Hello all!
I am just starting out on my path to early retirement. I have been active duty for four years now, straight out of veterinary school. I plan on finishing my 20 years to get retirement and medical benefits. My main reason for wanting an early retirement is my husband, who is a Type I diabetic, and has a shortened lifespan because of it (65-70). Since his last 5-10 years will probably include many medical issues, we decided that we would retire early so he gets to enjoy as much of life as possible. I will probably start a second career after he is gone (it is tough to think about, but this is our reality). Along with planning on having my military retirement, we are now starting to invest heavily into my retirement accounts, savings and other investments. It has been a slow start, what with $130,000 in student loan debt (now only $40,000 thanks to the Army loan repayment program, Go Army!), but now I feel us gaining traction. It ia also hard for my spouse to find a job with us moving around so much. We have no children, and don't plan on having any, and we are getting much better at telling our money what to do and not just wondering where it went. Currently we have $10,000 in my Roth IRA, $2000 in my TSP (Army 401K), and $9000 in taxable investments. Luckily we also inherited my husband's grandmother's paid for home which right now is an income property, but we plan on selling before we retire. I am mostly interested in reading other peoples' stories about how they retired early, and that is is possible.
Thanks for letting me share!
I am just starting out on my path to early retirement. I have been active duty for four years now, straight out of veterinary school. I plan on finishing my 20 years to get retirement and medical benefits. My main reason for wanting an early retirement is my husband, who is a Type I diabetic, and has a shortened lifespan because of it (65-70). Since his last 5-10 years will probably include many medical issues, we decided that we would retire early so he gets to enjoy as much of life as possible. I will probably start a second career after he is gone (it is tough to think about, but this is our reality). Along with planning on having my military retirement, we are now starting to invest heavily into my retirement accounts, savings and other investments. It has been a slow start, what with $130,000 in student loan debt (now only $40,000 thanks to the Army loan repayment program, Go Army!), but now I feel us gaining traction. It ia also hard for my spouse to find a job with us moving around so much. We have no children, and don't plan on having any, and we are getting much better at telling our money what to do and not just wondering where it went. Currently we have $10,000 in my Roth IRA, $2000 in my TSP (Army 401K), and $9000 in taxable investments. Luckily we also inherited my husband's grandmother's paid for home which right now is an income property, but we plan on selling before we retire. I am mostly interested in reading other peoples' stories about how they retired early, and that is is possible.
Thanks for letting me share!