5 years at the VA

Said another way ... if you leave a place before you are "vested" in the retirement plan, you lose all those retirement benefits that were paid for by your employer. You get to keep any money that YOU contributed to the plan, but not the money/value that was from the employer's contribution.

Many years ago, I worked for a hospital that had an employee pension plan -- one of the old-fashioned kind where the employer paid for it and no money came out of the employee's paycheck. I stayed just long enough to get vested in the plan (5 years). As I am now nearing retirement, I contacted them recently to find out exactly what my benefit would be: When I turn 65 next year, I will start getting about $250 per month for the rest of my life. Not an enormous sum, but it will be nice to get that check each month to add to my other retirement funds.