Semi-Retiring in <6 Months from Military..Thoughts?

[Hardatit]

So the day has finally come, I applied for military retirement after 20 years. Final date of Active Duty is 1 July 2022. With the amount of leave I have saved and the Skillbridge program, I am basically done/transitioning to normal life on 1 Jan 2022.

I was shooting for another year but the Air Force had different plans and wanted to move me out of state. I said no since I just bought my house in 2019 where I will be staying and chose to retire instead.

Even though I have planned and saved for this for years, I will tell you that I am excited and nervous at the same time. I came in right out of High School and it's all I've ever known. Looking for some encouragement from others that took the leap with a long career at a young age doesn't have to be military.

I say semi-retiring, I'm still pretty young at 38. Here is what I have planned after the military.

Will be 39 years old next year. The fiancé is 37. She has a 7 year old daughter.

When we get married the end of this year, they'll move in with me in my current house and probably end up renting her home out or possibly selling.
My house will be paid for in Jan 22, all vehicles are reliable and paid for and we would have no other debt together besides her house which, we could rent and cover the mortgage with a surplus or sell. LCOL area in AR. Neither of us are big on extravagant things. I have a nice barndominium on 8 acres and I typically do all my own work on most everything but we do like to travel and be outdoors. I have a boat, side by side, play truck and all the toys. I know some of you frown on that but I've saved and paid for all in cash and we sure do enjoy them.

Net worth is little over 1M with around 900K of that investable assets.

Our expenses together are $42K-45K a year. This is including all bills, insurance, healthcare, childcare, food, $1K month fun money, etc.

The little's college should she decide to go would be covered by the GI Bill.

Our income without pulling anything from my investments will be:
-My military retirement (cola adjusted) $32K
-Disability this is a wildcard and tax free income. I would estimate $10K year but could be $0 or could be as high as $28K
-Rent house (also paid for) $8400
-Her house (if we rent it) estimate $4000 yr excess after mortgage is paid. If we sold, we would invest the $20K estimated surplus.
-My online business $15-20K year conservative
-Other side hustles for both of us (house cleaning, buying/selling/flipping) $10K

The fiancé works full time now, good job with great benefits $42K a year. Within the next couple years after I get out of the military and we see that our plan will work, she would like to quit to spend more time with her daughter and focus more on self employment/side hustles.

What am I missing here? I have ran the numbers in FireCalc and on paper and everything seems a go whether I get extra disability pay or whether she works or not. We would like to travel more after I retire but would use space-A military travel as much as possible. Would like a new camper $35K or so but I can buy/sell/trade up for that eventually.

Any thoughts on the plan or flaws that you can see or things that I haven't thought of?

 

[Mook1e]

Welcome!

I'm going to be brutally honest. You're in better shape than I was when I retired from active duty! (Which might not be saying much)
As long as you have a good handle on your expenses and keep your income estimates conservative, you are on the right track.
Make sure you start the VA disability process, called Benefits Delivery at Discharge (BDD), at 180 days before your retirement date.
If you receive a disability rating of 10% or above, look into VRE for education opportunities.
https://www.va.gov/careers-employment/vocational-rehabilitation/eligibility/

Also, you may want to keep at least "a day" of your GI BILL for yourself and you will be eligible for other programs like VET TECH which you may want to take advantage of once you're "retired."
https://www.va.gov/education/about-gi-bill-benefits/how-to-use-benefits/vettec-high-tech-program/
Search this site for Nords, he provides a wealth of information for military retirees.

Good luck and welcome again!

 

[wrigley]

I was off to boot camp less than 2 months after graduating from HS. 20 years later at the ripe old age of 38 I retired. NO WAY I wasn't going to work. We purchased our home 5 years before I retired, my wife had a very good job, and I still had 2 school age children. I've been working for the same company for the past 23 years that I started with when I initially retired from the military. My wife retired from the reserves and will start drawing her pension in Feb of 2022. She will also have 30 years with the Federal Gov in Feb of 2022 as well. We are 61 and 59 currently and still don't have any concrete plans to fully retire. We are financially quite stable as our home and cars are paid for, our children are grown and gone, and we have built a nice nest egg financially for ourselves. We both work from home so I wouldn't even call it work. I personally still enjoy working and know that one day it will end. If your situation works for you, go for it! Good luck



Mike

 

[Nords]

So the day has finally come, I applied for military retirement after 20 years. Final date of Active Duty is 1 July 2022. With the amount of leave I have saved and the Skillbridge program, I am basically done/transitioning to normal life on 1 Jan 2022.
Net worth is little over 1M with around 900K of that investable assets.

Our expenses together are $42K-45K a year. This is including all bills, insurance, healthcare, childcare, food, $1K month fun money, etc.

