TINKER AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. -- Tinker Air Force Base civilians considering retirement have an advocate in Civilian Personnel Section, Peggy Gilliam, employee relations specialist. She’s with the 72nd Force Support Squadron and can provide limited information on available retirement benefits and options that may be available to those employees considering retirement.
Gilliam previously advised Tinker’s civilian employees about their retirement options, but her position was eliminated in 2011 when that function and other benefits functions were consolidated and moved to the Air Force Personnel Center in San Antonio, Texas. Although she has worked several other jobs, Gilliam returned to Tinker in 2015. Today, in addition to her current position, she works in tandem with Tinker Federal Credit Union and others providing monthly workshops for new hires and civilian Tinker employees considering retirement.
One of her main pieces of retirement advice?
“We recommend that civilian employees attend the Tinker Federal Credit Union Retirement Seminar,” Gilliam said. “We have a half-day class for new hires and a full-day class for civilian employees who are about five years away from retiring. They are platforms where our employees can learn a lot about what’s needed to set up their retirement.
“You can sign up to attend through your unit’s training manager.”
She said another way civilian employees can learn more about their benefits is to call the Air Force Personnel Center’s contact call center at 1-800-525-0102. Employees should press the number two for civilians and then the number two for benefits and retirement.
“They will send you materials to read or direct you to a website, but they’re not all retirement specialists,” Gilliam said. “So it is important if you want to talk to a retirement specialist, ask them to create a ticket and specifically ask for one.”
She said the myPers website, http://mypers.af.mil, has thousands of personnel-related articles and is the official source for personnel policy, information and day-to-day transactions on retirements, benefits, and record corrections. Civilian employees can access the Government Retirement & Benefits through the MyPers’ civilian tab to review their health insurance, life insurance and retirement. Under the retirement tile within GRB, employees can request an estimate to review how they are progressing toward their retirement.
“We encourage people to use the GRB,” Gilliam said. “We have a large population of people who are not that familiar with computers, but the GRB is the best way to go. Employees often don’t realize that they can fill out their applications for retirement with the GRB.”
She said once a retirement application request is submitted through the GRB, an email will be sent to the employee asking for a hard copy and a signature, plus requesting for the user to notify their supervisor that they need an Air Force Standard Form 52 (Request for Personnel Action) for retirement and advise the supervisor of the effective date of their retirement.
“You can print the forms from where you fill them in and mail them,” Gilliam said. “Some people think that AFPC knows that you’re going to retire when you submit the forms electronically, but that’s not it. You have to submit the original signed form to officially start the process.”
She said picking the retirement date can sometimes be tricky.
“I suggest your paperwork be submitted 60 days before you retire,” Gilliam said. “If you plan to retire at the end of the year, then 90 days or by Oct. 1 is best. It is best for FERC employees to retire on the last day of the month, while employees who have the Civil Service Retirement System should retire by the end of the month or the first, second or third day of the new month.
“If you retire in the middle of the month, you won’t get retirement until the beginning of the next month and during those two weeks prior to the month you will also not be compensated because you will not be actively employed.”
She said employees retiring on the suggested dates can maximize their annuity, which goes into effect the day after retirement. The annuity is based on completed months and years of service and their average three high salaries.
Another tool she recommends is www.govexec.com and articles by Tammy Flanagan, a consultant who breaks down retirement and makes it easily understandable.
Visit http://www.tfcufinancialadvisors.org/Civil-Service-Workshops.14.htm to access the schedule for Tinker Federal Credit Union’s retirement and financial seminars for 2018.
For more information, contact the Air Force Personnel Center at 1-800-525-0102.