See what your pension pays after 20 years, on your own numbers. Then the decisions that go with it: the Death Gamble, the 457(b) rollover trap, pension buy-back windows that close, and the Social Security timing nobody explains.
Quick Answer
Should I retire at my first NYPD pension eligibility date or work longer?
This depends on your numbers, not instinct. For a Tier 2 officer, each additional year past 20 adds 1/60 of your pensionable earnings for that year, about 1.67% of FAS when those earnings track FAS, so you are trading guaranteed pension income now to earn that increase, and the break-even point is calculable. For a Tier 3 officer, the pension is a flat 50% of final average salary at 20 years, and staying longer does not raise that base percentage (extra years buy escalation eligibility and more time to build your 457(b)). Once you model your specific tier and years of service, the decision has a clear answer. This is general educational information, not personalized advice.
Tier 2 Pension
Tier 2 and Tier 3 turn the same salary and service into different numbers. Tier 2 keeps building past 20 years, carries no age 62 Social Security offset, and service retirees with 20 or more years also receive the $12,000 Variable Supplements Fund. Select Tier 2 in the calculator below to see your own number, or read how much an NYPD pension pays after 20 years for the formulas behind it.
Hypothetical illustration for education only. Not advice, a recommendation, or a guarantee. Your actual pension will differ; confirm with the NYC Police Pension Fund.
Free Tools
Most NYPD officers retire without ever modeling what the Death Gamble really costs or what the VSF adds to their picture. Start with your appointment date; the rest takes about a minute.
Three steps: your appointment date sets your tier and your number, five decisions turn it into a plan in your own words, and the plan ends with the questions worth taking to a 15-minute call. See the 457(b) withdrawal rules and rollover math →
Hypothetical illustrations for education only. Not a prediction, recommendation, or guarantee. Your actual result will differ.
Sirmium Capital · NYPD Retirement Calculator
sirmiumcapital.com/nypd · printed · Hypothetical educational illustration. Not advice, not a recommendation, not a guarantee.
You can pick a tier and still get a number. It will be a worked example rather than yours, and the plan document further down still needs the date before it will print anything.
Three answers and the number below is yours. Until you fill them in it shows a worked example on a typical officer, so you can see what the page does before you type anything. Your tier is not guessed here, it comes from the date above.
Counts: base salary, overtime, night differential, holiday pay, worked vacation, portal to portal and allowable longevity.
Does not count: uniform allowance, Fair Labor Standards Act payments, and excluded longevity.
Longevity is not automatically pensionable. At 20 years of service the 5 and 10 year longevity payments become pensionable. At 25 years the 15 and 20 year payments become pensionable too. So crossing those marks changes what your salary base is figured on, separately from any raise.
If your tier measures the final 12 months, that becomes a timing question. A date set soon after your 25 year mark measures a window built mostly on the narrower longevity basket, because full longevity only became pensionable when you crossed 25. The booklet does not settle whether that step applies to pay earned after the mark or attaches once you have 25 years, and the difference can sit in your pension for life. Ask the Fund before you set a date. This is separate from the rank based Pension Longevity Enhancements at 25, 30 and 35 years, which are a percentage tied to rank rather than a question of what enters your salary base.
Which years get averaged depends on your tier. Tier 3 uses your highest 3 consecutive years. Tier 2 appointed on or after July 1, 2000 uses the final 12 months. Appointed before that, it is the greater of the final 12 months, the final 36 months, or the best 3 consecutive calendar years.
A cap applies either way. On a final 12 months basis, pensionable earnings cannot exceed 120% of the previous 12 months. On a 36 month or best 3 basis, no single year can exceed 120% of the average of the two years before it.
One thing worth flagging. The Tier 2 booklet lists these seven components on page 11 and a shorter set of five on page 16, leaving out holiday pay and portal to portal. We show the longer list.
