I know there are many military folks here, so I'm looking to get as smart as possible on tax planning. The pension (x2) and healthcare benefits make us a bit unique compared to other FIRE folks. I just switched both our TSPs to Roth, as I realized we might be staring down some huge RMDs in the future.
Welcome back,
@regulationstache, and congratulations on your path to dual-mil retirement!
There are very few of us, and definitely not enough for a statistically-valid study, but every one of the dozen or so dual-mil retirees I've heard from... has more than enough income for the rest of their lives.
I realize that the two of you will be attending your transition seminars and looking at all of the retirement checklists. If the two of you could attend TAP/GPS together then it's even more helpful with those long thoughtful life-planning discussions.
You're right about the Roth TSP contributions (and Roth IRAs if you haven't already made that choice too). If either of you starts a bridge career after retirement (it's easier than it looks) then you'll be in a much higher income-tax bracket due to the civilian compensation on top of your pensions. During your 30s-60s you want to get as much of your Roth IRA conversions done whenever it makes sense (a little every year) so that you're not hammered with RMDs in your 70s (and IRMAA on your Medicare premiums). We can discuss those variables and timing when you start another thread.
Two things to focus on right now are documenting all of your potential service-related medical or physical issues in your medical & dental records (for symptoms), as well as your service records (for dates & locations). Vocabulary matters: chronic allergies or rhinitis & ear infections are one set of issues while chronic sinusitis is an entirely different problem. A "sprained knee" requires physical therapy but torn ligaments have a completely different treatment.
I realize that discussing those issues with a doctor can get you grounded or even beached. On the other hand, you're going to be retired for a very long time. You'll have to figure out the timing of when you finally decide to document every little thing no matter how it would affect your duty status.
Depending on your VA disability rating, a portion of your pension(s) could be offset by VA disability compensation. The compensation is a table of dollar values on the VA's website (not by rank or pension but rather by the VA disability percentage rating and your family status). You are each eligible for VA disability compensation at the married (family) rate, whether or not you have minor kids, even though you'll both eventually be veterans.
If you have questions about the military's Survivor Benefit Plan, I'd suggest reading Forrest Baumhover's excellent analysis of both sides of SBP along with term life insurance. It's not an either-or decision-- it could also be "both" or "neither."
https://www.amazon.com/Military-Transitions-Guide-Survivor-Benefit/dp/1534883959/Forrest is a CFP (and a Navy retiree) and he can do math. Off the top of my head, without knowing anything else about you, I'd suggest that you'd want to skip SBP since you'll both already have plenty of inflation-adjusted annuity income for the rest of your lives.
Feel free to ask me more questions as you go. (This offer is open to everyone on the MMM forums.) You can start new threads for each question, or tag me, or send me a PM, or e-mail NordsNords at Gmail.
