Is it worth it to buy back your military time after gaining federal civilian employment? What are the benefits?

You already answered your question. If you are not going to obtain a CS retirement (FERS), why pay for it? However, I took the long road buying 10 years of credit in '86 and working for 32 years after. The $10K I paid back then is paying out $13K each year like clockwork. If you are doing TSP, when you leave it'll still grow and you can move it at 59 1/2 or tap it at 60.

BTW if you later go back into CS for the long haul, you can still buy it, but there will be a nominal interest charge (Treasury Rate).

Yes I bought back my military time. I worked 7 years for the federal government and winded up medically retiring from the federal government so buying back my military time helped as far as retired pay and also leave accrual before retiring.

I have friends that did it, but it was only to apply it to their federal retirement. I don't know of any other reason to do it.

Why would you not want to stay with the Federal Gov? It's a great way to retire, when the time comes. I bought back my military time and am collecting retirement pay twice for the same time.
After AD I joined the AF Reserve and did 33 years plus my civil service time so retirement is great for me.
You never know what the future holds so you are better off planning for a time you can't see.
Good luck

Yes I did and so very glad I did. My four years of active duty were added on to my 30 years of civil service. The more time you have in civil service the higher the retirement calculation will be. You do need to decide ASAP if you want to retire from civil service because the longer you delay in buying back your time the more it will cost you. For example in the 80`s interest rates were very high in calculating buyback amouns.. If interest rates become high in the future your buyback will cost more.

First of all, at this point with FERS being the ONLY retirement system available to federal workers, it makes absolutely no sense. Second, if you don't plan on retiring, why would you even think about it, as your military time is already used as a basis for leave accrual.

You any need 5 years as a civilian to be vested for retirement. I would buy it back

Yes buy it back, it gives you time credit in the federal system and then you can retire in the federal system earlier than if you never bought it back! Why not stay in the fed system? Seems silly....just a thought.....

I will say this.
21 years as a federal employee, 6 yrs prior active duty that I bought back.
It costs you 3% of what your “base pay” was.
Each year that you buy back adds 1% to your Federal Pension on the back end.
So for $2k I added 6% to my pension for life.
Pretty sure that was a good investment.

By the way you never know what your going to do several years down the road.