Retirement?

Question

Working towards joining. I'm 21 and married. No kids.

Just curious, I've been hearing and heard stories from veterans that retirement pay isn't that great and these days don't hardly even cover normal living expenses. I'm sure rank and such would make it all vary but I'm mainly looking for someone who is already retired, weather you have been for a while or just recently. Is the retirement a descent living check or do you have to look forward to getting a civilian job after you retire from service to afford to live?

After basic 20 year service

Answer 1

I know very few people who don't work after retiring from the military. You need to remember that most folks are in their mid forties to early fifties when they get out. Not even old enough for social security.

Military retirement pay is not supposed to provide you with an income to cover all the costs of your civilian life. The military pay a lot of those cost while you are in! Basically, once you retire you will get 1/2 of the highest pay average from your last three years of service. Basically, half of whatever pay you are getting at the rank you were at when you retired. For most enlisted, that would be somewhere in the area of $1500-$2000 a month. You get to keep your medical benefits, although you will have to pay a premium for the whole family. This includes free perscription meds or, if you use a civilian pharmacist or the military mail order pharmacy, meds at greatly reduced costs. You will also keep all your BX and commisary privelages (this is a big one...groceries at the commisary are generally 20-30% less than what you would pay at your local grocery store). Your spouse will keep her benes as long as you are married and as a widow if you pass away first. Your kids are eligable for coverage until the age of 23 (unless they have special needs which than provides for waivers for life time coverage).

Most military see thier retirement pay as thier mortgage money...thier pay from the job they get in civilian life pays for the rest of things. Keep in mind however if you go to work for the military or federal government as a civlian, you will not collect your retirement pay until you retire from that job. The good news is, they include years of active duty in when figuring how long you have worked for the government.

Answer 2

Those who are telling you this are either veterans who are angry that they did not retire, a sad lot if they did or just not explaining properly.

People are living much longer and staying healthier in this day and age.... that is why the social security age keeps going up. So you do your 20 at minimum. Are you going to sit on your butt at 41 or so knowing that you could live until 70, 80, 90 or a hundred? No.

You retire at 20 but the money does not kick in until later. You are still a young man at that point and are now super marketable. Government or private sector making 5-10 times of what you made in the military. Before that at some point you have been able to save bigtime money in many ways.

At some time you may have had several different houses and have money to have a paid off one or a great down payment. Money is in the mil version of a 401k. Basically you are set.

So here is the thing. Later when most have the paid off house and such and are living off of their investments a retired person has a check coming in FOREVER. If you work for a private company you may lose your pension at some point.... not so w. the military.

But the big thing is medical coverage. Many older people lose everything because of this. Even before being older you could find yourself working for a company that covers you but to add the spouse is $350 a month. My wife works for a government contactor. Since she is a director mine and hers would be free. But at every other level it would cost $600 a month for a husband and spouse. Not to mention what it is if you have children.

If you died first your wife would retain your benefits. There are numerous things and much more to think about rather than "can I live off of retirement". Join now and then you will understand. You could always change your mind later.

Answer 3

Let me put it to you like this I Rte almost 8yrs ago as Po1/E6 at the time I was getting $1115 a month not a lot but more than covers my House payment I also now rec. COLA or cost of living every year so its up to $1350 a month so it more than helps and I get this for the rest of my life plus I can still work another job that has some other ret source. These Vets who are whining about not having enough to ret on are looking for something free, Should you be so lucky to stick it out and make 20yrs your retainer will be pretty hefty a E6 now ret at $1500 a month so look at this way that is $1500 less you have to worry about making and just ask around how many people are in the there late 30's-40's and are drawing a check NOT many. So my wise grasshopper it is all how you look at it.

Answer 4

The nice thing is you can retire after 20 years and start a second career which is what most people want to do. The longer you do stay in the better your retirement is. I know many people who are retired after 20 years and have retired from another job with ten years that are doing great. Now, my husband is a career Air Force man and will retire with very nice benefits. He is planning on going all the way to the top and has worked hard to get there.

