I'm guessing your in your 40's or early 50's... Pension will be in the neighborhood of $60k/yr adjusted for inflation. You're paying a higher tax rate now than you will be in retirement, so definitely put what you can in the TSP while you're at the higher rate.
If you're thinking about moving to a low cost of living area and perhaps buying property in two years you may want to consider buying sooner than later and renting it until you're ready to move. $20k will be a nice down payment in some parts of the country, but interest rates will likely be higher in 2 years. This will make your monthly payment higher than it would be if you just used the $20k to buy soon. Just an idea.
Thank you for your service!
Well....close! I'm 39, I'll be 41 at retirement...retirement is definitely not 60k a year from the US service unless you're a general. More like 44k in my case. But I'll have healthcare for myself and my family...
Our plan is to purchase a house between now and then and make that a long term rental. Something in the 100k range (you can get pretty cheap property and we have family around the Tampa area so we are considering there for the rental). We will only buy our "live in" house when we can afford one comfortably...until then we rent (unless its much cheaper to buy in that area) but right now I can't move away from the local area because of work, we dont want to live here after retirement.
So basic plan is to buy one property to rent out (VA loan so PMI isnt an issue), collect any residual income from that. Go to college after retirement and collect the 1500-2000 approx (depending on area) a month from the GI BILL, use pension as well as income from a small English Bulldog breeding hobby my wife has...(usually about one litter per year resulting in an average of 15k net per litter. Should get me around 60k without the rental income.
So the point of my post is I've now reduced all my expenses to as low as I will accept...I have a monthly savings rate of just over 25% (thanks to a child support payment for the children that I have full custody of, thanks California!), I want to save all I can from here out and I'd like to place that money somewhere that it can work for me.
And there is no need to thank me! I've enjoyed every year! Thanks though, I appreciate it.