Retirement Savings -- Countup

[LivingAlmostLarge]

^ 3 years to 55.5.

I noted you had in October 15-2024 you had $38k in our pre-retirement savings. You now have $76k. That's more than 2x in less than 1 year. Your shovel has got to be very large? That's not just returns. How did you do it? That's an average of $4750 savings/returns per month. $38k change in 8 months.

[james.hendrickson]

All - basically still working on my immediate goal of 100k

Here are the current balances:

TSP: $4,780.26
SEP IRA: $27,335.97
ROTH IRA: $25,307.53
Taxable Brokerage: $5,662.71
Total: $ 63,086.47

About 13k better than the last time I posted. The one thing I'll say is consistent effort works if you're building your retirement funds.

[Randomsaver]

^ 3 years to 55.5.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

Randomsaver how close are you to 55?

[Randomsaver]

Enjoying the current stability.

Savings to Retire at 55 to be used for Age 56-60
Balance: $ 76K
End-Goal by 55: $100K (that means a living budget of $20K/year for age 56, 57, 58, 59 and 60)
Retirement Condo $400K: Fully Paid (No Renting expense!)

At 61, saved rent income will cover it; at age 62, it is SS onwards
401K Retirement Savings: $ 320K
IRA Retirement Savings: $ 68K
Total Retirement Savings: $ 388K (It's a long way back to the top but I wanna Rock N Roll)


My Forecasted Monthly Retirement Check Amounts, if to retire starting 2026 (actual withdrawal can only start in Jul of 2031):
401 : $ 1.37K
IRA : $ 0.27K
SS : $ 1.61K
Tot : $ 3.25K
Goal: $4.00K
The mood is sell some of overpurchase to DCA as market goes up.

[Randomsaver]

Enjoying the current stability.

Savings to Retire at 55 to be used for Age 56-60
Balance: $ 72K
End-Goal by 55: $100K (that means a living budget of $20K/year for age 56, 57, 58, 59 and 60)
Retirement Condo $400K: Fully Paid (No Renting expense!)

At 61, saved rent income will cover it; at age 62, it is SS onwards
401K Retirement Savings: $ 318K
IRA Retirement Savings: $ 67K
Total Retirement Savings: $ 385K (It's a long way back to this top but I wanna Rock N Roll)


My Forecasted Monthly Retirement Check Amounts, if to retire starting 2026 (actual withdrawal can only start in Jul of 2031):
401 : $ 1.64K
IRA : $ 0.32K
SS : $ 1.54K
Tot : $ 3.50K
Goal: $4.00K
The mood is sell some of overpurchase to DCA as market goes up.

[Randomsaver]

I looked at all my propertyy values and assumed they were all stocks, I would have been down today by $160K. Instead, I am down by 30K. Viva los edificios!

[Randomsaver]

Not at the level of making up for the value lost. I'm not updating the figures above until it moves up because this is a CountUP thread, not a CountDOWN. I figure it will be a stable economy for the next 3 years at these levels. I am hoping I get to repost the above 26 more times (26 months) before it changes values up.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

Enjoying the current stability.

Savings to Retire at 55 to be used for Age 56-60
Balance: $ 60K
End-Goal by 55: $100K (that means a living budget of $20K/year for age 56, 57, 58, 59 and 60)
Retirement Condo $400K: Fully Paid (No Renting expense!)

At 61, saved rent income will cover it; at age 62, it is SS onwards
401K Retirement Savings: $ 318K
IRA Retirement Savings: $ 67K
Total Retirement Savings: $ 385K (It's a long way back to this top but I wanna Rock N Roll)


My Forecasted Monthly Retirement Check Amounts, if to retire starting 2026 (actual withdrawal can only start in Jul of 2031):
401 : $ 1.64K
IRA : $ 0.32K
SS : $ 1.54K
Tot : $ 3.50K
Goal: $4.00K
The mood is go crazy on purchase!

have you been saving to make up for the downturn

[Randomsaver]

Enjoying the current stability.

