Best Dates to Retire 2011
A look at next year’s calendar to find the best days to leave to maximize your benefits.
It's a good idea to start making plans to retire at least a year in advance of when you actually want to go. Here's why:
- You can request a final retirement benefit computation from your benefits office to verify all your federal service is being credited and to make sure you don't owe any money to the retirement fund.
- You'll have time to consider the important decisions you'll make at retirement regarding service credit deposits, survivor benefits and continuation of insurance.
- You can begin to seriously contemplate life after retirement.
In other words, it's not too early to start planning for 2011. So let's take a month-by-month look at next year's best dates. (If you're still figuring out the best date to retire for 2010, then here's this year's calendar .)
On the months below, the dates highlighted in blue signify the last day of the month. That's always considered a good day to retire because you become an annuitant the following day. That's true for employees under both the Civil Service Retirement System (and CSRS Offset) and the Federal Employees Retirement System.
Under CSRS, the days highlighted in yellow -- the 1st, 2nd or 3rd of the month -- are sometimes good, because retirement benefits still will kick in the following day. Another important set of days -- the end of the leave periods for most federal employees -- are highlighted in gray.
Just to be clear, here's a key:
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End of a leave period
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End of the month
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Beginning of the month
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Let's get to the calendar:
December 2010/January 2011
12/26 | 12/27 | 12/28 | 12/29 | 12/30 | 12/31 | 1 |
2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 |
9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 |
16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 |
23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 39 |
30 | 31 |
If you are cashing out more than the amount allowed for the maximum leave carryover (240 hours for most federal employees), then Jan. 2 or Jan. 3 are not good dates, because they're the beginning dates of the 2011 leave year, and you would be limited to no more than 240 hours of annual leave going into 2011.
If you're not worried about leave carryover, then Jan. 31 wouldn't be a bad date. It would provide a little credit toward your high-three computation at the 2011 pay rate and allow you to spend some 2011 flexible spending account dollars before you retire. But the expenses would have to be incurred before your final day of employment.
February 2011
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | ||
6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 |
20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 |
16 | 28 |
March 2011
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | ||
6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 |
20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 |
16 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 |
April 2011
1 | 2 | |||||
3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 |
10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 |
17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 |
24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 |
May 2011
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 13 |
15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 |
22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 |
29 | 30 | 31 |
June 2011
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |||
5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 |
12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 |
19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 |
26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 |
July 2011
1 | 2 | |||||
3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 |
10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 |
17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 |
24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 |
31 |
August 2011
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | |
7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 |
14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 |
21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 |
28 | 29 | 30 | 31 |
September 2011
1 | 2 | 3 | ||||
4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 |
18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 |
25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 |
October 2011
1 | ||||||
2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 |
9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 |
16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 |
23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 |
30 | 31 |
November 2011
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | ||
6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 |
20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 |
27 | 28 | 29 | 30 |
December 2011/January 2012
1 | 2 | 3 | ||||
4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 |
18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 |
25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 |
Tammy Flanagan is the senior benefits director for the National Institute of Transition Planning Inc. , which conducts federal retirement planning workshops and seminars. She has spent 25 years helping federal employees take charge of their retirement by understanding their benefits.
For more retirement planning help, tune in to "For Your Benefit," presented by the National Institute of Transition Planning Inc. live on Monday mornings at 10 a.m. ET on federalnewsradio.com or on WFED AM 1500 in the Washington metro area.
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