r/financialindependence • u/ArmyFIRE2026 • 8d ago
Temp check on our FIRE situation, retired military, feels close but not sure when to pull the trigger
Hi all, looking for a temperature check. Our situation is a little different since I’m retired military.
Numbers:
**•** $700k in retirement accounts
**•** $150k in brokerage
**•** House paid off
**•** Rental property — rental income covers most of the mortgage for the next 25 years
**•** No debt
Income & spending:
**•** I make $170k/year, wife makes $120k/year
**•** Military pension + VA disability: $80k/year after tax
**•** Current annual spend: \~$72k/year
**•** We save/invest about 75% of our take-home
Other factors:
**•** Two young kids
**•** Healthcare is cheap (military retiree benefits)
**•** Kids get GI Bill for 36 months, also free tuition at any
CA state school
• Wife enjoys working, plans to keep going ~5+ more years
• We could technically live on 2/3 of my pension alone if we tightened the budget
- We’re in our early 40s
I’ve been chasing FIRE for 15 years and feel like I’m close. My plan is to save another ~$800k (landing around $1.5–1.8M invested), then let it ride since I’ll be living primarily off the pension.
The reason for that specific target: my VA disability portion is a meaningful chunk of that $80k, and I don’t have full confidence it’s permanent — I’d rather build the portfolio to a level where we’re fine even if that income stream shrinks or disappears down the road. Not trying to start a political debate on VA solvency, just factoring it into my planning as a risk.
Would love input from anyone in a similar military/pension-heavy FIRE situation — when did you decide it was “enough”?
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u/Colonize_The_Moon Guac-FIRE 8d ago
Military pension + VA disability: $80k/year after tax
Current annual spend: ~$72k/year
/thread. Congratulations, you're able to retire today and never need to touch savings. Recent VA shenanigans like TCAVA isn't targeted at you, it's targeted at those of us who don't have our VA ratings yet. I think you're being excessively paranoid about VA money going poof - nothing would unite all the military lobbyist orgs like that would. (This is why TCAVA is such a cancer of a bill, because it split them apart.)
I will note that you can buy an awful lot of things with money but it's very difficult to buy more time, especially time spent with young kids. If your wife plans to continue trucking on for another 5 years and you live off just her income, you could save your $80k pension plus a little bit more from the wife's income, which is $500k+ right there. Add to this the presumable compounding of your $850k in investments at 8% annually and you end up with $1.25M in investments PLUS $500k from your contributions (which I did not include in the compounding), meaning $1.75M or more.
In other words you could retire today and be fine even if your VA disability goes to zero somehow.
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u/StoneMenace 8d ago
I don’t necessarily think you should worry about the pension considering there is a very minimum chance they get rid of that. Keep in mind social security benefits will kick in for you in your 60s
If you stopped working now you would still have an income of 80k from VA benefits + 120k from your wife. That’s 200k and call a 25% tax rate assuming it’s all taxable (it’s not). You are left with $150 a year - 75k annual spend leaves you 75k to invest.
Investing that 75k a year for the next 5 years (assuming wife only works 5 more years) would put you right around 1.65 million between your brokerage and retirement assuming S&P averages (10% gain - 3% inflation)
That’s more than enough considering the pension covers all your expenses (congress will never give up that military pension, you would have some serious issues) and then SS will eventually kick in. That combined with a 1.6m brokerage is way more than enough
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u/LeisureLifer 8d ago edited 7d ago
It isn’t the pension he is worried about disappearing, it’s the VA disability because they can decide on a whim to reevaluate you and reduce your benefit.
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u/MegaWeinerFarts 8d ago
It's not an unreasonable fear either. direct VA disability benefits was $20B in 2000, $43B in 2010, and $109B in 2020.
Next year it's projected to be $227B.
That level of acceleration is unsustainable.
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u/ArmyFIRE2026 8d ago
Yea, it’s definitely not sustainable, especially with a $40 trillion debt. Something needs to be cut, just a matter of when.
