Firefighters and EMS: earlier eligibility, longer gap.

Firefighters generally qualify for Special Risk. EMTs and paramedics qualify where the position meets the statutory criteria, which depends on your employer, your certification, and your assignment, not on the patch.

If you work for a fire department that is not an FRS employer, none of this applies to you at all. Confirm which system you are in before you plan around either.

Special Risk members can reach normal retirement in their mid-fifties. That is the benefit. The consequence is a longer retirement to fund and a longer stretch before the federal programs start.

Retire at 55 and you have seven years before Social Security is even available and ten before Medicare. The Health Insurance Subsidy offsets part of a premium (at most $225 a month) and none of the deductibles.

And retiree coverage does not let you delay Medicare Part B without penalty. See Medicare before you assume being insured is enough.

A pension collected from 55 is exposed to inflation for a long time. If your service is entirely after July 1, 2011, the base COLA is zero.

A minimum 1.5% COLA applies once you have been retired five years, if you qualify. It turns on your Special Risk service and when you enrolled. See Pension Plan.

96 months, and the interest rate depends on when you started: 6.5%, 1.30%, or 4%. See DROP.