banderl wrote:If I'm not mistaken. if you serve 19 years now and quit the military, you get nothing.
Under the new system these guys would at least have 401K savings.
The military does have a 401K like system, it's called the Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) and it was built off of the same funds and TSP program federal employees get. These are very low cost index funds and lifecycle funds made up of allocations to the low cost index funds. The only difference between military members and some civil servants is the military members don't get a match since they are eligible for the military's defined benefit retirement.
All the articles that act like the military will be getting a NEW defined contribution option are misinformed at best, disingenuous at worst. And any change to the defined benefit plan will likely go over as well as the REDUX retirement plan, which failed horribly and ends up either being rejected or costing a large buyout at the 15 year point.
Yeah, that post sounds like a "know it all" post, cause I do, at least in this realm:
22 year Navy EOD Officer, retired in 2010 with 55% of BASE pay (not special pays, housing, etc) and disability pay that offsets some of my pension-not high enough rated to get the double pay. Add in California taxes since I no longer got exemption, and while generous the pension doesn't go very far.
Financial planner with various licenses and clientele including military families since 1998.