Navy Diver veteran here, on the active-duty side. When I left the Navy, my retirement math was simple. Years served times a multiplier times my high-3. Done.

Then I started working with reservists. Their math is a different beast. Points letters. Good years. Active-duty equivalent years. A retirement check that does not show up until age 60 (or earlier if you mobilized after 2008).

From a Navy Diver who has helped 17,500+ vets and reservists sort their next chapter, this article walks the math step by step. You will learn what a point is worth. How to count good years. How points roll into a real pension check. And how to plan your civilian career around it.

What is a reserve retirement point and what counts?

A point is the basic unit of credit for reserve retirement. Each one counts toward your retirement total. More points equal a bigger check at age 60 (or earlier in some cases).

Here is how points stack up in a normal year:

• 1 point for each inactive duty training (IDT) drill period. A typical drill weekend = 4 points.
• 1 point for each day of annual training (AT) or active duty.
• 15 free points per anniversary year just for being a member.
• Correspondence and distance-learning courses earn points at a rate set by your branch. The exact rate and annual cap vary by service and have changed over time. Check with your branch personnel command for current credit rules.
• 1 point for each day of funeral honors duty.

The 15 free membership points are big. They show up on your points letter as "Membership Points." Most reservists earn them every year just by staying in.

Source: 10 U.S. Code § 12732 covers point computation. Your branch personnel command issues the official points letter — the document is called different things by each branch: the DA Form 5016 in the Army Reserve, the Annual Retirement Point Record (ARPR) in the Navy Reserve, a Point Credit Summary in the Air Force Reserve, and the Career Retirement Credit Report in the Marine Corps Reserve.

How do 360 points equal one active-duty year?

This is the core conversion. The law sets it at 360 points per active-duty equivalent year. That number is the bridge between your reserve career and your retirement check.

Why 360 and not 365? It is a rounded service-credit figure built into federal law. You do not need to fight it. Just use it.

The math is simple. Take your total career points. Divide by 360. That is your active-duty equivalent years.

Example: 5,400 total career points divided by 360 = 15 active-duty equivalent years. You still need 20 good years to retire, but the 15 active-duty years is what feeds your pension formula.

Source: 10 U.S. Code § 12733 sets the 360-point rule for computing years of service for retirement pay.

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What is a "good year" and why does the 50-point floor matter?

A good year is a year where you earn at least 50 retirement points. Less than 50, and the year does not count toward the 20 years you need to retire.

This is the rule that trips up busy reservists. Miss a few drills. Skip annual training. Go on a non-paid status. Suddenly you are at 47 points. That year is dead for retirement.

Good years count for eligibility. Total points count for the size of the check. Both matter.

To get the 20-year reserve retirement, you need 20 good years. Under 10 U.S. Code § 12731(a)(3), if you completed your 20 qualifying years before April 25, 2005, the last six of those years must have been earned as a reserve component member rather than on active duty in a regular component. This restriction does not apply to members who completed their 20 qualifying years on or after April 25, 2005, which covers the vast majority of today's reserve retirees. Your branch personnel office can confirm how your specific record stacks up.

Source: 10 U.S. Code § 12732(a)(2) is the 50-point good-year rule.

How do points convert into your actual retirement check?

This is where the money math lives. The formula is the same for active-duty and reserve. Reservists plug in active-duty equivalent years where active retirees plug in calendar years.

Legacy / High-3 retirement (entered service before 2018, or opted to stay):

Active-duty equivalent years × 2.5% × high-3 base pay = annual retirement pay

Blended Retirement System (BRS) (entered service after January 2018, or opted in):

Active-duty equivalent years × 2.0% × high-3 base pay = annual retirement pay

Yes, BRS is a half-percent lower per year. The trade is the TSP match you get while serving. For more on how BRS works for vets, see our deep dive on the Blended Retirement System and civilian pay planning.

The "high-3" is the average of your 36 highest months of base pay. For reservists, that means the active-duty pay rate for your rank and years of service at the time you started drawing retirement. Drill pay does not become your "high-3 average." The pay tables do.

What does the 20-year letter actually do?

The 20-year letter is the moment you lock in retirement eligibility. It is also called the Notice of Eligibility (NOE). Once you hit 20 good years, your branch sends it to you.

Here is what the letter does:

• Locks in your right to a reserve retirement check, even if you separate before age 60.
• Confirms the good years on record at that point.
• Triggers your option for Survivor Benefit Plan (Reserve Component SBP) elections within 90 days.

Here is what it does NOT do:

• It does not start your retirement pay. That waits until age 60 (or earlier with qualifying mobilization).
• It does not freeze your high-3. Your pay grows if you keep drilling and earning promotions.
• It does not guarantee TRICARE for Life. That comes later.

