Longtime Lurker now joing the club

[behindthedimes]

Hi

I am a 32 yr old government engineer living in Northern NJ with my high school teacher wife and our dog. Glad to follow along with the threads. Right now I have a TSP at about $105,000 (also paying loan back to it from house purchase) that I currently contribute 8% (I am a GS13-5) plus my FERS pension, my wife's 403B with NJ, and approximately $10k in other holding plus about $60k in equity in my home. We also own our own standardized test prep business that is booming but it is just the two of us.

We are planning to have kids in the near future and move into a bigger home but my MIL will be moving in also and bringing any takings from the sale of her home into our new home.

Because I started with the government as a summer hire I will need 43 years to get max pension and I don't plan to stay that long. I am planning a career shift to Wall Street (finishing up MS in Financial Engineering) and would hopefully like to retire by 55 but I know I have a lot of work to do.

[Katiek]

Welcome! You've done a good job so far, and you're thinking about all the right things at a relatively young age.

[behindthedimes]

I did blow away alot of money in my 20's and wish I had it back but besides some credit card debt that we plan to have retired within the next 18 months we only have one car payment which is nice.

[MikeWillRetire]

Quote:

Originally Posted by behindthedimes Hi I am a 32 yr old government engineer living in Northern NJ with my high school teacher wife and our dog. Right now I have a TSP at about $105,000 Because I started with the government as a summer hire I will need 43 years to get max pension and I don't plan to stay that long .

If you are 32, then you are in the FERS system. The "maximum pension at 43 years" usually applies to the older feds in the CSRS system. I don't know when you started as a fed, but to have 105K in the TSP at age 32, I assume you started in your early 20's. You can retire at 57 with 30 years experience in FERS. And don't forget the family friendly benefits of government. Keep that in mind, seriously.

I did the exact opposite of you. I worked 11 years in the private sector, and then joined the feds as I started a family. Good decision for me.

[behindthedimes]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MikeWillRetire If you are 32, then you are in the FERS system. The "maximum pension at 43 years" usually applies to the older feds in the CSRS system. I don't know when you started as a fed, but to have 105K in the TSP at age 32, I assume you started in your early 20's. You can retire at 57 with 30 years experience in FERS. And don't forget the family friendly benefits of government. Keep that in mind, seriously. I did the exact opposite of you. I worked 11 years in the private sector, and then joined the feds as I started a family. Good decision for me.

By 43 years I meant length of service not age. My scd is at age 20 (summer hire) but my tsp started at age 21.

Retiring at 57 sounds nice but I think I would rather sacrifice quality of life now for later with the career change but quality of life concerns are definitely valid and will be weighed heavily if I jump ship.

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