Crossing the finish line... running, walking or crawling... (Reserve Retirement Process)

[SynixMan]

This might be a giant hole in my reserves knowledge base, but my understanding is that SELRES/traditional reservist loses Tricare eligibility from the time they retire, until age 60. I know Army reserves/AF reserves are pretty different, in terms of active retirements, but is this not the case for us?

Regular 20 folks get the medical and pension payments right away. Reserve Retired can use the stuff @snake020 talked about after they retired until 60 (gray area). After 60* you get the same medical as the folks who retired with 20 active. For myself and many others, it opens up the possibility of retiring between 60 and 65 from airlines instead of waiting it out till 65**. I fly with a lot of 60+ year olds and many lament the cost of healthcare before Medicare as their reason for not retiring early.

* 60 minus any time on Title 10 orders, so if you did any MOBs, a little early. For me it'll be 59 and 4 months.

** I'm going to assume anyone hired at a major in their 30s, put anything into TSP, and didn't give half of it away to their first wife can make the math work to walk at 60, or at least go to an L/Dmax type schedule.

 

[Hair Warrior]

* 60 minus any time on Title 10 orders, so if you did any MOBs, a little early. For me it'll be 59 and 4 months.

I know this is when the pension starts, but is this also for medical insurance?

 

[subreservist]

I know this is when the pension starts, but is this also for medical insurance?

There is currently a bill at Congress called the TRICARE Fairness for National Guard and Reaerve Retirees Act that would allow receipt of both pension and medical eligibility at the same time for those qualified to receive earlier than 60.

Unfortunately, there hasn’t been much movement on that bill as of late.

So until that’s approved, if it ever is, medical is still 60 even if you qualify for an earlier pension.

 

[MIDNJAC]

Regular 20 folks get the medical and pension payments right away. Reserve Retired can use the stuff @snake020 talked about after they retired until 60 (gray area). After 60* you get the same medical as the folks who retired with 20 active. For myself and many others, it opens up the possibility of retiring between 60 and 65 from airlines instead of waiting it out till 65**. I fly with a lot of 60+ year olds and many lament the cost of healthcare before Medicare as their reason for not retiring early.

* 60 minus any time on Title 10 orders, so if you did any MOBs, a little early. For me it'll be 59 and 4 months.

** I'm going to assume anyone hired at a major in their 30s, put anything into TSP, and didn't give half of it away to their first wife can make the math work to walk at 60, or at least go to an L/Dmax type schedule.

Yeah, my current plan is to retire at 59 from the airlines. That'll be 20 years service there, and I think plenty early to enjoy retirement. I'll be in similar boat for the pension check, right around 58.5-59 years old. That being said, I have tossed around the idea of sticking around in SELRES past 20. If I took it to 25 (and presumably promoted one last time), that is a not insignificant difference in pension compared to O-5/20 reservist retirement.....and I'd be 50 years old by then, so a much shorter gray area time period. I dunno, who knows how I'll feel in a couple more years when that decision comes.

 

[Flash]

After 60* you get the same medical as the folks who retired with 20 active. For myself and many others, it opens up the possibility of retiring between 60 and 65 from airlines...

* 60 minus any time on Title 10 orders, so if you did any MOBs, a little early. For me it'll be 59 and 4 months.

Just to make sure you know, all retired reservists still get medical at age 60. The earlier retirement only affects pay and not medical.

Navy - Additionally, TRICARE medical benefits eligibility remains at age 60 regardless of early retirement eligibility.

DFAS - Retiree health care eligibility begins at age 60 even if retired pay begins earlier than age 60.