Sources: NYC Police Pension Fund Tier 2 Summary Plan Description (June 2026) pages 11, 16 and 17; Tier 3 Summary Plan Description (June 2026) pages 7 and 10. Confirm your own service credit and earnings with the Fund. Their figure is the one that counts.
Set in your plan above.
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One signature away from changing your pension
S7808A passed both houses on June 4 and has not been signed. It would change how your Final Average Salary is figured. We check the bill every day. Leave your email and you will hear the day it moves.
You will get the free NYPD checklist right away. After that we only write when the bill moves. Unsubscribe anytime.
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One signature away from changing your pension
S7808A passed both houses on June 4 and has not been signed. It would change how your Final Average Salary is figured. We check the bill every day. Leave your email and you will hear the day it moves.
You will get the free NYPD checklist right away. After that we only write when the bill moves. Unsubscribe anytime.
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One signature away from changing your pension
S7808A passed both houses on June 4 and has not been signed. It would change how your Final Average Salary is figured. We check the bill every day. Leave your email and you will hear the day it moves.
You will get the free NYPD checklist right away. After that we only write when the bill moves. Unsubscribe anytime.
The inputs that move it most, in plain English.
The calculator gives you a number. This section is about the decisions inside it: what builds it, which inputs move it most, and how to keep it. It updates live as you change the inputs above, and it is a hypothetical illustration built only on the figures you entered, not a projection and not advice.
Years of service and salary still start as an example. Your tier comes from the date you entered. Change the years and salary above and these sentences describe you.
Each line changes one input and holds the rest. Real decisions move several at once, which is what a planning conversation is for.
The link keeps your numbers in your browser's address bar only. We do not receive or store them, and nothing is emailed. Anyone you send the link to will see the numbers you entered.
These sentences and figures are hypothetical illustrations based only on the numbers entered above. They are one of several possible outcomes, not a prediction. You can change the inputs at any time to see how the picture shifts.
This is educational information, not investment, tax, or legal advice, not a recommendation to retire, keep working, roll over, or convert, and not a guarantee. Sirmium Capital LLC is a registered investment adviser. Using this tool does not create an advisory relationship. Confirm your figures with the NYC Police Pension Fund and, for tax questions, a qualified tax professional.
Five decisions. You make them, we do the arithmetic.
Nothing here is a recommendation. These are your calls, written down in your words, with the numbers worked out underneath. Whatever you cannot settle on your own ends up as a question at the bottom, which is what the fifteen minutes is for.
I am putting my papers in at …
I want to live on … a month
My 457(b) is at …
If something happens to me, …
The years before Social Security, I am covering with …
Your Retirement Snapshot
This is the written version of the decisions you just made: what the pension pays after tax, what your 457(b) could be worth as a range rather than one number, what a survivor option does to the cheque, and where the gaps sit before Social Security. It is worked out on this device, from what you typed, and nothing leaves it unless you ask.
An estimate is a fact, and a fact does not need discussing. These do: whether to go at your first eligibility date or stay, what happens to the cheque if you die in service, whether your 457(b) should move when you leave, and when to start Social Security. Bring whichever of those is yours to a free 15-minute call with a fee-only fiduciary who works with NYPD officers. No products, no commissions, no obligation.
Bring my questions to the free 15 minutesFee-only · Fiduciary · NYPD-specialized · Pension figures reviewed by William Harrison, Founder & CIO
Sirmium Capital LLC is a registered investment adviser. Educational purposes only. Not personalized financial advice. This tool does not create an advisory relationship.
Your tabs answered three questions separately. This is what they look like together.
Each tab above solves one piece. Retirement is all of them at once, arriving in the same years. Below is the same income laid out year by year from the day you leave, so you can see where each piece switches on, where one stops covering another, and where the gaps sit. It is a hypothetical illustration built on the figures you entered, not a projection and not advice.