Savings to Retire at 55 to be used for Age 56-60
Balance: $ 60K
End-Goal by 55: $100K (that means a living budget of $20K/year for age 56, 57, 58, 59 and 60)
Retirement Condo $400K: Fully Paid (No Renting expense!)

At 61, saved rent income will cover it; at age 62, it is SS onwards
401K Retirement Savings: $ 318K
IRA Retirement Savings: $ 67K
Total Retirement Savings: $ 385K (It's a long way back to this top but I wanna Rock N Roll)


My Forecasted Monthly Retirement Check Amounts, if to retire starting 2026 (actual withdrawal can only start in Jul of 2031):
401 : $ 1.64K
IRA : $ 0.32K
SS : $ 1.54K
Tot : $ 3.50K
Goal: $4.00K
The mood is go crazy on purchase!

[Randomsaver]

Savings to Retire at 55 to be used for Age 56-60
Balance: $ 60K
End-Goal by 55: $100K (that means a living budget of $20K/year for age 56, 57, 58, 59 and 60)
Retirement Condo $400K: Fully Paid (No Renting expense!)

At 61, saved rent income will cover it; at age 62, it is SS onwards
401K Retirement Savings: $ 318K
IRA Retirement Savings: $ 67K
Total Retirement Savings: $ 385K (It's a long way back to this top but I wanna Rock N Roll)


My Forecasted Monthly Retirement Check Amounts, if to retire starting 2026 (actual withdrawal can only start in Jul of 2031):
401 : $ 1.64K
IRA : $ 0.32K
SS : $ 1.54K
Tot : $ 3.50K
Goal: $4.00K
The mood is go crazy on purchase!

[Randomsaver]

This downtrend is actually good for me as I still have 4 years of work planned. The hope is within that timeframe, we hit new highs on year 4.

Let the market do what it wants to do -- instead of anger or fear on the fifty or sixty thousand that was lost across all my equities, I will greet the market with joy on the discounts. Do your worst market and if you want slow recovery, so be it!

[kork13]

Your living expenses reimbursed is only 8% higher? That seems low.

It depends on the mix of taxable vs non-taxable income. Base pay & special duty pay are taxable ... Housing, COLA, & food allowances are non-taxable. Higher ranking folks have higher base pay & (if applicable) special duty pay, so the non-taxable component is less impactful. Also, if you're living on base, you don't get the housing stipend, which is the biggest chunk of non-taxed income.

For example:
An officer pilot with 15yrs & living on base might earn $9k/mo base pay + $1k/mo flight pay (taxed) + $300 food (non-taxed). The non-taxable component is only 3% of gross income.

An enlisted admin troop with 6yrs in living off base might earn $3.5k/mo base and $1600/mo housing + $500 food. The non-taxable component is over 35% of gross income, with a significant influence.

Right now, my situation is closer to the first example, and only 5% of my income is currently non-taxable. The biggest chunk of our non-taxable income is actually from my wife's disability retirement pension (just over $2k/mo), which is 99% tax-free

[LivingAlmostLarge]

That's a very valid point, and a harsh surprise for alot of folks when they leave the military. They're making $80k/yr in the military, then get a job making $100k in the civilian world & are shocked by their reduced QoL/spending power.

Just because I'm a finance nerd, I do have a line on our budget/spend plan spreadsheet with "tax-effective income" ... But I don't log it semiannually like I do our gross income (which the numbers I said earlier are).. Looking back into my archive, my tax-effective income has averaged around 5-12% higher (~$10k-$20k) ... Call it 8% (~$15k) on average. For enlisted folks with lower base pay, that difference can easily be 25-30% or higher.

That figure also doesn't take into account an approximated "total compensation" accounting for mostly-free healthcare, lower grocery costs (on average, using the base commissary), certain tax-free or discounted shopping benefits, etc. The military mails us an estimate of this dollar figure every year, but nobody pays much attention to it.

Your living expenses reimbursed is only 8% higher? That seems low.

[Randomsaver]

Happy for you kork! Thanks for the inputs as well.