Many people who have worked in different government jobs such as the military, National Guard, state government, or federal civilian positions often wonder if they can combine all their service into one retirement package. The answer depends on the type of service, and the rules can be complicated. Here’s what you need to know, explained step by step.
Key Points
- State government retirement cannot be combined with federal retirement.
- You must be a current federal employee to buy back military time for retirement credit.
- Military and some National Guard service may count toward federal retirement if you meet certain rules.
- You need at least 5 years of federal civilian service to qualify for a FERS pension.
Why State Retirement Does Not Count Toward Federal Retirement
Even though state and federal jobs are both government work, their retirement systems are completely separate. You cannot transfer your state retirement credits into the federal system. For example, if you worked for the state of Alaska, your service under their retirement plan cannot be added to your Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) pension. Each system stands alone and does not share credits.
Buying Back Military Service
Military service can count toward your FERS pension, but only if you buy it back while you are a current federal employee. This process is called a “military deposit” or “buyback.” For example, if you served 10 years in the military and have worked at least 5 years in a federal civilian job, you may be able to buy back your military time, giving you 15 years of credit toward your federal pension. You must pay a deposit for your military time to count.
If you are already receiving military retired pay, you usually cannot get credit for that time in your FERS pension unless you waive your military retired pay or meet special exceptions, such as having a service-connected disability or retiring from a reserve component.
What About National Guard Time?
National Guard time is more complicated. If your service was active duty (under Title 10 or Title 32 orders), you may be able to buy back that time if you are now a civilian federal employee. However, weekend drills or inactive duty usually do not count toward federal retirement.
If you qualify for a Guard pension, you may be able to receive both your Guard retirement and credit for some of that time under FERS—if you buy it back and the service qualifies.
You Must Be a Current Federal Employee
You cannot buy back military time unless you are currently working as a civilian federal employee. Just having military service does not automatically qualify you for a federal pension. Also, to get a FERS pension, you must work at least 5 years in a federal civilian job.
Can You Combine It All?
In short:
Type of Service | Can You Combine with FERS? | Notes |
State retirement | ❌ No | Separate system |
Military (active) | ✅ Yes, if bought back | Must be a current federal employee |
National Guard | ✅ Sometimes | Depends on type of service |
Civilian federal | ✅ Yes | Must vest with 5 years |
Final Thoughts
Federal retirement rules can be confusing, especially if you have worked in different government roles. It is important to:
- Learn the rules for each type of service.
- Talk with your HR office or a federal retirement expert.
- Plan ahead so you do not miss out on benefits.
If you are unsure how your service fits in, seek help from someone who understands federal benefits. This can help you avoid problems and make sure you get the retirement you have earned.
References:
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Micah Shilanski, CFP®, is a distinguished financial planner known for his deep commitment to providing exceptional advisory services to his clients. As the founder of Plan Your Federal Retirement, Micah has dedicated his career to helping federal employees understand and optimize their benefits to ensure a secure and prosperous retirement. His expertise is widely recognized in the industry, making him a sought-after speaker and educator on financial planning and retirement strategies.
