What's the interest rate on your mortgage?
Also, do you all have 401Ks? How much do you contribute annually (Not including employer match)?
And is there a rule or some other restriction that BAH must be spent on housing?
BAH is meant for housing, but no you can theoretically spend it on anything you want, it is simply income not filed as taxable income. It's why military retirements are so small compared to what you make because your BAH and BAS(food pay) were not "income" they were tax free stipends.
I'm interested in how OP and his spouse are pulling the same BAH because mil to mil married are allowed 1 BAS (368a month for enlisted, 253 for officers) and 1 BAH dependant rate and 1 BAH single rate.
I think Hawaii counts as overseas like Alaska so they would technically get COLA over BAH, but functionally the same thing. Either way BAH is not tracked on where you spend it.
Rate is 3.25% on mortgage. And my mistake, I looked into the BAH rating and you were right, my numbers were mixed up. For Hawaii, its like $2,600 something for with dependent rate and $1950 for without dependent. So under 5k estimate, though my numbers could be more accurate. This is just a quick question/response thread. And we both get COLA, that's to offset the living expenses. COLA isn't taken over BAH, its both given.
I have a TSP which I invest $200 a month into, and then $500 for my VTSAX every month. Quite honestly, when I do the math a majority of my paycheck ultimately goes to roth ira in VTSAX, the TSP and then the house. Everything else is frugal living expenses.
@zephyr911, no the priority is not selling the house. When it came to renting vs. buying in Hawaii, it made more sense to buy an actual place. I don't like paying someone else's mortgage, as we say here. The minimum time in living for the house on a VA loan is 1 year. Our current plan when the wife comes back from training is a minimum 4.5 year commitment. IF we stay longer, more power to us. Otherwise, we will rent it out to a military couple and have them pay off the long term part of the mortgage. Selling the property is only ideal when the conditions are ideal, in that the real estate value pitches enough to the point that we either 1) make money off it to pay down our next house or 2) equity in home is worth it.
@bender, I agree with your idea, and I'm waiting till after this month to really crunch numbers to see where energy, food bill, gas, etc. get me for this area. I'll have a better picture then, but your idea is very safe to me and I was thinking along those lines anyway.
@ Mother Fussbudget, dude, calm down. Yes, the topic I'm sure has been asked a thousand times even, and yes, they are everyone else's topics. Reason this isn't a case study is because I'm not there yet, and yes I've looked and peered over forums before for these topics and got various ideas and responses, some not all that great but still insightful. Reason I asked is because more senior people like you, being the greenhorn I am, look up to you for advice and opinions, not a lynching session. So "do yourself a favor" too and let the forum be a forum.