Retire from the Navy in 2017

[haloFIRE]

Congratulations on the excellent progress Hawkeye! I can understand the stress completely! I just left the MDW for a new assignment far away from the five sided puzzle palace. Although not in an easy job (are there any of those?), the stress level has declined markedly! I actually don't mind going into work anymore.
What is your target date in 2017? I'll be cheering yor progress from the sidelines!
HaloFIRE

[HawkeyeNFO]

Spreadsheet updated again, and with yesterday's market close, and including the equity on our house, we are now multi-millionaires! And just this past Monday, I received my retirement orders.

Every day, I hear someone ask "have you got a job yet?" or "have you started looking for a job yet?"

Last night I thought of a new job story to answer those questions..."I will be going into aviation financial consulting," which really means that I am looking for ways to fly around the world without spending much or any money at all. I'm thinking points and miles, and maybe some space-A flying.

[evilanne]

Thank you for your service & job well done in preparing for your future! Congrats on your upcoming retirement & Best of luck to you in your travels

[kitesurfer2]

enjoy your retirement!

[friar1610]

Good for you! Congratulations. Fair winds and following seas.

[Gumby]

BZ, Hawkeye. Enjoy your retirement.

[haloFIRE]

Impressive HawkEye! Up a million increase in 3 years! Awesome!

What is your date?

[HawkeyeNFO]

First official day of retirement was today, although I severred a tendon and had surgery a week ago, so I spent the today mostly on the recliner, with a big aircast on the right ankle. No driving, minimal walking, and more medical appointments on the calendar. At least now there is plenty of time for them!

Updated my spreadsheet, and the numbers look good.....
$2.1m is the current portfolio, if you include about $365k in home equity. We sold the rental property last year.

So I am FIRE'd for now at 44 y/o, with numerous house projects waiting to be accomplished, of course once the ankle issue allows it. Find a follow-on job in a couple of months? Maybe....maybe not!

[W2R]

Wow, CONGRATULATIONS, HawkeyeNFO! What a great announcement. I hope you have the best retirement ever.

Sorry to hear about your tendon injury, but thank goodness you will have all the time you need to recuperate properly.

[Blue Collar Guy]

Wow, congrats, I think all veterans should retire as millionaires, especially the combat ones.

[exnavynuke]

Quote:

Originally Posted by HawkeyeNFO First official day of retirement was today, although I severred a tendon and had surgery a week ago, so I spent the today mostly on the recliner, with a big aircast on the right ankle. No driving, minimal walking, and more medical appointments on the calendar. At least now there is plenty of time for them! Updated my spreadsheet, and the numbers look good..... $2.1m is the current portfolio, if you include about $365k in home equity. We sold the rental property last year. So I am FIRE'd for now at 44 y/o, with numerous house projects waiting to be accomplished, of course once the ankle issue allows it. Find a follow-on job in a couple of months? Maybe....maybe not!

Now, I was just some dirty blue shirt, but us nukes are pretty good at math... so $2.1 at 3.5% is ~$70k/year plus officer retirement check with tricare for life.... so Work?? Only if you would do it for free at this point!

Enjoy it and congratulations on the retirement!

[haloFIRE]

Congratulations Hawkeye!!

Today is my first day of retirement too. I'll miss the Army, but I'd miss retirement even more if I had stayed in another year!

[MarieIG]

Congratulations, and thank you for your service! Get well soon.

Son #5 just got his wings (NFO too) and just transferred from Pensacola to Jacksonville where he will be stationed for a few months. He is starting SEREs in a few days, so there is a nervous wife and momma.

[ExFlyBoy5]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MarieIG Congratulations, and thank you for your service! Get well soon. Son #5 just got his wings (NFO too) and just transferred from Pensacola to Jacksonville where he will be stationed for a few months. He is starting SEREs in a few days, so there is a nervous wife and momma.

Oh SERE training...lots of fun there but nothing to be nervous about.

Congrats to the OP and good luck with the recovery!

[MarieIG]

[QUOTE=ExFlyBoy5;1944579]Oh SERE training...lots of fun there but nothing to be nervous about.

Thank you!

[nash031]

Congrats brother! Two more for me... At 42 with the same numbers, hopefully! We will see if work calls to me or not!

Again - enjoy it, you've earned it!

[Van-Guard23]

Quote:

Originally Posted by HawkeyeNFO First official day of retirement was today, although I severred a tendon and had surgery a week ago, so I spent the today mostly on the recliner, with a big aircast on the right ankle. No driving, minimal walking, and more medical appointments on the calendar. At least now there is plenty of time for them! Updated my spreadsheet, and the numbers look good..... $2.1m is the current portfolio, if you include about $365k in home equity. We sold the rental property last year. So I am FIRE'd for now at 44 y/o, with numerous house projects waiting to be accomplished, of course once the ankle issue allows it. Find a follow-on job in a couple of months? Maybe....maybe not!

