SRS upon retirement; however, regular ATCs will not be subject to the earnings test until reaching Minimum Retirement Age. Since Vision 100 employees will already have reached Minimum Retirement Age, they will be subject to the earnings test for SRS upon retirement.

Another important difference to be aware of is that regular ATCs will get cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs) upon their annuities at retirement. Vision 100 retirees will not receive a COLA on their annuities until age 62. It’s vital to understand this difference when deciding between these two options.

Didn’t recently the earlier retires catch up to the other ones due to the COLA? But it was like a record adjustment

 

[Gauff]

What if we just changed our current retirement to include 1.7% for all years instead of just for 20. Or at least make it that if you reach 56 you get 1.7% for all. Then you don't have to change anything else about our retirement