There’s no other job where you get as much reward as you do working in the military. However, many military retirees can feel almost abandoned when they retire. As a military employee you’ll need to plan in advance for your retirement, which can be difficult. Unless you’re highly organised, planning for retirement may not even be on your radar. So, here are a few things you need to remember.
What Are You Likely to Spend?
Before you start planning for your retirement, you’ll need to know what you’re likely to spend. After all your years of service, you don’t want to be struggling financially when it’s time to relax and enjoy yourself. Try and roughly work out how much you’ll need every month to pay your bills, buy essentials and then add another small amount for luxuries and hobbies. Knowing what you’re likely to spend will help you to start planning for your retirement from here on out.
Start Early
It makes sense that starting as early as possible to save for your retirement will result in the most money. The more money you save, the better your financial future will be. After all, in a career as dangerous as the military, you never know how long your career will last, as injury or disability is always a possibility. Thankfully, as you can see here, there are benefits and compensation that you may be entitled to, should the worst happen.
That being said, just because you haven’t been putting money aside thus far, it doesn’t mean it’s too late to start now. Starting late to save for retirement may result in less retirement money, but you could also try and put a larger percentage of your income into your retirement fund.
Work During Retirement
Just because you’ve retired from the military, it doesn’t mean you can’t ever work again. Many military retirees feel like they can continue to work and find purpose in having a job. Knowledge that you possess from your time in the military could be a contributing factor in you getting a job after retirement. For example, what is a click in military terms? The experience you’ve gained will help you secure a job easily when you leave the military, especially if you can add employer recommendations to your applications.
Learn as You Go
If you have a decent amount of downtime during your service in the military, it could be the ideal opportunity to enroll on online courses. Courses in customer service, management, real estate and many more can be done online and allow you to set yourself up for life after the military. Many military men and women end up retiring early, sometimes due to injury or a lack of passion for the job. Retiring early will give you an opportunity to start a new career.
Life Insurance
There’s no getting passed the fact that military life is dangerous. Planning for retirement includes planning for any eventuality, including injury or death. Your life insurance is just a peace of mind for your family should the worst happen. It means your debt will be paid off without your family having to worry about it and they may even receive a pay out to live off for a while.
Planning for the future can be difficult because we never truly believe the future will come, but retirement will creep up on you sooner than you think.