What Is One Year Of Your Life Worth?

[Jake]

I'm hoping for some objective views from some of you guys who are already retired and living in the Philippines, or even those of you who are close to retiring and making the move. I've been on the fence between retiring spring of 2013 and spring of 2014 for sometime. (2013 gives me 21 years active duty in the Air Force). For the most part I've had my mind made up to stick it out to 2014 giving me 22 years and thus 55% retirement. However I find myself increasingly frustrated with all BS we put up with in the military these days....and I'm not talking about deployments....I'm not married and I enjoy deployments. It's all the other BS, I guess I've just had enough. So that, coupled with having someone special waiting on me in Cebu, has me leaning towards 2013. So to question of "what is one year of your life worth"? I just found a military pay retirement calculator. You enter your time in service, date of rank, and date of retirement....and it gives you your gross monthly retirement pay. So after doing that, the difference between 21 and 22 for me works out to about $125 a month. What would you guys do? Is it worth $125 a month to you for another year grinding away? Would you cash it in and enjoy life or stick it out for one more year? I know can survive either way, the extra $125 would just be a little extra cushion that I would set aside.

Opinions anyone? Thanks guys.

Hello Brett,

Boy, that's a tough one! I know where you're coming from and feel your frustration. Remember, I was given my

very first direct order to attend my own retirement ceremony. I feel your pain SMsgt.....about all the military chicken

chit. Our last tour of duty (twilight tour) should be a transitional phase into civilian life.

OK, let's get down to brass tacks.....I will try to be objective but please accept my advance apologies if I get too

emotional. I will start with this basic question: what amount in dollars can equate to your youthfulness, good

health and happiness? Will one more year of frustration drastically affect any one of those items? Will you get

orders to another hot zone (like Korea or middle east) and be forced into a "op hold"?

Spring of 2013 is just around the corner and you should be preparing to pack your household effects pretty soon.

Will the US military ship your stuff free if you change your home of record to the Philippines?

Frustration factor vs happiness factor? That is the question....whatever you decide Brett, we wish you the very

best of luck.

Respectfully -- Jake

Edited May 18, 2012 by Jake
added the word "ceremony"

[Mike S]

OK my $.02 ...... is $125 worth the extra hassle ..... for me it was a no brainer .... I could take early retirement or wait 4 years for full retirement .... the difference would have been $375 per month more ..... but as I was at the time debt free could I afford to wait longer and run the risk of going back into debt ..... I choose not to wait .... personally if I was living so close to using up all my monthly income by the end of each month I would seriously consider changing my lifestyle and cutting back on my spending ..... always remember this if you have $1000 dollars to spend per month you will spend it ..... if you have $10,000 per month you will spend it .... personally to me an extra 5000p per month would not be worth the aggravation ..... and the possible damage to your health and well being ..... I say to anyone if $125 is going make or break you maybe you need to rethink your possible retirement plans ..... IMHO ....... but only you can know what you needs are and how much it will take you to live ....

I am sure you have read the numerous posts I have made about how I live .... we spend roughly $1000 to $1100 per month and manage to save the rest ..... but we don't drink ... smoke .... eat out all the time or entertain we also don't use aircon .... so we manage to save quite a bit there .... we buy in the market .... ukay-ukay stores (found a fantastic back-pack there for 200p and it is branded) ..... we look for sales and buy one take one items .... but I did that back in the states (I love a bargain) .... besides it gives you something to occupy your time and if you enjoy doing it it is fun .... now before someone starts poor mouthing about us living in poverty guess again .... we really don't lack for anything in fact we could live a bit cheaper than we do but I do like a few toys ......

If you just go out and buy what you want regardless of price than of course it is going to cost you more .... as are helpers ... drivers .... big houses etc. ..... I guess I can say again it all boils down to life styles .....

Volstateguy ...... it is all up to you ..... but you are going to miss that sweet ride ..... I know I sure do ..... :hystery: :hystery: :hystery:

[Bundy]

A real tough one. I found myself in a similar situation and tried to stay on to buid up the reserves a little more and now i regret it, i should have stayed in Cebu 2010.

In your situation it just comes down to two things.

1 Are you happy where you're at right now...........and you've already answered that in your post.

2 Do you have enough to retire the way you want now?

If the answer to the second question is yes, then i would definitely go now.

Life is short.............enjoy the most of it while you can.

[Jollygoodfellow]

Well my situation is probably work for another 80 years :( so obvious I will say retire as soon as you can. I would think it depends on if you only have pensions funds to retire on or if you have a nest egg as well. If you have a nest egg get the hell out of there as the sad part of life is it is short but you only find that out when attending someone else's funeral.