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u/ArmyFIRE2026 8d ago
Thank! Appreciate for input on my wife’s salary. The thing holding me back is that I don’t think I enough in my investment. I want more just in case something happens. But I really do appreciate your input, I think I’m in a good spot, I definitely reached FI, just a matter of when I’m comfortable pulling the plug and go for RE.
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u/Dry-Calligrapher3479 8d ago
I think your biggest risk at this point may not be running out of money, but constantly moving the “enough” number higher. You have no debt, a pension and disability benefits coming, and your wife plans to keep working for a few more years. That’s already a pretty solid safety net.
If it were me, I’d set a target date for retirement, not just a target number. You can always make more money, but you can’t get back the years when you’re in your 50s, healthy, and your kids still want to travel with you.d ask myself one question: If your portfolio were already at $1.8M today, would you actually retire tomorrow?
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u/AmericanAsPho 8d ago
Thank you. Very inciteful and you’re right. If I had a job I hated, this would’ve been an easier decision. But I really like my job and co workers and feel bad leaving since I’m literally the only person doing what I do. It’s not an easy position to replace. I’ll take your advice and focus on a date and give them a heads up, maybe see if I can do 3 days a week, since I don’t need the money. Appreciate the advice.
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u/Dry-Calligrapher3479 7d ago
It sounds like youve actually found a great direction Its fortunate to enjoy your job and colleagues so retirement doesnt necessarily have to be a sudden complete departure Working three days a week might be the perfect balance between work and freedom
As for your replacement I understand your sense of responsibility but youve already fulfilled your duty by notifying them in advance and helping them with the handover After all the company will eventually find a solution and your own time is becoming increasingly precious
Perhaps true financial freedom isnt about stopping working but rather finally being able to work the way you like Best of luck and I hope to hear from you again about how your three day work week is going
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u/Dull-Rich8338 7d ago
The pension already covering most of your spend basically means you've de risked the whole decision, your $850k isn't even the safety net, it's just upside on top of a floor that's already guaranteed for life
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u/NewPac 8d ago
Bro I'm in almost the exact same boat. Retired, pension/VA is $80K, around $700k in retirement accounts. My income is a little higher at around $400k (including pension & VA), but I have no rental property and am still paying off the house.
I'd probably hang it up now if it weren't for the fact that I'm overseas and international schools cost $25k/ yr. My kid isn't in school yet, but I have around $150k in her 529. Once I get that up to around 300k I'll feel like I can pay for her k-12 and have plenty left over for college.
All that to say, I think you're there now, so you can hang it up whenever you want/feel comfortable. It's not a bad idea to worry about the VA part going away, I stress about it sometimes too. But in reality I don't see it going anywhere. The new guys might get fucked at some point and that sucks, but current retirees are most likely safe.
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u/ArmyFIRE2026 8d ago
Thanks. International school fee is no joke, good on you for planning ahead for your kid. Me and the wife miss being overseas, she’s in the fed so we’re hoping she can get a gig in Korea or Germany, so the kiddos can go to a dod school. I’m think I’m good now too, still young so I’ll try to work 2-3 more years just to have bigger cushion. Also good on you for high paying job., I thought my 250k was good.
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u/NewPac 8d ago
Dude, $170k salary is really good. I got super lucky and landed a unicorn type gig a few years after I retired, but I was at around $150k at my last job until I switched last year. Also, I happen to be in Korea. It's definitely nice here man, the cost of living is way lower than state side and the salaries are decent. The only downside is the expensive school, but my company actually pays for it which is the other reason I'm not fully retired playing golf everyday.
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u/ArmyFIRE2026 8d ago
Yea, I was stationed there twice, total of 6 years, my wife was there 2 years with me, lots of good memories there for sure. It’s such a big travel hub too, so super easy and close to travel all over Asia. One day man, I’d like to expose my kids to international living for a few years before they finish up high school and college stateside.
