Retirement Planning

August 3 is a Saturday. Unless you plan to work that day, why not retire as of close of business on Friday, the 2nd? That way you would get 28/30 of the August pension versus 27/30 if you retire on August 3. And even if August 3 is the end of the pay period, if the 2nd is your last scheduled work day in that pay period my understanding is that you would still get credited for your 8 hours of annual leave for that period.

the only way you loose a month is if you retire after the 3rd of the month. or said another way outside the 29th and the 3rd window.

the months people point out as best dates really has to do with your tax liability and annual leave balance.

Thanks all for taking the time to respond. Also, sorry for the typos in my previous post.

I tried to get information from my HR regarding best dates, but I haven't heard back from them. So, I sincerely appreciate all of your input.
There were 2 sites I looked at on the internet.

1)https://www.myfederalretirement.com/best-dates-retire/ (This is the site which indicated Aug 3rd instead of August 2nd. Perhaps they were using the end ofa Pay Period. I don't know. If I decide to go with August, I will use the date you suggested (Aug 2)

I also reviewed this site https://myfederalretirem...dates-to-retire-in-2019/ which states the following See a and b below:

a)"The best dates for CSRS in 2019 that will allow a retirement at the end of the month (or within the first three days of a month) and also at or near the end of a leave period will be Jan. 3, Feb. 1, March 1, March 30, Aug. 2, and Aug. 31. Jan. 3, 2020, would also work, because it’s within the 2019 leave year."

b) The following dates would also work for CSRS, but would not earn a final leave accrual since they are not at the end of a pay period: May 3, May 31, June 30, July 3, Sept. 3, Oct. 3, Oct. 31, Nov. 1, Nov. 30, and Dec. 3.

So, as you indicated, I believe I will go with August 2nd.If I decide to use an August date.

However, If I should decide to leave earlier for example, July 3. Is there anything I would lose besides an additional Annual Leave date on July 3. If I'm not mistaken you said as long as it's the first 3 days of the month it's fine. I would hate to miss the deadline by one day and have to wait another money for my annuity.

Thank you all again! You're so helpful.

Thanks so much. Now I'm really confused. I wouldn't want to lose 29 days of service but thought those dates I selected as dates I may retire would be good dates not to lose it. I just can't digest all of this information. I thought as long as I used any of the dates that are indicated as "the best dates" I'd be ok and wouldn't lose anything besides maybe an annual leave day. I thought August 2 and July 3rd were good dates (besides losing an annual leave date if I selected July 3)
I started working on Sept 16, 1977 and only have 600 hours Sick Leave. I guess I'll have to search for a calculator to try to figure it out. Someone in my HR office totally miscalculated some ones retirement in my office. Fortunately, he knew what he was doing.

Raoul made a good point about the sick leave. If it isn't clear, here is what he was getting at.

With a service comp date of 9/16/77 and a retirement date of August 2, 2019 you would have total service of 41 years, 10 months, and 17 days (as suggested above, you'll want to double check that with your personnel dept.). Any unused sick leave will be added to that to get total service for pension computation purposes. In computing the total service only whole months are used and any excess days are dropped. A whole month is considered to be 30 days. So, if you were to add 3 months and 13 days of sick leave to your actual service, you would have 42 years, one month and 30 days, or 42 years and 2 months for pension purposes. That gives you a base pension equal to 80 1/2% of your high-3. But if your sick leave only equaled 3 months and 12 days, you would only have 42 years, one month and 29 days of service, if which case the 29 days are dropped and you would have your pension based on 42 years and 1 month of service. Then, your pension would only be based om 80 1/3% of your high-3. In that instance you might want to use August 3 instead of August 2 as it would give you that one extra day needed to get the additional whole month of service. But if it turns out you have a few days of sick leave to spare, you could just go with the 2nd and possibly use the excess days as suggested by TheRealOrange.

Yes, you made it clearer for me. But, August 3rd is a Saturday. Can I use August 3rd if it's not a working day?

Thanks to each and everyone here.

The best day to retire is as soon as possible.

How I wish I was looking and researching this earlier. But thankful I found this site.

So, If I can use any day, and I use August 3rd (which is the end of that pay period and is a Saturday) I don't have to come to work, do I?

Perfect. So, It looks like I'll be going with August 3rd.
Thanks to each and every one of you for all you're assistance. I may, or probably will be coming back to ask more questions.

I sincerely appreciate all your efforts. I couldn't do it without all of your assistance.

Ugh. That is awful!!! I just calculated and it looks like I'll have 28 days of S/L down the drain. But I'll have some time to use some of it until my August 3 retirement.