49yo Retired Military, and now what?

[Harris4crna]

Greetings,

Retired from the US Navy at 49 years old. Along with retiring from a 23 year career in the military, I have decided to no longer work in my profession. Retiring from the military is an easy one, but from the profession that took many years of schooling has been difficult. I am coming to this community to align with others who chose to walk away from their profession young in life to pursue a career as a retiree.

I meet many who are in retirement age (>62yo), but don't meet many who walk away from career to retire after meeting FIRE (<50yo). Any regrets? Do you return? Love to hear from those retired from the military and DID not take on a second career. How has it been going. Love to hear your experience.

 

[braumeister]

Welcome!

Quite a few of us here are retired military, so you're in good company. 21 years in the USAF for me.

Personally, I got antsy after less than a year out, and pursued a second career for about 12 years. Totally different from what I did in uniform, and I enjoyed it just as much as my military career (a lot). Obviously, that also allowed for a more comfortable retirement once I hung it up for good.

But there are many paths. Do a little searching on posts by fellow forum member Nords, whose track is more like what you're referring to.

 

[JDARNELL]

Welcome to the check of the month club. 21 plus years in uniform then a brief 3.5 yr bridge career to see if I could do it then walked completely away at 46. It’s been a great 8 years and I don’t regret it a bit. Occasionally I have to get out during the morning commute and I ask myself wth anyone would do this even though I did it for years. I miss the intellectual level of my peer group but I have found ways to make it up. It is very common for us to be the earliest retirees when we meet people. It is what it is.

Last kid graduates from college in May and he is already employed as a fed so once we get him settled at his new location we will get back on the road traveling for a while.

My advice is find you plenty of things you like and enjoy life. It’s too short to be in the wheel.

 

[pacergal]

Welcome to the Forum and congratulations on your retirement!
Thank you for your service to our Country.

This is a wonderful forum and many folks are so knowledgeable and willing to share information. Feel free to post/ask questions.

And I second braumeisters recommendation to look up Nords. Good info from him, even if you are not military.

 

[38Chevy454]

Welcome to the forum. I'm assuming your pension and additional savings is sufficient you do not have to work. Retirement is great because you can do what you want and when you want, including work if you want to. It is very nice feeling to not be under the stress of have to work vs want to work. Your BS bucket does not need to hold much.

Do you have any hobbies that you might work in that field as a fun thing to do? Or have an area you want to learn more? Start low on the ladder and as you gain skills and apply your previous knowledge and talents work up to more advanced position.

Or don't work at all and just convert to being retired. The choice is yours to make. Your biggest issue will be the emotional part. You have a job and career to retire from, but what will you retire to?

 

[audreyh1]

Greetings,

Retired from the US Navy at 49 years old. Along with retiring from a 23 year career in the military, I have decided to no longer work in my profession. Retiring from the military is an easy one, but from the profession that took many years of schooling has been difficult. I am coming to this community to align with others who chose to walk away from their profession young in life to pursue a career as a retiree.

I meet many who are in retirement age (>62yo), but don't meet many who walk away from career to retire after meeting FIRE (<50yo). Any regrets? Do you return? Love to hear from those retired from the military and DID not take on a second career. How has it been going. Love to hear your experience.

Retired at 39 from a high tech job because I was financially independent. Never looked back and never missed the high pressure work environment. Enjoyed several engrossing hobbies over the years and especially the much increased travel.

This Nords retired military guy was a frequent poster when I first joined here: https://militaryfinancialindependence.com/
Looks like he retired the same year I did.

 

[Harris4crna]

Yes, both my wife and have 05 pensions with nest eggs. She is still active duty until she retires in 4 years.

Great advice, I look forward to retirement or a hybrid.

 

[braumeister]

You should start by looking at the FAQ Forum.
After that, the Search function here is quite good, especially if you go into the Advanced Search.

 

[Harris4crna]

Wow, congratulations. My profession doing anesthesia was stressful as well. I miss the skills, but not the stress.

 

[Harris4crna]

Thank you, will do. Seems to be a good group. Where is the like button, haha?

 

[street]

You found a great place to hang out at. Thank you for your service and hope you have a great ER.

 

[Dtail]

Welcome to our wonderful forum.
Not military here, but retired at 57 from a successful Wall Street career and have not looked back in the past 6 years.

 

[Harris4crna]

Thank you very much. Good to be here. Glad to be speaking to those who have retired and speak highly of it. I truly was getting tired of hearing, "why are you retiring", and "you giving up a great career". Gets tiring.

 

[Tekward]

Congrats on retirement. I'm retired Navy and would say I'm not ER, but more Semi-R by choice.

My three keys for retired happiness are health, family, & sharing. Semi-R provides the time to exercise most days and the ability to block months to visit my launched military kids.

I do continue to teach, ~ 8 hours most weeks & largely to veterans, as part of my sharing. It keeps me active and feeling useful. 2013 is 10 years and I'm working towards 1,000 veterans. I will stop when it is no longer fun. Life is good.