Congratulations! I FIRE'd just over 4 years ago at 44 years old as well. Retired Army officer...and my wife retired from the Army a couple of years ago, so life is great.

[HawkeyeNFO]

From 3 years ago...

Quote:

Originally Posted by HawkeyeNFO Every day, I hear someone ask "have you got a job yet?" or "have you started looking for a job yet?" Last night I thought of a new job story to answer those questions..."I will be going into aviation financial consulting," which really means that I am looking for ways to fly around the world without spending much or any money at all. I'm thinking points and miles, and maybe some space-A flying.

Guess what? I actually have a job doing aviation financial consulting for the Navy. Guess I failed at ER, so here is what happened, and an update on some numbers....

Retirement lasted about 6 months, and during that time, we made a decision to tear down our house and build a brand new one. The investment portfolio was up to nearly $1.9M in Jan 2018 (home equity not included), and then we started moving money around to set up the construction financing. To get the construction loan, I knew it would be easier if I had a job, so I started working in April 2018; a contractor job at the Pentagon sort of fell into my lap. I'm still there 2 years later.

After selling off some mutual funds in 2018 and 2019 to keep the mortgage manageable, and with the latest drop in the market, the portfolio is now a bit less than $1.7M, but we have a much larger amount of home equity and a brand new home in which to enjoy quarantine. Mortgage amount is roughly $120k more than before.

When we had the $1.9M investment portfolio back in 2018, we had acheived FI. I could have lived off of that and the military retirement pay, but sometimes you just need a new house. The old one had numerous problems and it was not much more $$$ to build new than it would have been to update the kitchen, put a small addition on, add a garage, etc.

So with about $450k spent to pay off old mortgage debt and cover some builder expenses, we still have a substantial amount owed on the current mortgage. About half of our monthly expenses is housing (not uncommon around Washington, DC).

Unfortunately, the increased home expenses mean that our FI number is higher than before. We need to add about $500k to the $1.7M portfolio, and then I will be FI (again).

[nash031]

It's an ever moving target for us as well. I retired in January, but was employed in December (double dipped for a month!), and was recently RIFed from that job. Now "retired/unemployed" and kicking the tires on starting my own business. Not really sure what to do, but our FI number is an average market year over the horizon. If we avoid touching our savings (i.e. my wife gets to go back to her job), we'll keep right on truckin' and it won't matter one bit what I do. If not, well, contracting may be in the offing (barf!).

All that to say, plans change, do what makes you happy, even if it's tearing down and rebuilding a house!

[Bigdawg]

Quote:

Originally Posted by nash031 It's an ever moving target for us as well. I retired in January, but was employed in December (double dipped for a month!), and was recently RIFed from that job. Now "retired/unemployed" and kicking the tires on starting my own business. Not really sure what to do, but our FI number is an average market year over the horizon. If we avoid touching our savings (i.e. my wife gets to go back to her job), we'll keep right on truckin' and it won't matter one bit what I do. If not, well, contracting may be in the offing (barf!). All that to say, plans change, do what makes you happy, even if it's tearing down and rebuilding a house!

Interesting to see these military retiree updates. To me there have always been two seperate aspects of FIRE. The FI part and of course the RE part. As my sig line states I have been FI since reaching my 20 in 2010. I took the uniform off three years later and have been contracting since. Took 8 months off in 2015 but went stir crazy, ie failed at RE. Tore down the 30 yr old modular to biuld a new house. Moved in there in April 2019 and went down to 32 hrs/wk. Got youngest back from grad school (Ireland) in May 2019 and have been padding the accounts since. Worked up a nice Power point for DW last month showing her that we can punch now. At 48 she would like to go until 50. COVID is letting me work from home and collecting a large pay check. No reason to quit right now. Working on upping my SCUBA qual to instructor and maybe working in Roatan. That is one of our potential RE locations. There is a group down there that specializes in SCUBA experiences for disabled vet's. I would love to help them out. We'll see.

Only one thing that I have set in stone regarding RE: I will never go in and sit in a cubicle daily again. If I can continue this easy money from home thing why give it up? So unofficially we are looking at late 2022 for full RE from 9-5. Will probably continue a combo of sports officiating and SCUBA instructor. So many choices when you are FI. Best of luck to all the retired military folks out there.

One more thing: Just closed a deal on a 68 Chevelle. 8K. Bought it with a buddy. Our little turn around project. A New Mexico car with no rust. After market 454 makes it pur. Paint is good. Maybe 1-3K in TLC then turn for nice profit. I'll start another thread in the appropriate area with pics. Already got an as is offer of 15K.