Pondering Retirement

Everyone in the PF blogging community thinks about retirement at least some of the time. Heck, I'd even go so far as to say that MOST people think about retirement sometime, even if they don't actually have a plan in place yet on how to get there. Well, for me, retirement planning is different than it is for most people.

For starters, I have a TSP account instead of a 401(k). The TSP has ZERO matching contributions. So basically, all the money that is in there is MY contributions and earnings from those contributions (compound interest). Now, I would bitch about this except for difference number two which is...

I can get a military retirement from the federal government after 20 years of service. Believe me, I think about this A LOT. I mean, how nice would it be to be in your early 40's and be able to retire with a pension check and medical benefits for life? Every year that I spend in the military equals 2.5% that they add to my retirement benefit up to 75% for 30 years of service.

Still, it does make "retirement planning" kind of difficult. Why? Because I don't know if I'll endure the full 20 years in the military for one. Secondly, how much would I have to save up in order to provide for a comfortable retirement from my second career? I mean...I can't touch the money that I've put into the TSP until I'm 60 without paying an early withdrawl penalty...but I'm not sure that I want to work until I'm 60 either. (I'm just going to go out on a limb and assume that Social Security will be a non-factor)

*sigh*

I want to retire NOW! I want to have money NOW! What good is it going to be for me to be "wealthy" when I'm 60? I'll be too old to really enjoy it!