Active Duty Retiring - Should I Full-Time?
I plan to retire in 2-3 years from active duty (26 years). I'll be around 45 years old. Wife and I have dreamed of full-timing for a while and both kids will be finishing up college. We are conside...
Forum Discussion
It's hard to determine from your post, but it sounds like you're considering complete retirement.
I wouldn't feel any guilt about work, but my thoughts are to make sure you're good to go financially as the next few years have the potential to be your biggest income years. Some things to consider, and my experience so far having retired from the USAF 16 years ago having served 22 years.
First, the retirement pay doesn't keep up with inflation very well, and being based on base pay isn't really that big. It might not be worth as much as you're anticipating 20 to 30 years down the road.
RV's are rapidly decreasing in value assets. My own thoughts are to consider them consumed after approximately 10 years with the value down to very little by then. You'll want to ensure your financial planning includes replacing/upgrading a few times in your retirement giving you'll be starting out at 45.
The Tricare available to you as a retiree has costs associated with it so you'll need to budget more for medical than you're used to, and as you age you'll most likely find you utilize medical care more often.
You need 35 years of employment to max out Social Security benefits, so you'll want to look over your benefits in this area and calculate it into your overall planning. You can start your planning at the Social Security website.
Life can and does throw curveballs every now and then so planning in a reasonable manner for this.
In my own life, after a couple bad choices immediately following my AF retirement I rolled into a job that offered generous vacation time, and long days but short work weeks so I could take a lot of 3 and 4 day weekends and several longer vacations every year. We get to travel often, averaging 7,000 plus miles a year in the trailer over the last 8 years since I started logging our trips. We have also snuck in 4 Alaska cruises (Big RV), as well as motel/airline trips to the East coast, Hawaii, Mexico etc. We've also taken several cruises to warmer climates in the winter. We also manage to sneak in 1 or 2 multi-day ATV jamborees in during most years. My current plan is to retire completely at age 58 with a sustainable income now over 4 times higher than what it would have been had I retired completely when I got our of the military. In addition I now have a paid for home and large assortment of toys owned free and clear. By making sure we take time out to enjoy life, it doesn't feel we've given up much to continue working for the additional 17 years. We'll still be retired relatively young, and now we pretty much have the ability to do and experience just about anything we want to.
In the end, only you guys know what your dreams are. Just make sure you don't underestimate the costs associated with living the dream and find the balance that gives you guys the most benefit.
I wouldn't feel any guilt about work, but my thoughts are to make sure you're good to go financially as the next few years have the potential to be your biggest income years. Some things to consider, and my experience so far having retired from the USAF 16 years ago having served 22 years.
First, the retirement pay doesn't keep up with inflation very well, and being based on base pay isn't really that big. It might not be worth as much as you're anticipating 20 to 30 years down the road.
RV's are rapidly decreasing in value assets. My own thoughts are to consider them consumed after approximately 10 years with the value down to very little by then. You'll want to ensure your financial planning includes replacing/upgrading a few times in your retirement giving you'll be starting out at 45.
The Tricare available to you as a retiree has costs associated with it so you'll need to budget more for medical than you're used to, and as you age you'll most likely find you utilize medical care more often.
You need 35 years of employment to max out Social Security benefits, so you'll want to look over your benefits in this area and calculate it into your overall planning. You can start your planning at the Social Security website.
Life can and does throw curveballs every now and then so planning in a reasonable manner for this.
In my own life, after a couple bad choices immediately following my AF retirement I rolled into a job that offered generous vacation time, and long days but short work weeks so I could take a lot of 3 and 4 day weekends and several longer vacations every year. We get to travel often, averaging 7,000 plus miles a year in the trailer over the last 8 years since I started logging our trips. We have also snuck in 4 Alaska cruises (Big RV), as well as motel/airline trips to the East coast, Hawaii, Mexico etc. We've also taken several cruises to warmer climates in the winter. We also manage to sneak in 1 or 2 multi-day ATV jamborees in during most years. My current plan is to retire completely at age 58 with a sustainable income now over 4 times higher than what it would have been had I retired completely when I got our of the military. In addition I now have a paid for home and large assortment of toys owned free and clear. By making sure we take time out to enjoy life, it doesn't feel we've given up much to continue working for the additional 17 years. We'll still be retired relatively young, and now we pretty much have the ability to do and experience just about anything we want to.
In the end, only you guys know what your dreams are. Just make sure you don't underestimate the costs associated with living the dream and find the balance that gives you guys the most benefit.