125 US dollars and I repeat US dollars for those who cant Handel the differences in currency's wont be worth much in years to come but life is. Good luck with your retirement in 2013 :thumbsup:

[Ashanti]

Volstate, you have lots of good advice and also from different angles, your head must be reeling by now ……………. But if you can take one more ………….

Im not retired yet nor im in military but my take is, noone knows what life holds in store for us. Heaven forbid something happens to you while on active duty or you may live for a hundred years. Like Jakes said, if your job doesn’t physically endanger your life but rather as you say you just have enough putting up with the BS – my advice is to stick it out as you originally planned regardless if you have a tidy nest egg put away aside from the expected pensions.

Youre still relatively young and still have lots of time to enjoy life but opportunity knocks only once. Once you retired and if you don’t plan to get another paid employment, you would be living only what you saved. If no income is coming, its amazing how the monies just eats away. It would be nice if we know that we would be never sick or have nasty surprises or unforeseen circumstances up ahead but we will never know for sure. It would be wise to be vigilant rather than be taken by surprise.

As of now, you might think you have enough put away but as you are still relatively young, you have to think financial life in 20 years time or more and the added responsibility of a family man …………. That is if everything runs smoothly but sometimes LIFE have a habit of putting a spanner in the works!

Edited May 18, 2012 by Ashanti

[Jake]

I think some of the answer will be in how much you will be getting now ( I dont want to know ) and if you will be comfortable with that amount. Some one getting say 1200 a month would really appreciate that 125 raise on the other hand if you are getting 2000 a month then it will not make as much difference. By the way I have been retired for 2 and a half years and it is fantastic ( not trying to rub it in ).

Hey Scott,

Many pros and cons -- all of them excellent! But as far as basic arithmetic, I find your logic very persuasive!

Yeah......some of us are retired now but still active......he, he. I'll have a pitcher of MoJo waiting for you, my

friend.

Respectfully -- Jake

[scott h]

Another to add to the free advice. Like you I am about to retire after 24 active duty years. Could have retired 2 years ago myself but decided to stick it out. I am glad I did, I have used the extra time to do massive amounts of research and preparation for the upcoming move. If you wait you to can get your research out of the way, build up your leave so you can sell it back. (dont take terminal leave, use your permissive TDY to shut down your accounts and stuff). Maybe take an additional trip to Cebu to get things prepared and all in all have all your ducks in a row.

But brother I know what you mean about the brainless BS. I have a hard time not telling some petty little time serving field grade officer where to put his good ideas. I have run out of good idea fairy repelant 4 times already. Naturally company grade officers are fair game :bash: would you believe we can not ever go number two in the field anymore? each soldier must carry around a poop bag to do his buisness in.

Hang in there brother, the pain will soon be over!!!

[Jake]

Another to add to the free advice. Like you I am about to retire after 24 active duty years. Could have retired 2 years ago myself but decided to stick it out. I am glad I did, I have used the extra time to do massive amounts of research and preparation for the upcoming move. If you wait you to can get your research out of the way, build up your leave so you can sell it back. (dont take terminal leave, use your permissive TDY to shut down your accounts and stuff). Maybe take an additional trip to Cebu to get things prepared and all in all have all your ducks in a row.

But brother I know what you mean about the brainless BS. I have a hard time not telling some petty little time serving field grade officer where to put his good ideas. I have run out of good idea fairy repelant 4 times already. Naturally company grade officers are fair game :bash: would you believe we can not ever go number two in the field anymore? each soldier must carry around a poop bag to do his buisness in.

Hang in there brother, the pain will soon be over!!!

Hey Scott H,

Man, talk about forcing political correctness against soldiers taking a dump out in the boonies.

I suppose you need to carry that "poop bag" in your ruck sack until which time you can properly

dispose of it. Or can you request a permit to the local tribal leaders if you can dig a deep hole??

I would like to shake the hands of all veterans of every flag -- we are survivors of all the military

chicken chit.

Respectfully -- Jake

[i am bob]

Though you have heard many reasons for both staying that extra year or not, it really comes down to one question...

What do you think is the best thing to do?

