 Sure, there are 26 letters in the English language, but as of January 1st, 2018, three of them became much more important to members of the military. They are B, R, and S. They stand for Blended Retirement System, the military's newest approach to providing retirement benefits for service members. This video will provide a high-level overview of what you need to know about the BRS, starting with Are You Even Eligible? There are three eligibility groups into which you could fall. Legacy System, Automatic BRS, and Optin Eligible for the BRS. Here, it's all about length of service as of December 31st, 2017, measured in years for active duty and points for guard and reserve. Let's begin with the Legacy System group. If you are on active duty with 12 or more years of service, or guard and reserve with 4,320 or more points as of December 31st, 2017, nothing changes with your retirement plan. You're grandfathered in and continue in the Legacy System. Now, let's look at the Automatic BRS group. If you join the military on or after January 1st, 2018, you're automatically enrolled in the BRS. There are no choices or decisions. BRS is your retirement system. And finally, let's look at the group in the middle, the Optin Eligible group. If you are on active duty with less than 12 years of service or guard and reserve with less than 4,320 points as of December 31st, 2017, you're in this group. If you do nothing, you'll stay in the Legacy Retirement System. However, you'll also be able to switch to the BRS if you choose. If you wish to opt in to BRS, you must do so during 2018. This window does not apply to certain ROTC and Service Academy cadets and midshipmen who will have longer to decide. Once BRS is elected, the decision cannot be reversed. So, now that we know who is eligible for the BRS, let's switch gears a bit and take a high-level look at the four main elements of the system. They are TSP contributions from your branch of service, continuation pay, a pension, and lump sum retirement options. First up, TSP contributions. Under the Legacy System, only the service member can make contributions to his or her Thrift Savings Plan account. However, under the BRS, your service branch will also contribute to your TSP account through automatic and matching contributions as illustrated in this chart. Now, let's look at continuation pay. Continuation pay is a lump sum payment made between 8 and 12 years of service in exchange for agreeing to serve no less than three additional years. The exact timing, amount, and other details of these payments will be set by each branch of service as they deem appropriate. Continuation pay in this form does not exist under the Legacy System. Next up, the BRS pension. The pension under the BRS is like the pension under the Legacy System in that you typically have to serve 20 years to get it. However, the BRS pension is 20% smaller. For example, the pension benefit under the Legacy System at 20 years would be 50% of retired base pay compared to only 40% under the BRS. And finally, the last major element of the BRS is the lump sum retirement option. With BRS, you can elect to receive a lump sum payout at retirement in exchange for reducing your monthly pension payout by either 25 or 50%. No such option exists under the Legacy System. So, to recap those, the BRS offers TSP contributions, continuation pay, and lump sum payout options not available under the Legacy System. However, the pension that's available under the BRS is 20% smaller than the Legacy System. What this all means to you will depend on your specific situation. For more information on the details of BRS, please visit militarypay.defense.gov or speak with a financial counselor on your installation.