If you're eligible for Florida's Deferred Retirement Option Program, or DROP, you're facing one of the more consequential financial decisions of your career, on a timeline that isn't always in your control. Manaco Private Wealth works with Florida first responders, teachers, and public employees to plan around DROP participation, from the decision to enter through what happens with the funds once your participation ends.
For members of the Florida Retirement System (FRS) Pension Plan, DROP allows a vested employee who has reached normal retirement date to formally retire for pension purposes while continuing to work and draw a regular paycheck, for up to 96 months. During that period, the monthly pension benefit is calculated and frozen, and instead of being paid out, it accumulates in a separate DROP account earning interest. When participation ends, the employee must leave FRS employment, and the accumulated balance becomes available as a lump sum, a rollover, or a combination of both.
This is where it gets more complicated for many South Florida first responders specifically. A number of municipal police and fire departments in this area, including the City of Miami and the City of Miami Beach, aren't part of the state FRS system at all. The City of Miami Firefighters' and Police Officers' Retirement Trust and the Miami Beach Fire and Police Pension Fund are both examples of independently administered plans with their own eligibility rules, benefit formulas, and terms, distinct from the FRS plan that covers many other public employees in the region, including most Miami-Dade County government employees. The right approach depends entirely on which plan actually governs your situation, and confirming that is the first step, not an assumption.
On shift and short on time? Reach out directly.
Call Frank Collado: (305) 333-7938 Request a Custom DROP ConsultationThis work is part of the same retirement planning Manaco provides more broadly, applied to a decision with a real deadline and real tax consequences attached to it. We help you understand what your specific plan actually allows, evaluate the lump sum and rollover choice against your full financial picture, and build a sequencing and income strategy for the years after your DROP period ends.
DROP eligibility, interest rates, and participation terms vary by plan, including between the state Florida Retirement System and independently administered municipal police and fire pension trusts, and are set by each plan's governing documents and administrator, not by Manaco Private Wealth. Nothing on this page should be relied on as a description of your specific plan's terms; confirm current details with your plan administrator.
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