Retirement Planning for Young Military Member

[Lesleyann]

Hi!

You commented on my "Who am I" post. My husband has 8 years in the Army, made the E-7 list this year.

After some thought -- we are making Stability a huge priority. But I don't think we are saving enough for FIRE. But a lot depends on the world! How many more combat deployments will my husband see? Will promotion rates stay high?

I have to say -- and you probably know this -- 6 months after you re-deploy, you will be so glad to have some savings. A lot of people are back paycheck to paycheck by this time.

Keep up the good work!

Lesleyann

 

[LeBlanc]

Update

Hello all, I was hoping to present my personal situation and with any luck, garner some value added input from you readers who are smarter than I.

I'm a 29 year old 10 year Air Force veteran and plan on staying in for at least 10 more years to reap the benefits of the military retirement system. I'm stationed in the Middle East right now and will be until December of 2008.

Living here, I pay no State or Federal taxes and get paid a little bit extra by the nature of the local environment. I invest 25% of my base pay (comes to about $1266/mo) in the TSP (spread between the C, S, and I Funds) and I also invest in a Roth IRA (PRSGX: Spectrum Growth) maxing it out at $416.66/mo.

The current value of my TSP is about $28,000 and my IRA is about $10,000. I have $10,000 sitting in a savings account that earns 10%APY while I'm here and the rest of my savings is in a high yield savings account with EmigrantDirect. I plan to continue to invest heavily in stocks clear through my 30's. Yes, I'm aware of diversification, and I am diversified...in small, mid, large, emerging, equity, international, etc...stocks. I'm not so interested in bonds and other "lower risk" options at this point in my life. I could lose it all today and still be just fine as far as I'm concerned.

I have no debt whatsoever and already have my MBA that was paid for by the military.

With all that being said...I want to retire early, and would like to know if I'm saving too little, too much or just enough AND is there anything else I should consider (non retirement vehicles)?

I will be eligible for military retirement when I am 38 yrs old and potentially will make about $55,000 per year on military retirement alone. That figure comes from looking at a Lt Col's pay (rank I will potentially retire at) today at 20 yrs of service and applying a 3% increase per year over the next 10 years to estimate the amount (at 50%) when I am due to retire.

Being so young retiring from the military, I will most likely get another job for a few years just to keep me busy but would like to have financial freedom earlier than the "typical" 59 1/2.

Your thoughts?

I can't believe it's been over 3 years since I submitted this post. I thought it would be interesting to provide an update.

I'm now 32 with over 13 yrs in the service. I'm up for promotion to Major (O-4) and given my career history, I'll have no issues getting promoted.

I now live in the US again after having lived in the Middle East for 1 year then Okinawa Japan for 2.5 years.

The current value of my TSP is $60,000 (I stopped investing in TSP in 2009 to save for property purchases) and my IRA is $27,000 (I continue to contribute the max every year). I currently have about $1000 in savings, primarily because I just closed on my fifth property in 3 years.

Since posting this 3 years ago, my faith in the stock market has changed. I haven't pulled anything out, but my future contributions will be very limited as I'm focusing my attention more on investment properties. Granted, there is great risk in real estate, but "owning" a piece of dirt with a house on it means more to me now than owning an "unrealized" stock or fund in a market that is so overly manipulated, the risk is not worth it....to me.

I purchased all of my investment properties with 20%-25% down and got a great 5.25% 30 yr fixed mortgage (doesn't get much better than that for investment loans). The properties are all rented and earning positive cash flow (most of the mortgages (PITI) are around $500, rental income right at $1000). I live in oneof the homes currently.

The plan is to pay down the mortgages early, hopefully all of them within 7-10 yrs then see how things are going from there.

I will probably stay in the service closer to 30 yrs to get closer to a 75% retirement as a Colonel (O-6).

Overall, I think I've played my cards right so far.

 

[Bimmerbill]

Holy thread necro batman!
Glad things are working out for you. How do you find time to manage your properties?

 

[LeBlanc]

Holy thread necro batman!
Glad things are working out for you. How do you find time to manage your properties?

Fortunately, my brother lives in the first home I bought in 2008...and still lives there. He manages that one for me. After he moves out, I'll hire a manager.

The three that I own in Arizona are managed by my father. He lives in the same neighborhood as the properties.

Between my brother and father, they handle most of the footwork and "heavy lifting" while I provide the benjamins.