Mandatory Retirement at 60

[ChopperPilot]

I’ll be joining LE a bit late in life after retiring from the US military. Even with the five year credit for being military, I'm going to be short of 15 years of duty before I hit age 60. What’s all this about mandatory retirement at age 60?

[Narco]

depends on your dept, we dont have a mandatory retirement age

[stormz5192]

65 in New Jersey.

[gbotj]

some agencies in NYS are different, some have 70, 72, 62, or no max at all.

[VA Dutch]

There is a deputy sheriff in VA who is supposed to be 78 years of age. He works in a rural county near Richmond, from what I have heard, and is the oldest active-duty LEO in the commonwealth.

If you look around, you'll see more than a few LEOs who have passed the "60" mark and are still going strong.

What is that saying? Sixty is the new 45, right?

[10-31Mike]

We get to retire? I thought most people either quit for their sanity or get fired for their stupidity.

I'm going to have to look into that. But I don't recall ever hearing of a specific age. I guess it depends on the department.

[ChopperPilot]

Unfortunately, Maryland State Police is madatory at 60.

[ISPCAPT]

We have mandatory retirement at 60. We've also had at least a couple of retired military who would not be able to get their 20 in with us prior to reaching 60. Another guy was 54 when he started and had retired from a local PD. They know they won't get their 20 and they don't care. What they're doing is living on their military retirement, dumping the max into deferred comp and investing the rest. With their deferred comp and investments they'll do very well even without a 20 yr retirement.

[CPD7297]

After working the street at your age you'll want to retire sooner than 60. I put in 25 and left at age 48. The street is for the young warriors. Hopefully you can get into a plainclothes assignment and chill some towards retirement.

[ChopperPilot]

What's "deferred comp" ?

[Joe159]

What's "deferred comp" ?

Contributions you make each time you get paid. Taken out of your pay automatically. Its not taxed over the years and the stock market plays a role. You have the potential to make money, if the market is good. You can also lose a little money as well. But, IMHO, the benefits far outweigh the bad. I know people who have contributed to deferred comp for 20 yrs and have made a small fortune.

[SgtCHP]

California Highway Patrol has a maximum age 60 retirement. Of course, you cannot be greater than 35 to enter service and you can buy back up to four years active duty military time.

[Retired96]

When I hired with LASD the manadory retirement age was 55.

[ISPCAPT]

I know people who have contributed to deferred comp for 20 yrs and have made a small fortune.

One of our guys who never married and maxed his deferred comp contributions his entire career. In addition to not paying taxes on that money each year he ended up with a bit over $3 mil in investments. His regular state retirement is over $100K per year, 3% annual cost of living increase, free health insurance for life, and he has the $3 mil setting in the markets. At about 53 yrs old he's very comfortable in his retirement.