Author Topic: Retiriement in early installments and the army pension dilemma  (Read 348 times)

iohannleclerc

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Hi guys!

New member here, I'm immersing myself in the concept as I'm getting more and more uncomfortable as years go by and feeling that something with the ''normal'' path is not right.

My main dilemma is that I'm in the military (Canada), working towards a pretty good pension. Government puts 1 buck for every dollar I put in, so basically it's much better that the stock market. The caveat is that I still have 16 years of full time work before I get 50% of my last salary, indexed for life (I'd be retiring at 50). What I could do, is switch from active duty and go reserves where I could work part time when the kids (I have 3) are younger, then pickup full time work later. The effect would basically be delaying pension pay day of a couple years (so retirement somewhere between 55 and 60)

Is there anyone here who has reduced their spending comfortably below their earnings so that they can work part time without being stressed out? I'd like to start building the nest egg, but not to retire early (I love my job anyway) - rather to take my retirement in early installments and maybe pursue other interests and spend time with the kids.

We have give or take 40k of debt (1 x car, student loans), 120k mortgage, 115k in salary (about 60% of that is take home pay), 7k uncommitted money floating around but we don't have a lot of cash left after expenses. As an exemple, daycare costs us 24k per year. We're working on lowering the spending in other areas, and embracing the philosophy of simplicity, muscle over motor and DIY.

Another bummer is that we are very reliant on commuting, as I get to switch jobs and places every couple of years. If I switch to the reserves, my place of work will become stable but the houses around the workplace in the city where I want to live are 3x more expensive than what we have right now. I believe that the cost of buying a house somewhere close to work would not be cheaper than the cost of commute, especially with the reduced salary. Still, I ***** hate commuting and that would be another kind of burden, just not expressed in $ signs.

Any advice?

Thanks a million, from Quebec City Canada.