Greetings, I have been lurking in the shadows for the last few months, reading and learning from many of the other posters in this forum.
I am 28 and my wife is 32. We have two children (2.5 yr old Girl and 1 yr old Boy). My normal day job is law enforcement, however I am on Active Duty Orders as an Army Reservist on the East Coast. My wife used to work as a civilian employee at a police department prior to my deployment and now taking care of our children with my unpredictable schedule. Luckily they are presently living on the east coast with me, so I am fortunate not to be separated from them on a long term basis. I have another 12 months on Active Duty and will probably return to my previous L.E. job unless something better opens up to me.l
Our goal is to retire by the time I am 50 years old and we currently have saved:
Wife's 457(b) acct : 77,000
My 457(b) acct: 105,000 - I contribute 16,500/yr presently
Brokerage acct (long ago gift from grandma): 12000
Savings: 15000
Wife's ROTH IRA: 3000
My ROTH IRA: 5500
My wife is vested in CALPERS and stands to collect about 1500/mth when she turns 55 and I am vested with 9 years and counting of service in my retirement plan (combination of Calpers and 1937 County Retirement) and can max my pension at 87% if I stay until 50 years of age, 90% if I stayed until 51. I also plan on having a reserve military pension that will help with related medical insurance when I retire to combine with my civilian insurance which is not so great.
We have a house with a 377,000 mortgage and total payments including tax and insurance are about 2800/monthly. We don't have any other huge expenses and save as we go along, although we are being much more disciplined as we have gotten older! I am planning on maxing out the ROTH IRAs beginning this year and continuing on doing for the foreseeable future and also raising our Cash savings to about 45,000 (12 month's mortgage and household expenses, etc)
Fortunately, with my civilian job paying me salary differential and my military pay, I am making almost 10k/month (including my tax free entitlements BAH, and Per Diem), so I really have no excuses in regards to long term planning and major savings.
I hope to continue my learning and continue with appropriate planning to meet our retirement goals and to have a comfortable life for my children (I promise you not spoiled though
)
I am 28 and my wife is 32. We have two children (2.5 yr old Girl and 1 yr old Boy). My normal day job is law enforcement, however I am on Active Duty Orders as an Army Reservist on the East Coast. My wife used to work as a civilian employee at a police department prior to my deployment and now taking care of our children with my unpredictable schedule. Luckily they are presently living on the east coast with me, so I am fortunate not to be separated from them on a long term basis. I have another 12 months on Active Duty and will probably return to my previous L.E. job unless something better opens up to me.l
Our goal is to retire by the time I am 50 years old and we currently have saved:
Wife's 457(b) acct : 77,000
My 457(b) acct: 105,000 - I contribute 16,500/yr presently
Brokerage acct (long ago gift from grandma): 12000
Savings: 15000
Wife's ROTH IRA: 3000
My ROTH IRA: 5500
My wife is vested in CALPERS and stands to collect about 1500/mth when she turns 55 and I am vested with 9 years and counting of service in my retirement plan (combination of Calpers and 1937 County Retirement) and can max my pension at 87% if I stay until 50 years of age, 90% if I stayed until 51. I also plan on having a reserve military pension that will help with related medical insurance when I retire to combine with my civilian insurance which is not so great.
We have a house with a 377,000 mortgage and total payments including tax and insurance are about 2800/monthly. We don't have any other huge expenses and save as we go along, although we are being much more disciplined as we have gotten older! I am planning on maxing out the ROTH IRAs beginning this year and continuing on doing for the foreseeable future and also raising our Cash savings to about 45,000 (12 month's mortgage and household expenses, etc)
Fortunately, with my civilian job paying me salary differential and my military pay, I am making almost 10k/month (including my tax free entitlements BAH, and Per Diem), so I really have no excuses in regards to long term planning and major savings.
I hope to continue my learning and continue with appropriate planning to meet our retirement goals and to have a comfortable life for my children (I promise you not spoiled though
)
