Hello all! Greetings from Germany.
I retired from 26 years in the military in 2018 and am now working as a Government Civilian. I have some unique skills which could allow us to move just about anywhere for me to continue to work.
My wife has been a homemaker the last five years in order to concentrate on setting our kids up for success leaving the home, but she previously worked for the DoS and Military as a civilian traveling the world with my PCS cycle. We have been in Germany for 5 years now with our four children. Our oldest three are now in the Army and our youngest is a senior in High School looking to attend the Air Force Academy next summer.
My wife and I own a home in the USA which we are renting to pay the mortgage. We still owe about $200k and the home is worth about $400k.
For the longest time, my wife and I intended on living simply on my retirement overseas (preferably Penang, Malaysia) for a few years of "retirement" once our youngest was for sure on his way.
The biggest concern I have is that we never "planned" by saving or investing besides about $100,000 worth of stocks I picked up on a hunch (AMD and NVIDIA dirt cheap in the early 2000s.)
We currently don't have much by way of assets outside of our rental home, the stocks, about $60K in TSP (which I am now adding to with maximum contributions), and the contents of the home we rent here in Germany.
I'm making good money here and I have my military pension and VA disability. Our annual budget basically fits within the pension and disability. We have a LOT left over which I'm trying to figure out what to do with for the next 3-4 years. I would like us to be able to take as much time as we want to do whatever we want, or live a financially independent lifestyle once I complete 5 years in Government service and qualify for another pension.
Lol, just to throw a turd in the punch bowl, I strongly desire (and have convinced my wife) taking a few years to live on a catamaran ($300K purchase)
Cliffs:
46yo married military retiree w/ mil pension ~$35K/yr and $40K/yr tax free from va disability, want to be FI at 50
Children are taken care of (making their own way like their old man) but we want to be able to help them whenever they need.
Live well below means (extra $5-8K a month to invest/save)
$200K remaining on rental home worth $400K
I've been lurking for the past few weeks, so I really appreciate the ability to read about everyone else's experiences and recommendations. I welcome any advice, sharp-shooting, murder boarding, what-have-you.
Cheers everyone, and be safe.
I retired from 26 years in the military in 2018 and am now working as a Government Civilian. I have some unique skills which could allow us to move just about anywhere for me to continue to work.
My wife has been a homemaker the last five years in order to concentrate on setting our kids up for success leaving the home, but she previously worked for the DoS and Military as a civilian traveling the world with my PCS cycle. We have been in Germany for 5 years now with our four children. Our oldest three are now in the Army and our youngest is a senior in High School looking to attend the Air Force Academy next summer.
My wife and I own a home in the USA which we are renting to pay the mortgage. We still owe about $200k and the home is worth about $400k.
For the longest time, my wife and I intended on living simply on my retirement overseas (preferably Penang, Malaysia) for a few years of "retirement" once our youngest was for sure on his way.
The biggest concern I have is that we never "planned" by saving or investing besides about $100,000 worth of stocks I picked up on a hunch (AMD and NVIDIA dirt cheap in the early 2000s.)
We currently don't have much by way of assets outside of our rental home, the stocks, about $60K in TSP (which I am now adding to with maximum contributions), and the contents of the home we rent here in Germany.
I'm making good money here and I have my military pension and VA disability. Our annual budget basically fits within the pension and disability. We have a LOT left over which I'm trying to figure out what to do with for the next 3-4 years. I would like us to be able to take as much time as we want to do whatever we want, or live a financially independent lifestyle once I complete 5 years in Government service and qualify for another pension.
Lol, just to throw a turd in the punch bowl, I strongly desire (and have convinced my wife) taking a few years to live on a catamaran ($300K purchase)
Cliffs:
46yo married military retiree w/ mil pension ~$35K/yr and $40K/yr tax free from va disability, want to be FI at 50
Children are taken care of (making their own way like their old man) but we want to be able to help them whenever they need.
Live well below means (extra $5-8K a month to invest/save)
$200K remaining on rental home worth $400K
I've been lurking for the past few weeks, so I really appreciate the ability to read about everyone else's experiences and recommendations. I welcome any advice, sharp-shooting, murder boarding, what-have-you.
Cheers everyone, and be safe.