How the New Blended Retirement Affects Your Survivor Benefit Plan

"...The majority of retiring service members elects a benefit that provides a payment of 55 percent of their retirement pay to qualified survivors. And as the Blended Retirement System reduces retirement pay in favor of Thrift Savings Plan matching funds, it also reduces this benefit in the event of a service member’s death...

The current system calculates retired pay by multiplying 2.5 percent of the final base pay by the number of years served, for those who serve at least 20 years. So after 20 years, retired pay would be 50 percent of base pay. Under the BRS, after 20 years, retired pay would be 40 percent of base pay, with a lesser multiplier of 2 percent — a reduction of 20 percent..."

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