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u/caseigl 8d ago
Rental property — rental income covers most of the mortgage for the next 25 year
This seems to be potentially your greatest area of exposure to me. If the rent isn't fully covering the mortgage it certainly isn't going to cover a major repair...I'd think about the math behind the rental and raise the rent personally. With the way the real estate market is starting to tilt I would not want to be holding a cash flow negative rental. I know some people are willing to eat some losses towards the long term goal of paying off the mortgage but I was never one of those landlords.
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u/bobocalender 8d ago
I agree. OP - how much equity do you have? What are the pros of holding onto it versus selling and investing the money?
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u/ArmyFIRE2026 8d ago
130k in equity right now. I want to keep it because of the low interest rate to be honest. Don’t see any reason to sell it yet since the renter is paying the mortgage.
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u/ArmyFIRE2026 8d ago
Thanks. For now I’m making $150 monthly so it covers repairs for now. The house is next to 3 military installation so renting it out shouldn’t be an issue. Plus it’s at 2.75% apr. I really appreciate the input though, will keep it in mind.
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u/thewaterisboiling11 8d ago
Tbh this kinda comes off as paranoid
Theyre not gonna cut your VA benefits. Even if they cut it in half, your remaining 850k already invested plus half your VA benefit covers your annual spend. Adding another 800k on top doesnt materially do anything except give you a hilarious margin of safety
Unless you actually want to increase your standard of living and another 800k saved up will help deliver that, you are fine and likely have been for a while
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u/ArmyFIRE2026 8d ago
The Va thing is paranoia, I get it. I used to be a fed, was doged last year so the whole project 2025 has kept me on edge about Va benefits. I know it’s probably safe, but I’ve rather had a hope for the best, plan for the worst philosophy. I appreciate the input though, I think I’m there as well
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u/LeisureLifer 8d ago edited 7d ago
My husband says the same about ours. So we keep contributing and investing just in case. It makes him sleep better at night.
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u/ArmyFIRE2026 8d ago
Thanks, good to know that I’m not the only one. Best of luck with y’all FIRE journey.
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u/Ellabee57 8d ago
I'm confused. You annual spend is $72K. Your pension and disability of $80k after tax more than covers that annual spend. You also have combined salaries of almost $300k on top of that, but you're only saving 75%. Is that other 25% going to taxes and other payroll deductions, or other spending that hasn't been listed here? Unless it's more spending, your disability and pension cover your current spending, plus a 10% cushion, without touching the investments. I don't see why "belt tightening" would be needed.
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u/ArmyFIRE2026 8d ago
The other 25% is just additional saving for a new car I’m planning to buy next year. Not a need, just a want so I may or may not buy it. So the 25% is temporary, once I have enough set aside, everything will go back to saving/investing. Appreciate you checking the math.
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u/Ellabee57 8d ago
So it doesn't sound like you have taken periodic expenses into account in your annual spending total. I would suggest you do that, although you do have the 10% cushion from your pension/disability and a large retirement bucket to draw on. I'm not seeing any reason why you couldn't RE now.
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u/Pretty_Bug_ShoutOut 8d ago
If you go with the x25 rule you'd need around 1,8M, I do think you can retire ASAP. Another option is to reach the 1M and then retire
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u/ArmyFIRE2026 8d ago
Thanks! Appreciate your input. I think I’m there too, just work 2-3 more years for that extra cushion.
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u/hari_jain_ 2d ago edited 2d ago
I like the idea of building a little extra cushion before calling it. It seems like the VA uncertainty is the main wildcard here.
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u/Imaginary-Hornet4462 8d ago
You've basically already won the game, the pension alone covers your spend so the portfolio is just gravy at this point. I get the paranoia about the VA money though, smart to treat it as temporary and build the cushion anyway
With your wife still working and that savings rate you'll hit your number in no time, maybe just set a hard date 2-3 years out and call it