Get the letter. Read it. File it. Make a copy. If you lose it, the replacement process is a pain.

Can you draw retirement pay before age 60?

For most reservists, retirement pay starts at age 60. But there is a real shortcut for anyone who mobilized after January 28, 2008.

The rule lives in 10 U.S. Code § 12731(f), added by Section 647 of the 2008 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). It works like this:

For every 90 days of qualifying active service on certain orders within a fiscal year, your retirement pay start age drops by 3 months.

Mobilized for a year? That is roughly four 90-day blocks. Four times 3 months equals 12 months off the start age. You start drawing at 59 rather than 60.

Did multiple deployments? The blocks add up. Some reservists with heavy post-2008 mobilizations are drawing at 56 or 57.

The minimum age you can draw is 50 under this rule. So even with massive qualifying time, you cannot start before then.

Source: 10 U.S. Code § 12731(f) sets the reduced-age eligibility rules.

Sample math: what does a 22-year reserve career actually pay?

Let us walk a real hypothetical. Stay with me. This is the part most reservists never see laid out.

The career:

• 22 good years
• 15 of those years averaging 75 points (drills + AT + free 15)
• 5 years with a deployment or extended AT, averaging 180 points
• 2 years on a year-long mobilization, averaging 400 points

The point total:

• 15 × 75 = 1,125 points
• 5 × 180 = 900 points
• 2 × 400 = 800 points
• Total = 2,825 points

Active-duty equivalent years: 2,825 / 360 = 7.85 years

The pension (legacy/high-3, retiring as an E-7 with a high-3 around $6,200/month based on current 2025-2026 pay tables at 20+ years of service, drawing at age 60):

7.85 × 2.5% × $6,200 = $1,219/month

That is roughly $14,625/year before taxes. Add COLA each year. Add TRICARE Retired Reserve coverage starting at age 60. Add SBP if elected.

Is it a salary? No. Is it a supplement that pays for the mortgage or the truck payment for the rest of your life? Absolutely.

For an active-duty comparison side by side, see our breakdown of military retirement pay plus civilian salary math.

What errors should you watch for on your points letter?

Points letters have errors. I have seen reservists lose entire good years to a clerical mix-up. Fix problems while they are small. Once you hit 20 and ask for the NOE, missing data is much harder to recover.

The five errors I see most often:

• Missing AT credit. Annual training days that did not flow from your orders into the points system. Check that every AT period shows up as the right number of points.
• Drill weekend short by 1-2 points. A drill weekend should be 4 points. If you see 2 or 3, a drill got coded as unpaid IDT when it was paid drill, or you signed in for one period and out for another.
• Mobilization days missing. Active-duty mobilizations should show 1 point per day. Long deployments sometimes get processed late or in chunks. Look for the full block.
• Anniversary year shifted. Your anniversary year is set when you join. A break in service can reset it. If your dates look off, ask personnel to confirm the anniversary date on file.
• Free 15 missing. The 15 membership points should appear every anniversary year you stayed in. If they are missing, that is an easy fix and worth the call.

Get errors corrected in writing. Save the email trail. Personnel systems change over the years, and a confirmed correction in your records protects you decades later when retired pay is processed.

How does TRICARE change at each retirement step?

Healthcare is the other half of reserve retirement value. The transitions matter.

Plan your civilian healthcare around these gates. The gray-area years are usually the most expensive. Many reservists keep an employer plan through that window if they can.

How should you think about reserve retirement in your civilian career?

This is the part most reservists get wrong. Reserve retirement is a supplement, not a salary. Build your civilian career as if the check did not exist. Then treat it as a bonus when it kicks in.

Your reserve service is also a real resume asset. Leadership at scale. Security clearance (often). Crisis response. Logistics under pressure. The trick is showing it on a civilian resume without burying it under jargon. We covered the exact format in our guide to the military reserve resume that blends two careers.

SkillBridge is sometimes available to reservists too. The eligibility rules are tighter than for active-duty. We broke them down in SkillBridge for National Guard and Reserve.

And if you are coming off orders into a full transition, the SFL-TAP timeline and requirements still apply. Reservists with qualifying mobilizations get TAP access too.

What to do next

Three steps you can do this week:

1. Pull your points letter from your branch's personnel system. Verify every good year. Flag any year under 50 points.
2. Run your active-duty equivalent. Total points divided by 360. That is your pension multiplier base.
3. Build (or update) your civilian resume. If you are coming up on 20 years, your retirement is only one slice of your income plan. The other slice is the civilian career.

BMR's resume builder handles the military-to-civilian translation and ATS formatting for you. Free for veterans, military spouses, and dependents. Built by veterans who sat on both sides of the hiring desk. Start at the military resume builder or federal resume builder if you are going GS.

Your reserve service earned you a pension. Make sure your civilian career earns you the rest.