Gross figures before tax, in today's dollars, and rounded. This view does not model investment growth on the 457(b), Social Security, the Tier 3 age-62 reduction as a dollar amount, or the rank-based Pension Longevity Enhancements. It is an illustration for discussion, not a plan. What your own numbers should do is a conversation for a licensed adviser, and William Harrison, our Founder and CIO, leads that work.
Important: These calculators are hypothetical illustrations for education only. They are not investment, tax, or legal advice, not a recommendation, and not a guarantee. Your actual result will differ.
Tier 3 only: under current law (RSSL § 511) a Tier 3 pension is reduced starting at age 62 by 50% of your primary Social Security benefit, whether or not you have filed for Social Security. These calculators show the amount before that reduction, so Tier 3 figures for age 62 and later are overstated; a bill to repeal the offset (S7975B) remains in committee and is not law.
Pension estimate follows the NYC Police Pension Fund Tier 2 & Tier 3 Summary Plan Descriptions (June 2026) and current law: Tier 2 = 1/40 of final average salary per year to 20 years (50%) plus 1/60 per year thereafter; Tier 3 = a flat 50% of final average salary at 20 years under Chapter 55 of the Laws of 2025 (Part SS), with additional years buying escalation eligibility rather than a higher base percentage.
This estimate does not model the Fund's rank based Pension Longevity Enhancements (increases at 25, 30 and 35 years that apply in both tiers), so members approaching 25 years may see a figure that is conservative for them (reviewed by William Harrison, Founder & CIO, July 2026, and verified against the NYC Police Pension Fund plan documents and current New York law).
VSF of $12,000/yr is the fixed statutory amount (unchanged since 2007, NYC Administrative Code § 13-271) for service retirees with 20+ years of any tier; no Tier 3 VSF payment has been made yet, so confirm your eligibility with the NYC Police Pension Fund.
NY does not tax NYPD pension or VSF income. 457(b) withdrawals are NY-taxable beyond a $20,000 exclusion if you are 59½+. Federal figures use 2026 brackets (IRS Rev. Proc. 2025-32). RMD age, IRMAA thresholds, and tax law can change.
Confirm specifics with the NYC Police Pension Fund, the NYC Deferred Compensation Plan, and a qualified tax professional before acting.
The Year 20 Decision
At 20–22 years, you face a real tradeoff: retire now and lock in what you've earned, or stay for a higher pension multiplier. For a Tier 2 officer past 20 years, the fund's Death Gamble Benefit means your family can still receive your earned pension value if you die in service, as a lump sum of the pension reserve or a lifetime annuity, but the timing and paperwork have to be right, and Tier 3 treatment is not settled. The real question is how much additional pension each extra year buys against the value at stake. Most officers make this emotionally. We run the actual math.
The calculation: how much additional pension income do you gain per extra year? What's the death benefit your family receives if you don't make it? What are you risking, in dollars, versus what you're gaining? That's a solvable problem, if you do the math before you make the call.
Additionally, if you had prior public service before NYPD (another city agency, military service, a different municipality), you may be able to purchase credit for that time toward your pension calculation. The buy-back cost is often significantly less than the lifetime pension income it produces. These windows close. They need to be evaluated early.
Tier 3 Officers
Quick Answer
Two things separate a Tier 3 estimate from a Tier 2 one. Starting at age 62, a Tier 3 pension is reduced by 50% of your primary Social Security benefit (RSSL 511), filed or not, so pre-62 figures run higher. And no Tier 3 VSF payment has been made yet, so confirm eligibility with the NYC Police Pension Fund rather than assuming one.
To run your own figures, tap your Tier 3 card in the calculator above. For what Tier 3 pays at 20 years under Chapter 55 of the Laws of 2025, and how the years past 20 work, read how much an NYPD pension pays after 20 years. This is general educational information, not advice; a Tier 3 pension is income fixed by statute, not an investment return.
