When we estimate your cost to buy service credit, we assume two things to make sure the value of the extra service won’t be more than the amount we estimate your future pension benefit to be:
- After you buy service credit, you’ll choose to stop working.
- Once you stop working, you’ll start your monthly benefit at an age that gives you the best value for the service you bought.
We'll provide you with an estimate that allows you to see examples of how buying different amounts of service credit at different ages changes the cost of the service credit. Remember that, in general, the closer you are to retirement age, the more you're likely to pay for the extra years of service credit you wish to buy.