Micah’s approach is client-centered, focusing on creating personalized strategies that address each individual’s unique needs. His work emphasizes the importance of comprehensive planning, incorporating aspects of tax strategy, investment management, and risk assessment to guide clients toward achieving their financial goals.Micah Shilanski 00:04
Have you ever wondered if you can combine different retirements between state, guard, military, civilian, into one retirement package? If you have, then stay tuned for this FERS Federal Fact Check. Hi, I’m Micah Shilanski with Plan Your Federal Retirement and welcome to today’s FERS Federal Fact Check where we have a question that coming in from T about combining different retirements. And T says, I have two years of state retirement contributions, 10 years military, seven years federal, three years guard. Can I combine state federal retirement contributions? Do you have to be a current federal employee to participate in a buyback program, can reserve military service retirement points be used? Man, see, that is a great question. Well, spoiler alert, I’m not going to be able to answer it all. There is a lot of it depends inside of each one of these components that you have just added. So let’s talk about it a little in general. For the most part, can you take a state retirement and add that to your federal retirement. No, you may not, in general, right? DC is going to be a little bit different because it’s mainly under a federal system. But let’s say you’re in the beloved state of Alaska. It’s a great state, by the way. You’re the state of Alaska, and they have a four tier system to your 1, 2, 3, and 4. You
Micah Shilanski 01:16
cannot take any of those points of the state of Alaska System and move it into a federal system. Those are, while it’s government, service is two different governments. Those do not combine. Well, then you talk about your military service, seven years federal, three years guard, and not 100% sure. What that means is that the federal service mean like uniform services, active duty service, or were you just, you know, three years in the guard and he had seven years as a civilian federal employer. So I’m not 100% sure on that one. So let’s just talk about the rules for buying time back. If you are a federal a civilian federal employee, you must have boots on the ground time that you are actually in an agency working in at least five years to vest. And you can buy back your military time, including your guard time. Guard time, you get a double dip. Actually still counts for guard retirement and accounts for civilian retirement. You can buy that time and add it in. I’m not 100% clear. See, I apologize based on what you said about how many years you have where. So this is definitely something to dive a little bit more details in. If all you have had is military time and you are not a civilian federal employee, no, you cannot buy any of that time back. You must be a civilian federal employee in order to buy that military time back. And when you make that deposit again, and you work for five years under civilian service, now you’re eligible for retirement. So if I had 10 years of military time, and I had five years of civilian time, boots on the ground, I could buy those 10 years back and now, plus my five, that gives me 15 years of federal service that counts towards retirement, which is a pretty good deal, but nope, we can’t add that state retirement in, that’s generally a completely separate thing. So do you bring up a really good point that retirement gets complicated, right? You have a lot of these different sleeves and different things moving around, and it’s really important to understand these rules and to yourself or sit down with someone else that says, hey, this is how it works. So I’m not saying you have to hire us, but sitting down with somebody getting a third party opinion that can look at your situation objectively and say, Hey, here’s how the rules work. Here’s how to put things together is really, really important. I tell my clients all the time, I’d rather you ask me small questions all the time so we could avoid big problems than fear not asking me a question and now I have to be brought in to solve a big problem that could have been avoided. I hate those, man. I love to avoid problems before there are. So when you’re a pre retirement load of these questions, this is where you avoid questions all the time. It’s also sometimes when people call our office and say, Hey, I got a quick question. It’s x and we have a wonderful team. They’re really great. They really want to help you guys out. But sometimes I gotta tell Hey, it’s not a quick question. Like, sure, it seems like a quick question, but there’s so many other things that we have to talk about. And I kind of talk about this in a medical sense, right? If I call up my doctor, my GP, and say, Hey, I got this rash, I can this irritation, would you just give me a prescription? They’re gonna say, no, come in for an appointment. Come in for a checkup. I don’t want to check up. I’ll do that later. Don’t you worry about it. I just need to deal with this problem I have now. I want the prescription now I’m headed to the pharmacy. They’re probably not going to give it to me, right? Might be malpractice. They need to understand the full sets of circumstances before they give a prescription, and sometimes with your guys’ questions, which I love, your questions are fantastic. There’s so many other parts to this. Is No, no, we need a little bit more information to give you the right answer that you have. So make sure you’re making the time to work with somebody, and again, doesn’t have to be us. There’s a lot of great advisors that are out there, but meet with somebody that really understands federal benefits that can understand your situation, look at all of this extra stuff and dial it down to you to make sure you’re taken care of in retirement. So when you have questions, make sure you submit it with us. We’re gonna do the best we can to answer and if we can’t, we’re gonna tell you schedule an appointment, but make sure you’re getting on those questions to us, because you could be featured in our next FERS federal fact check. Till then, happy planning.