Answer 5

You will not be able to live on your retirement check alone after retiring from the service. However, that is not the intent either. If you join now, you will be 41 when you retire. You still have 24 years before you reach the "official" retirement age of 65. Even longer now that social security is like 68.

On the other hand, it does give you a nice check that is not dependent on the job market. I know a lot of retired military that use their retirement check to directly pay their mortgage. Sure takes a load off...

Answer 6

Military Retired Pay is not supposed to be a 'comfortable living' by itself.

Basicly retired pay is 1/2 pay. I bit more for more than 20 years, but figure on 50% of your pay.

Now, if you can live with a 50% pay cut, go for it. And actually that might be fine if you were 70 and had a good IRA too.

But you will retire from the military at 41-50 years of age. You will not be ready to quit working anyway.

What the retired pay does is open a lot of job options to you -- you can do what you WANT to do not what you HAVE to do.

For example you could go into teaching -- not a huge money maker there. But put it with your retired pay and your doing pretty good... or you can start your own business... or whatever field you want to get in.

Finally -- dont join the military for the retired pay. Or the active pay for that matter. WE DONT GET PAID ENOUGH FOR THESE JOBS. When you look at the hours/conditions (10-14 hour days every day, holiday duty and work enviroments that have nuts trying to blow you up) and the wear and tear on your family (training exercises every month or so, 24 hour duty, moving every 2 years and long deployment separations) then you can only really look at a long-term military career as a labor of love. Love for this country, for the service and for a job that means more than just what you do for a paycheck.

Answer 7

My husband has been in the Marine Corps 15 years and is looking forward to retirement. It is going to be a nice break for him. He's in Cali right now doing desert training to go back to Iraq, say a prayer for him. He's a grunt and he loves what he does and I've been a strong supporter of what he has chose to do with his life, our life together. It puts food on our table, we have the best medical care that we need, my daughter sees a specialist in Chapel Hill, NC at one of the best facilities out there and I haven't paid a penny for any out of pocket expenses for anything, travel or otherwise. He's had to put his time in and hasn't regretted a day of it. I do mortgage currently and I see a lot of different income come across my desk. I live in Jacksonville, NC near Camp Lejeune so it is a VA Market here. I see retirement income range from $1,200 - $1,800 but it all depends on your rank and time in service/grade. You can also get disability income. I have a gentlemen I just did a loan for who now works on the base as a civilian contractor who makes $5000/mo + his retirement + ss/disability income, he's making about $9,000/month. Retirement income isn't an income you could live on if you want a huge, overpriced home and lots of lavish things, but it is a supplement to an income and could cover a mortgage payment if you had another job.

Answer 8

Brett Lee was a committed cricketer as YahWho said. He was injury prone but those injuries didn't stop him from making comebacks again and again. Last year, I thought his days were over but he made a strong comeback again. I asked a question about his calf injury couple of days ago and one of the users said that was not a career threatening injury but I always knew retirement was around the corner. At 35, he was not that agile as he used to be. The emergence of young fast bowlers only made his life difficult else he wouldn't have retired right now. May be after a couple of years.

Answer 9

US Military Retirement pay is just OK, it isn't an exorbitant amount but not bad. In a pinch, you can fall back on it and survive. If you enlist in a service with a current hefty bonus, you can put that money into an tax deferred fixed annuity and it will grow your money for you while you serve. When you retire, it will be there to give you a nice retirement, especially if you continue to add to it every year, especially if you annuitize it at age 60.

Answer 10

To get good retirement you need to do at least 30 years. And be careful, you may end up like me, ex army officer medically discharged due to injuriers in Iraq. It is kinda sad going from leader of 30 people to unemployment, then trying to pick up any job you can because the army dumps you off with nothing. Make sure you know what you want.