1920:
The Civil Services Retirement Act (CSRS), was the first comprehensive retirement system for federal civilian employees. In this system, employees are vested after a minimum of just 5 years service. Employees with 5 years vested service can begin receiving monthly retirement benefits at age 62 for rest of life.
The formulation calculation for this benefit is 1.5% x highest 3 years salary x 5 years service.
(Formulation changes with higher number of years served)
This benefit was NOT extended to our military service members.
1948:
The Armed Forces Retirement Act established the framework for providing retirement benefits to military service members who have completed at least 20 years of active duty service.
Sobering Fact: Service members who fought in WW2 and completed less than 20 years service, were not awarded any compensation benefit in retirement. However and as an example, a 5 year Congressman, Postal Worker or Administrative worker in federal government were.
1986:
The Federal Employee Retirement System (FERS), replaced the CSRS for federal employees after 1983. FERS includes a combination of defined benefit, defined contribution, and social security benefits, unlike the CSRS, which was a stand alone system.
This benefit was needed to compete with the civilian 401K programs that were began in 1978. Employees with 5 years vested service can begin receiving monthly retirement benefits at age 62 for rest of life.
The formulation calculation for this benefit 1-1,7% x highest 3 years salary x 5 years service.
(Formulation changes with higher number of years served)
This benefit was NOT extended to our military service members.
2018:
After 70 long years, the Blended Retirement System (BRS) was implemented to modernize the military retirement system and offer more retirement benefits to service members who may not serve a full 20 year career.
However, unlike Federal Civilian Employees, Military Veterans do no receive monetary retirement benefits for just 5 years service or more. Members of congress or a postal worker for example, receive these benefits for just five years service.
The CSRS (Civil Service Retirement System), allows a retirement benefit at age 62 for those with just 5 years of credible service. These employees receive 1% of their high-3 average salary for each year served. Example: 1.7% x $88K s 5 years is $7.5k per year at age 62 for rest of life. VERBact, proposes our Veterans receive a similar benefit, enhanced to be superior to CSRS due the compared nature of sacrifice and service to country.
