Originally posted by LePaul
Eagl, guys like you in the military are some lucky to be there. Medical costs after retiring are going to be outstanding for us non-military types.
The whole getting shot at thing is a bit of a deterrent, as is the fact that if you quit even one day before the 20 year point, you get NOTHING... Not even a way to buy into any coverage.
But yea, if you stick out the full 20 years, it's a good retirement. But it's not anywhere near the best retirement I've seen. The California Highway Patrol has the hands-down best retirement plan I've ever seen. They have a really robust pension fund (fully funded and the state can't touch it) so the retirees will never get cut off, and full medical. It's a great plan. Of course, they also have the whole getting shot at thing to deal with, but a lot more CHP officers die from suicide or other personal events than get shot, so I figure the odds aren't really all that bad for them to make it to retirement if they choose to stick it out.
As you say, planning ahead is the trick no matter what job you have. My Mom is sticking it out in her current job to ensure she has no gaps in medical insurance. She needs to work until 63.5, then she gets 18 months of some sort of unemployment coverage, then medicare or whatever kicks in at 65. And her retirement is pretty much a cash and investment deal through her company, so she is sitting on a decent pot of money for retirement. Add in a social security check that might barely cover her property taxes (Calif), and she's pretty much set for life unless runaway inflation or a massive recession chops away her retirement investments buying power. But that's what investment diversification is for, so I don't think she'll end up out on the street. But getting where she is financially has taken some 45 years of financial discipline and planning, and most Americans are too short sighted and undisciplined to do anything for that long.