Free Resource
The step-by-step checklist for your pension tier and Final Average Salary, the Death Gamble decision, pension buy-back, your 457(b) penalty-free window, the Variable Supplements Fund, and Social Security timing. Built for NYPD officers and detectives.
Sirmium Capital LLC is a registered investment adviser. Educational purposes only. Not personalized financial advice.
FAQs
Go Deeper
The NYPD Pension Book, 2027 Edition
Chapter 55 of the Laws of 2025 moved Tier 3 service retirement from 22 years to 20, and most published guides still describe the older rule. This is the edition written after the change: both tiers, the five decisions, 108 worked cases, and a source named for every number so you can check it yourself.
Get the free PDF →The 457(b) rollover trap, in your own numbers
Your 457 is the only account you can draw on at any age once you separate, with no 10% penalty. Move it into an IRA and that protection ends until 59½. Put in your separation age and balance to see what that would cost, plus your 2026 limits across the 457 and the 401(k).
Open the 457(b) calculator →Know your number, but not sure how to invest it?
A pension behaves like a bond you already own, which changes how much market risk the rest of your money can reasonably carry. Seven questions, no email required to see your result.
Take the 2-minute risk profile →2026 NYPD pension payment dates
The NYPD Police Pension Fund pays on the last calendar day of the month and rolls forward when that day is a weekend. Four of the twelve 2026 payments therefore land in the following month. Printable calendar with every date.
See the 2026 pension payment calendar →The Five Decisions of an NYPD Retirement
A short walk through the five choices that set your retirement: the pension option election, the 457(b) keep-or-roll question, the VSF, health coverage timing, and the first-year tax sequence. Educational information only, not personalized advice.
Calm, sourced letters from our CIO
Short, plain-English research you can read and forward to a friend on the job. Educational information only, not legal or tax advice.
NYPD 9/11 Responder Benefits and Planning
NYPD 9/11 responders may qualify for VCF, a three-quarter disability pension, and 457(b) deferred comp, and USVSST is a separate matter that requires a qualifying court judgment. How the pieces coordinate in 2026. Educational information only, not tax advice.
Read the guide →The NYPD Tier 3 Pension: What Twenty Years Really Pays
ArticleNYPD Pension and Retirement Planning in 2026
ArticleNYPD Tier 2 vs. Tier 3: How the Pension Formulas Differ
AudioNYPD Audio Briefings: Listen to the Pension Breakdown
ArticleNYPD Tier 2: The Death Gamble, the VSF, and When to Pull the Papers
ArticleNYPD 457(b): The Penalty-Free Retirement Account Most Officers Overlook
ArticleIs Your NYPD Pension Taxable? New York, Federal, and Moving Away in 2026
ArticleNYPD Disability vs. Service Retirement: The Numbers Behind the Decision
ArticleLeaving NYPD Before 20 Years: What Happens to Your Pension
Ready to Begin?
Book a free 15-minute call. We'll run the Death Gamble math, check your buy-back eligibility, and walk through your 457(b) situation. Straight answers, no follow-up pressure.
Book a Free 15-Min CallReviewed as of July 2026. Verified against the NYC Police Pension Fund plan documents, the Retirement and Social Security Law, and 2026 IRS figures.
Sources: RSSL §501 (Tier 3, incl. Chapter 55 of 2025) · RSSL §505 (Tier 3 service retirement + SS offset) · NYC Police Pension Fund Tier 3 SPD (June 2026) · NYC Admin Code §13-271 (Police Variable Supplements Fund) · IRS 2026 inflation adjustments (Rev. Proc. 2025-32). Rules and figures change; confirm your own situation with the NYC Police Pension Fund and, for tax questions, your tax professional.
How we keep this current. Pension rules change, and a lot of what is online is out of date. We track New York pension legislation and the funds’ own publications, and we update these tools when the law moves. When Chapter 55 of 2025 moved the Tier 3 service retirement from 22 years to 20, we updated the calculator to match.