 save or spend, buy or rent or here's one new car or used car. Life is full of financial decisions and if you're eligible to opt-in to the military's new blended retirement system you've got another one, BRS or Legacy System. Because this is such a big decision with big dollar amounts associated with it, it's important to get it right. Let's start with the big picture. On one hand, if you make it to 20 years, the lifetime pension benefit of the Legacy System is considerably larger than the lifetime pension benefit of the blended retirement system. On the other hand, if you don't make it to 20 years, which is true for about 8 out of 10 service members, the BRS still offers some valuable retirement benefits where the Legacy System would provide nothing. Now let's dive into some of the specifics, starting with how the pensions are calculated under each plan. The Legacy System pension calculation is 2.5% times years of service times retired base pay. With the BRS, it's 2% times years of service times retired base pay. This means if you're getting ready to retire after 20 years and your retired base pay is $4,000, your pension would be $2,000 a month under the Legacy System. Under the BRS, you'd only get about $1,600. Multiply that difference over 20, 30 or 40 years, factor in cost of living adjustments, and you can see that there could be a considerable lifetime difference in total payouts under each system. Now, let's shift gears and explore the elements of the BRS that don't exist in the Legacy System that could still provide you with some retirement benefits if you leave the service before 20 years. First up, automatic and matching contributions. Under the BRS, your service will contribute 1% of your basic pay into your thrift savings plan account, even if you don't contribute anything on your own. You'll also be eligible for matching contributions on up to 5% of your pay. This chart shows how the automatic and matching contributions work. As you can see, if you contribute 5% out of your pocket, your service will contribute 5% out of their pocket for a total of 10%. This could equate to a whole lot of free money by the time you retire. For those entering the military on or after January 1st, 2018, there are waiting periods that apply before each type of contribution begins. Again, these contributions only exist in the BRS. They are not part of the Legacy System. And keeping with that theme, let's talk about continuation pay. Continuation pay is a mid-career payment made between 8 and 12 years of service in exchange for serving at least 3 more years. For active duty service members, the payment could be 2.5 to 13 times your basic monthly pay. For reservists, it could be 1.5 to 6 times your basic monthly pay as if you were on active duty. Each service will individually determine the amount and timing of these payments. However, as illustrated here, all branches were on the same page when the first-ever continuation pay details were released in late 2017. And again, continuation pay doesn't exist under the Legacy System. Finally, let's look at the lump sum pension options exclusive to the BRS. Retirees under the BRS will have 3 options for receiving their pension. The first option is to receive it as we calculated earlier. The second option is to have it reduced by 25% until their normal Social Security retirement age in exchange for a lump sum payment. And the third option is to have their pension reduced by 50%. Again, until their normal Social Security retirement age in exchange for an even larger lump sum payment. The Legacy System does not offer lump sum payments. So, back to the topic of financial decisions. Will it be the BRS for you or Legacy System? If you're still unsure, be sure to visit militarypay.defense.gov for additional information and speak to a financial counselor on your installation.