Our income without pulling anything from my investments will be:
-My military retirement (cola adjusted) $32K
-Disability this is a wildcard and tax free income. I would estimate $10K year but could be $0 or could be as high as $28K
-Rent house (also paid for) $8400
-Her house (if we rent it) estimate $4000 yr excess after mortgage is paid. If we sold, we would invest the $20K estimated surplus.
-My online business $15-20K year conservative
-Other side hustles for both of us (house cleaning, buying/selling/flipping) $10K

What am I missing here?

Any thoughts on the plan or flaws that you can see or things that I haven't thought of?

Looks good-- you have your expenses covered, you have an inflation-fighting pension, and you have cheap healthcare!

More importantly: you're retiring toward your new life, not running away from your old one. Everything should turn out fine. Give yourself time to decompress.

Search this site for Nords, he provides a wealth of information for military retirees.

We've already traded thoughts:
https://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f28/military-retirees-100875-2.html#post2630833

 

[friar1610]

So the day has finally come, I applied for military retirement after 20 years. Final date of Active Duty is 1 July 2022. With the amount of leave I have saved and the Skillbridge program, I am basically done/transitioning to normal life on 1 Jan 2022.

I was shooting for another year but the Air Force had different plans and wanted to move me out of state. I said no since I just bought my house in 2019 where I will be staying and chose to retire instead.

Even though I have planned and saved for this for years, I will tell you that I am excited and nervous at the same time. I came in right out of High School and it's all I've ever known. Looking for some encouragement from others that took the leap with a long career at a young age doesn't have to be military.

I say semi-retiring, I'm still pretty young at 38. Here is what I have planned after the military.

Will be 39 years old next year. The fiancé is 37. She has a 7 year old daughter.

When we get married the end of this year, they'll move in with me in my current house and probably end up renting her home out or possibly selling.
My house will be paid for in Jan 22, all vehicles are reliable and paid for and we would have no other debt together besides her house which, we could rent and cover the mortgage with a surplus or sell. LCOL area in AR. Neither of us are big on extravagant things. I have a nice barndominium on 8 acres and I typically do all my own work on most everything but we do like to travel and be outdoors. I have a boat, side by side, play truck and all the toys. I know some of you frown on that but I've saved and paid for all in cash and we sure do enjoy them.

Net worth is little over 1M with around 900K of that investable assets.

Our expenses together are $42K-45K a year. This is including all bills, insurance, healthcare, childcare, food, $1K month fun money, etc.

The little's college should she decide to go would be covered by the GI Bill.

Our income without pulling anything from my investments will be:
-My military retirement (cola adjusted) $32K
-Disability this is a wildcard and tax free income. I would estimate $10K year but could be $0 or could be as high as $28K
-Rent house (also paid for) $8400
-Her house (if we rent it) estimate $4000 yr excess after mortgage is paid. If we sold, we would invest the $20K estimated surplus.
-My online business $15-20K year conservative
-Other side hustles for both of us (house cleaning, buying/selling/flipping) $10K

The fiancé works full time now, good job with great benefits $42K a year. Within the next couple years after I get out of the military and we see that our plan will work, she would like to quit to spend more time with her daughter and focus more on self employment/side hustles.

What am I missing here? I have ran the numbers in FireCalc and on paper and everything seems a go whether I get extra disability pay or whether she works or not. We would like to travel more after I retire but would use space-A military travel as much as possible. Would like a new camper $35K or so but I can buy/sell/trade up for that eventually.

Any thoughts on the plan or flaws that you can see or things that I haven't thought of?

The only thing I can offer is that you may want to start thinking about the Survivor Benefit Plan (SBP) and whether you are going to enroll in it once you are married. In my opinion it’s a decision not to be made lightly or hastily. I don’t know if Nords addresses this subject on his web site or not but, if he does, I’d be sure to read anything/everything he wrote. I enrolled when I retired but took it at a lower than max level. If I could walk that dog back I would take it at the full level. Your situation may dictate otherwise so my advice is not necessarily to enroll but just to understand it thoroughly before deciding.

Best wishes for a happy retirement!

 

[citrine]

Congratulations! Everything looks good, your home and your toys are basically paid for! You are capable and handy enough to keep things up to date and you have some rental income as well! You will be fine and if you are not, you can always come up with some side hustles! Good for you!!! Take some time to decompress and thank you for your service

 

[Nords]

The only thing I can offer is that you may want to start thinking about the Survivor Benefit Plan (SBP) and whether you are going to enroll in it once you are married. In my opinion it’s a decision not to be made lightly or hastily. I don’t know if Nords addresses this subject on his web site or not but, if he does, I’d be sure to read anything/everything he wrote.

We have a summary accompanied by a couple of guest posts from CFP (and military retiree) Forrest Baumhover:
https://the-military-guide.com/survivor-benefit-plan/
https://the-military-guide.com/5-factors-consider-evaluating-survivor-benefit-plan-2/
https://www.amazon.com/Military-Transitions-Guide-Survivor-Benefit-ebook/dp/B01EPB5H1Q/
https://the-military-guide.com/why-...t-participating-in-the-survivor-benefit-plan/