Update to my post in May 2015, but first another thank you to everyone that provided feedback and comments. A lot of good info!
So, after a lot of consideration about staying for another few years on active duty, I decided to retire Nov 2016. Retirement paperwork submitted; pending approval. I will finish with 26.1 years of active duty service, retiring as an 06/Colonel....very humbled to have made it this far and worked with a lot of great servicemen and woman from all branches of the military. They still need your support; operational tempo is only increasing and the less than 1 percent serving deserve our support for all the challenges they will continue to meet in the years ahead.
My updates include:
-Future primary house in Colorado Springs purchased & rented until smr 2016. (Great house & an awesome location near trails, creek and a lot of open space.)
-Completed senior military transition course....Yes, Nords, a lot of great info! Definitely wish I would have completed a little sooner, but still feel like everything is doable in my timeframe of 2016.
-Still adjusting the transition budget; updated current and future budgets to reflect information learned in transition course, etc....
-Transferred Roth IRA's to Vanguard and adjusted TSP AA.
-We are still planning to sell our house in San Diego next summer.
I am still weighing the options of full on retirement versus bridge career versus part time avocation for a little extra money. It is hard to decide at this point; I am still processing the idea of not working at all, but I am thinking about it a lot and have some more time to work through my options.
Our savings and projected COLA pension will meet our expenses in Colorado Springs, but I have a hard time slowing down, so I am prepared to work through the process to determine if I can really slow down and embrace retirement or need some kind of encore career to keep me and the family happy. Most likely will take a long break; understanding the employment risk....and evaluate my options after I adjust to life after the military. Currently, I have been on active duty longer than anything else in my life....so not sure I am capable of making real "objective" decisions at this point.
Best to all and thanks again for all the feedback on my original post about retiring.
The countdown to 1 Nov 2016 has begun.....although, I will transition to retirement leave on/about late July 2016.....so roughly, 286 days until we begin our drive to Colorado.
Attached a picture of the creek and view down the street from our house in Colorado....can hear the water from our deck and in the house when the windows are open. Yes, creek is a little high at the time of picture due to rain....and fortunately, we are not in a flood plain.
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