296 | Transition Planning from a Military Career on the Path to FI |Doug Nordman

<div class="entry-content"> <ul> <li>We are circling back to check in with our Households of FI families. First up are Matt and Megan, our international, dual military couple.</li> <li>Having a military pension is like having multiple lottery tickets. You have both healthcare and an inflation-fighting pension, but how many of these lottery tickets do you need to really crush this game?</li> <li>Naval service is Doug Nordman's family business. In addition to his own 20 years of service in the Navy, his wife almost had 20 years of active duty service in the Navy before finishing her career in the Reserves. And then their daughter joined the Navy on an ROTC scholarship and married a Naval Officer.</li> <li>While dual-military couples are a small demographic that hasn't been extensively studied, Doug says even if they earn just one pension, they will likely have more money than they need for the rest of their lives just because of the pension and healthcare.</li> <li>Matt says the US military pension system is much more simple than for the UK's Royal Navy. He and Megan are working toward FI with their investments alone and consider the pensions to be an additional comfort.</li> <li>Matt has served for 11 years so far and the Royal Navy's systems provide a pension based on each year of service. Megan has been in the US Navy for 15 years after doing her first 10 years enlisted. She needs to fulfill 22 years before being eligible for retirement as a Naval Officer.</li> <li>Doug says when you're in the military with the opportunity to earn an active duty or Reserve pension, you have four lottery tickets and you only need to have one of them to pay off because you solve the healthcare problem and have an inflation-fighting life annuity with just one.</li> <li>If serving in the military is still challenging and fulfilling, stay in as long as you want, but when the fun stops, don't be afraid to leave.</li> <li>Don't fall for the military inferiority complex. Coming from the military you already have human capital. Employers