New to the forum, but coming here feels like home.

[Bigdawg]

If you don't mind my asking, how were you able to fund your DS and DD for their undergrad and still have 19 months remaining on the benefit?

Sorry for the late response. What's 4-5 years between online friends?

Our son signed a juniors hockey contract after he graduated HS. That year he went to community college (cheap) so we paid out of pocket. We used GI bill for his sophmore year and first half of his junior year. He then dropped out and enlisted in the Corps. He finished his degree with his own GI bill and tuition assistance. This left DW's GI bill and much of mine for our DD to use for undergrad and grad school. Her grad program at Trinity in Dublin Ireland was a one year accelerated so used less GI bill for that. I believe after everything was said and done I had 7 months of GI bill left over.

 

[AginMS]

Another year's gone by so thought I'd update my journey to retirement to keep myself accountable.

Last year, including employer's matches, we were able to invest around $114K. Investments included max'ing out DW's 401K and my TSP, fully funding our personal ROTH IRAs using the backdoor method (including catch up contributions for all of these), and the remainder went into our regular taxable mutual fund accounts.

Our investments and cash on hand total around $2.6M, with the following breakdown:
6% Cash
36% Roth
33% TSP and 401K
25% regular brokerage account

Big purchases this year will include buying a new vehicle and funding my DD1's wedding this summer.

DD2 graduates from college next month and then begins a one year Master's program. Fortunately my Post-911 GI bill will cover the majority of it, I have a savings account set aside that will cover the rest.

Our plan is still retirement in early 2027. I'll be 57 and DW will be 56. That should give us about a year and a half to really look hard at our true expenses without factoring in the kids.

I'm hoping to have $3M by the time we retire. Neither of us want to stay in our current location which inevitably means we'll move to a higher COLA area and into a more expensive home. Our current house is paid for, but depending on interest rates I may decide to carry a mortgage into retirement. I'll cross that bridge when I get to it.

All-in-all 2023 was a very good year for us.

 

[old medic]

Love reading a success story even if the last chapters arn't written yet.

 

[AZsniper]

Thanks for updating this. I love reading how people make goals and through some hard work, determination and careful planning, they achieve them.

Have you kept track of expenses in order to gauge what your spending would look like in retirement?

 

[pacergal]

Congratulations. It is always nice to have folks come back and give updates.

Looking/planning expenses "without the kids" works well....until the grand babies come along. Ask me how I know that one, lol. We just adjust our budget a bit differently!