April 18, 2011

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) has announced the second version of its online Federal Ballpark E$timate (FBE) calculator which includes projected federal annuity and Thrift Savings Plan benefits to help federal employees identify approximately how much they need to save to fund a comfortable retirement.

OPM says FBE can be used by federal employees covered by the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS), CSRS-Offset, or the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) who plan to retire under the voluntary age and service rules.

According to OPM, the current version does not perform estimates for employees planning to retire under the Minimum Retirement Age (MRA) + 10 rules, or those who are covered by special computation rules such as law enforcement officers and firefighters, or former federal employees who may be entitled to a deferred retirement.

"The Federal Ballpark E$timate is a retirement savings planning tool. It is not an annuity estimate. If you are within 3 years of your planned retirement date you should contact your human resource (HR) office for an annuity estimate. It's very important to contact your human resource (HR) office well in advance of your retirement for several reasons, including, ensuring that all your service is accounted for and creditable towards retirement and that you are in the correct retirement system; i.e., CSRS, CSRS Offset, or FERS. The Federal Ballpark E$timate can be used as a guideline for your retirement needs," OPM states.

More information and access to the Federal Ballpark E$timate can be found at:
http://www.opm.gov/retire/tools/calculators/ballpark/ballparkintro.asp