[volstateguy]

Wow, lots of great advice, thanks for your input guys! There are many excellent points here that gives me things to think about. Either way I ultimately decide will be a tough decision. I'm quite sure I could live comfortably enough without the extra $125 a month, some of the threads here about living expenses confirms that. So a huge part of me wants to just go for it and make the move. With my retirement pay plus disabililty pay from the VA I should make around $2000 after taxes. I'm not a big partier although I do enjoy a few cold beers occasionally, I don't smoke, and I plan to most meals at home, just as I do here. So if I can't see myself not surviving on less than $2000. I would prefer to keep my monthly expenses around $1500 and save the rest.

onmyway- I agree $125 would add up over time, and could give me quite the nest egg in say 20 years. I'm just not sure it's gonna be enough to hold me here, who knows if I will even be alive in 20 years. Great point though.

O-U-C- Yeah $125 is buying less and less. So I can look at this 2 ways....screw it, $125 isnt that much....or will I actually need that $125 in say, 10 years because inflation has risen so much. I hope not! Hopefully I've gotten enough cost of living raises in my pension to cover it....but I'm not sure I can count on that either. Glad to hear your cousin made it back from Afghanistan in one piece....I survived that crap hole in 2006.

Jode- I don't plan on trying to make money there, if I didn't think I would have enough I wouldnt even consider making the move. We do still get 30 days of leave a year, however I can't remember the last time I had 30 days on the books. I believe in taking my leave and enjoying myself. Currently I have 16 days, and between now and Sept I have 25 days of leave planned...2 weeks of that in Cebu. Great point about family with thier hands out. I know it will happen eventually for one thing or another, so thats something that needs planned for. :thumbsup:

Scott- Sure sounds like you're rubbing it in to me :dance: Have a cold san miguel for me. I'm gonna be closer to the $2000 a month, so I'm thinking I wont miss $125. I think the most important thing is knowing how much you have and setting your life style from there. If I do that, I'm not gonna miss $125.

Mason-Bundy- I like the way you guys think. :thumbsup: You know how many military guys I've heard of retiring and dropping dead within 5 years. You just never know what the future holds.

Jake-Thanks for the well wishes ole buddy :cheersty: My frustration is pretty high at the moment, but I could stick out another year if I had to...HAD TO being the key words. I just don't think I have to. Take away my motorcycle, car, and insurance payments and I could survive in the states for $2000, surely I can do it in the Philippines too. I'm not sure if the military would ship my household goods or not, but I wouldn't do that anyway. My plan is to sell everything and buy when I get there. Reason being, I'm not even sure exactly where I want to live yet....Cebu, Baguio, Davao...who knows. I'm not gonna drag my things all over the Philippines till I figure it out. If it doesnt fit in a suitcase, I'm not bringing it. I'm just going to rent a furnished placed till I find where I want to live. Short of war, I'm not gonna get orders anywhere. If I do get popped for a tour in Korea, I could could apply for my retirement to cancel them.

Mike-Somehow I knew you would tell me to go for it, if I think I can afford it. :thumbsup: I remembered that you opted for early retirement

as well. I agree it definitely boils down to lifestyle. Like you I'm bill free, aside from my motorcycle and car, which I will sell and add money to my saving with. So I'm positive I can make it on the pension I will be getting. I dont plan on a lavish lifestyle. I want a simple lifestyle....I know I will be happy with that. I rarely go out drinking, I prepare my own meals, and I do not plan to own a car or motorcycle there....the traffic is just too crazy. And you are right...I'm definitely gonna miss my Harley But I'm trading it for a new hobby....beach bum :hystery: :hystery:

Bossman- Thanks for the well wishes for 2013....No doubt what your position is :cheersty: I think I will have enough or I wouldnt be considering it. I have a small nestegg and will add a little to it when I sell everything. I should be able to add to it monthly also. I know thats important for emergencies and medical treatments.

Scott- Great advice. You can never have enough research and planning. Especially when it comes to a transition as big as this. I have been doing tons of research, but I know there is still more useful info out there. One of the things that I'm most nervous and unsure about is dealing with the VA to get my claim in. I know that can take some time. You definitely need to have your ducks in a row when it comes to dealing with them. Otherwise that ordeal can drag on forever. How did you deal with it? Are you gonna have your claim in before you leave active duty. I went to the transition briefings back in January and the VA rep said you could file your claim like 6 months in advance. In fact he was taking paperwork for claims at that time if anyone had their paperwork. If I do decide to make the move in 2013 I'm gonna go back thru the transistion briefings again this fall and file my claim.

Thanks again everyone for your input. Its definitely been helpful. I think I'm still on the fence but perhaps I'm leaning a little more to one side now. :thumbsup:

Edited May 19, 2012 by volstateguy