 

[braumeister]

Thank you very much. Good to be here. Glad to be speaking to those who have retired and speak highly of it. I truly was getting tired of hearing, "why are you retiring", and "you giving up a great career". Gets tiring.

As you continue to widen your circle of acquaintances, you'll hear less and less of that (especially here).

I think most people simply don't have any idea of the stresses placed on our military, so they can see it quite differently than we did.

 

[MarieIG]

The word "Military" in your title would be more likely to catch the attention of military retirees.

There are many on this board - including the king of military retirement advice - Nords.

Thank you for your service.

 

[Harris4crna]

Congrats on retirement. I'm retired Navy and would say I'm not ER, but more Semi-R by choice.

My three keys for retired happiness are health, family, & sharing. Semi-R provides the time to exercise most days and the ability to block months to visit my launched military kids.

I do continue to teach, ~ 8 hours most weeks & largely to veterans, as part of my sharing. It keeps me active and feeling useful. 2013 is 10 years and I'm working towards 1,000 veterans. I will stop when it is no longer fun. Life is good.

Thank you for your post. I'm looking at Semi-R as well. I have been offered by a local university to work part time for 8 weeks per semester. It allows me to be of service and have purpose. I really would like to teach tactical medicine to SOF, but the opportunity has yet to be available.

Thank you

 

[Harris4crna]

The word "Military" in your title would be more likely to catch the attention of military retirees.

There are many on this board - including the king of military retirement advice - Nords.

Thank you for your service.

As you continue to widen your circle of acquaintances, you'll hear less and less of that (especially here).

I think most people simply don't have any idea of the stresses placed on our military, so they can see it quite differently than we did.

Thank you again for the guidance. I am becoming aquatinted with the forum. Being around like minded folks will definitely help. I have not made the leap fully and being in limbo makes it hard. Retiring from the military is not an issue, but retiring from the profession is difficult.

Truth is if my last assignment in the military was not administrative in nature and I worked my primary profession than I most likely would not be retiring from the profession. I chose this assignment thinking I could still work in the hospital, but when the pandemic hit than this became my primary profession. Next thing I knew, 2 years has passed and I been away from the hospital. This followed with my father becoming ill leading to me caring for him, choosing to retire and me coming down with an autoimmune disease. All this occurred in 2021. I retired from the military in May of 2022.

Now it has been 3 years since I have been out of the hospital and the challenge to return is beyond what I want to do. So, at this time I am choosing retirement from my profession and looking to teach part time. Not exactly how I planned it, but that is ok. Now it is time to transition.

How do I edit the Title to add military?

 

[braumeister]

I am becoming aquatinted with the forum.

So you're taking a broad brush approach. That's good.

aquatint, a variety of etching widely used by printmakers to achieve a broad range of tonal values. The process is called aquatint because finished prints often resemble watercolour drawings or wash drawings.

Title has been edited.

 

[Harris4crna]

Retired at 39 from a high tech job because I was financially independent. Never looked back and never missed the high pressure work environment. Enjoyed several engrossing hobbies over the years and especially the much increased travel.

This Nords retired military guy was a frequent poster when I first joined here: https://militaryfinancialindependence.com/
Looks like he retired the same year I did.

I did not realize NORD was Doug Nordman. I have been following him from the periphery since 2019. This link is very informative, thank you.

 

[EastWest Gal]

Thank you very much. Good to be here. Glad to be speaking to those who have retired and speak highly of it. I truly was getting tired of hearing, "why are you retiring", and "you giving up a great career". Gets tiring.

If you continue to get a comments like that, just say, "Actually, I've finished that great career. There is so much more in life for me to do and learn."

Not military, but the stress of being a hospital pediatrician was taking a toll on mind, body, and spirit. My colleagues were envious when I announced my retirement. I only stay in touch with one of them now, three years later.

This is a great and every evolving group of people.

 

[audreyh1]

I did not realize NORD was Doug Nordman. I have been following him from the periphery since 2019. This link is very informative, thank you.

Yep!

 

[friar1610]

Now it has been 3 years since I have been out of the hospital and the challenge to return is beyond what I want to do. So, at this time I am choosing retirement from my profession and looking to teach part time. Not exactly how I planned it, but that is ok. Now it is time to transition.

How do I edit the Title to add military?

USN (Ret) here but not in a field remotely related to yours. I worked for a couple of defense contractors for 6-7 years after Navy retirement. Didn’t love it but it allowed me to save/invest a lot as I maintained my Navy standard of living while making significantly more between pension and Civ salary. When I retired for good I volunteered as an adult literacy/numeracy tutor on the bad side of town. Really enjoyed it and found it very satisfying. If I could turn the clock back I’d prepare myself for a 2nd career in teaching at some level. I hope you find teaching as fulfilling as I did my peripheral experience with it.

 

[RetiredAt49]

I’m not military but I did retire at 49 (earlier this year) and have loved every minute of it! No regrets!

 

[Koolau]

Thanks for joining us and thanks for your service.