Life: Post military retirement

[Gunnys TJ]

Tomorrow is my 33rd birthday. Lately it has been hitting me that the military portion of my life is coming to an end. I joined the Marines when I was 17 and have already reenlisted out to my 20 year mark just a bit over 4 years from now. This boards members, for the most part, are a bit senior to myself, so I thought I would ask some opinions from you all.

I'm a family guy with a wife and two kids. My retirement will bring in about $3,000 a month after taxes +3% each year for inflation starting the first day after the month I retire plus ful medical benefits for the family. Basically my house will be paid for and we will have great medical insurance. I plan to work for 30 years after military retirement to pay the house off, then use the retirement to actually retire on.

Here's my dilemma. As much as I have enjoyed the military, it's not something that I care to continue dealing with on the civillian side. I wil have done my time in my opinion. There are MANY contractor and government jobs I could take and make a healthy 6 figures on top of my retirement with the education and experience I have collected over the years. BUT..and it's a big but..my real passions in life is spinning wrenches. I just love to get dirty working on cars.

Having spent my entire adult life in service, I think maybe it's time to do something I love for the next part of my life. I'm getting ready to step into some uncharted waters soon. My family is on my side 100% either way.

My basic question is: If you didn't have to worry about a house payment or retirement and were just working to put food on the table, would you turn down the bigger check for doing something you actually enjoy?

[speaceman]

You take the bigger check, do it for awhile, build up a nice nest egg, then go do what you want to do for the rest of your time until you retire.

That way you have a nice cushion to work with in case things go to crap somewhere in the middle there.

(I am not nor have I ever been in the military, so maybe my opinion won't count, but that's the way I'd do things, if I were looking at your situation.)

[Gunnys TJ]

Originally Posted by speaceman

You take the bigger check, do it for awhile, build up a nice nest egg, then go do what you want to do for the rest of your time until you retire.

That way you have a nice cushion to work with in case things go to crap somewhere in the middle there.

(I am not nor have I ever been in the military, so maybe my opinion won't count, but that's the way I'd do things, if I were looking at your situation.)

No, that's exactly what I'm looking for. I have been paid 2x a month like clockwork for the last 16 years. I see what you're saying, but, financially, I have very few worrries after retirement.

Congrats on the new addition by the way!

[speaceman]

Thank you. Good luck with your decision.

[Dome]

I'm about to retire in 5 weeks. I'll be 62, if it were me I would look for something to do that I enjoyed. 30 more years is a long time to work in a job you don't enjoy. Find a good paying job with retirement bennies. Good luck in what ever you do and thanks for your service to your country.

[DanB98TJ]

Take the retirement, find a career that you will enjoy, not just another job that you will hate going to every day. There are more important things than money - family and sanity especially.

I retired in September after 20 years with local/county government. I had planned on staying until at least 25, but wasn't happy with how things were going, and couldn't see doing another five weeks, much less five years.

I started a new career in October, doing something completely different and that I enjoy - something I more or less stumbled into, but it has been great! It doesn't pay as much, but combined with my retirement income it's a lot more than I was bringing home before, and the stress level is much, much lower.

[Gunnys TJ]

Originally Posted by DanB98TJ

I retired in September after 20 years with local/county government. I had planned on staying until at least 25,

Yeah, I wouldn't do over 20. After that I would be working for half pay, considering I would be getting the other half if I wasn't there

[igofshn]

I retired from the Navy 11 years ago, I now work for the DOD doing what I did in the Navy. I actually enjoy what I do. 31 years of the same job and I will retire from it in 9 years so that will give me 40 years. I am an Air Traffic Controller. With my retirement I will make over 100K this year. some people say money isn't everything, but I say it is probably the most important thing in life other than family. A 20 year military retirement is not enough to live on. When I retired I wanted to have at least the same life style as I did in the military. Mine is better. When i retire from this, I want my life style to remain the same. It will probably be better. At this point in time, you don't need a job. you need another career with benefits os some kind. Not so much as medicla but a retirement. You don't want to retire again and worry about what you will do for your well being.