surferLife
Recycles dryer sheets
- Joined
- Aug 2, 2014
- Messages
- 54
Greetings ER Community! Long-time lurker, first-time introduction. I learned about the forum from Nords book (The Military Guide to Financial Independence and Retirement), and have since enjoyed reading through the forum here and at Bogleheads, while getting ready for my own ER.
I'm 43 yrs old, an O-5 with 20 years of service, and will be retiring in 3 years as an O-5 with 23/yrs. I am married, DW is in mid-30's (yeah!), and one DS, 1 yr old. We are hoping to have a few more children, most likely through adoption. DW is a SAHM, but has a significant income potential. She will likely go back to work when I retire because she wants to, at which time I will become a SAHD, homeschooling our children. Her potential income my range from 30k/yr to 160k/yr, just depending on what she wants to do. The important thing is that we hope to be in a place where she can choose to do whatever she wants to do and doesn't have to pursue a j*b just for the money. Here are our stats:
Retirement accounts: 600k (combination of TSP/401k/Roth TSP/Roth IRAs)
Taxable accounts: 340k (75% of it in a 1% savings acct for impending home purchase)
Expected military pension: 50k/yr after-tax (high-three, and slightly under-estimated on purpose)
I have looked at the disability schedule and plan on having around a 30-50% disability rating, and since that process is so complex, I don't have any idea how much that will affect my pay other than knowing it will increase it. The above 50k/yr figure does not reflect this assumption.
I have signed over my GI bill to DS and he will get around 30 months of benefit (3-ish years of school). We are NOT doing college savings/529s because once the kids are in college, we will be able to pull from retirement accounts without penalty. Also, we want them to pay for some of their education (not all). That 30 months of benefit will be spread out among the rest of the kids if/when they come.
We are currently renting in the states and it's frustrating not being able to build equity in a home; we will be moving again in a few years, location unknown. We are aggressively saving so that we can purchase a home outright at retirement. This is a primary goal for us. With a paid-for house and military retirement, I think we should be okay, even if DW doesn't go back to work. We are not big spenders and believe in driving used, paid-for cars. Anything we don't spend on the house when retirement comes, we will use to fill the gap before we reach age 59 1/2. The biggest unknown is "where will we retire?" We can't currently answer that. Obviously, Silicon Valley is out of the question, and we don't want to live in the mid-west (no offence), but the west coast offers the furthest distance from family, and that is appealing. We would like a couple acres, so there is also that.
We would love to have any feedback on our plan. Looking forward to learning more and sharing those milestones when we reach them!
I'm 43 yrs old, an O-5 with 20 years of service, and will be retiring in 3 years as an O-5 with 23/yrs. I am married, DW is in mid-30's (yeah!), and one DS, 1 yr old. We are hoping to have a few more children, most likely through adoption. DW is a SAHM, but has a significant income potential. She will likely go back to work when I retire because she wants to, at which time I will become a SAHD, homeschooling our children. Her potential income my range from 30k/yr to 160k/yr, just depending on what she wants to do. The important thing is that we hope to be in a place where she can choose to do whatever she wants to do and doesn't have to pursue a j*b just for the money. Here are our stats:
Retirement accounts: 600k (combination of TSP/401k/Roth TSP/Roth IRAs)
Taxable accounts: 340k (75% of it in a 1% savings acct for impending home purchase)
Expected military pension: 50k/yr after-tax (high-three, and slightly under-estimated on purpose)
I have looked at the disability schedule and plan on having around a 30-50% disability rating, and since that process is so complex, I don't have any idea how much that will affect my pay other than knowing it will increase it. The above 50k/yr figure does not reflect this assumption.
I have signed over my GI bill to DS and he will get around 30 months of benefit (3-ish years of school). We are NOT doing college savings/529s because once the kids are in college, we will be able to pull from retirement accounts without penalty. Also, we want them to pay for some of their education (not all). That 30 months of benefit will be spread out among the rest of the kids if/when they come.
We are currently renting in the states and it's frustrating not being able to build equity in a home; we will be moving again in a few years, location unknown. We are aggressively saving so that we can purchase a home outright at retirement. This is a primary goal for us. With a paid-for house and military retirement, I think we should be okay, even if DW doesn't go back to work. We are not big spenders and believe in driving used, paid-for cars. Anything we don't spend on the house when retirement comes, we will use to fill the gap before we reach age 59 1/2. The biggest unknown is "where will we retire?" We can't currently answer that. Obviously, Silicon Valley is out of the question, and we don't want to live in the mid-west (no offence), but the west coast offers the furthest distance from family, and that is appealing. We would like a couple acres, so there is also that.
We would love to have any feedback on our plan. Looking forward to learning more and sharing those milestones when we reach them!