Welcome aboard!
If you know me in real life, you’re probably wondering why I started a new blog instead of keeping up with the old one. Honestly, I’d just like to be a bit more planned out and organized. If you don’t know me in real life, you might be wondering why I started a blog at all.
Here’s the deal: I love personal finance. Like, too much. I read about it in my spare time. I currently work at a credit union (which has no association to this blog, but I felt I should disclose). My husband and I have a semi-unique journey, and I’d love to help other people join our path.
A little about us in context with the blog: I am 27, Eric is 30.
Eric and I have been married since July 2011, and it hasn’t always been financially rainbows and sunshine. I came into our relationship with $3,000 in credit card debt and a recent repossession of a vehicle on my credit. Eric bought me a too-expensive ring on credit, and then purchased a $17k car at 12% interest. We lived in Hawaii while Eric was stationed there, and I went to college and babysat for money.
I read a few Dave Ramsey books and got “gazelle-intense” and paid off our $7k in credit card debt in 7 months. We couldn’t look back. We had so much disposable income without the debt hanging over our heads! We started investing in the TSP and a Roth IRA, and looking back on it, we could have invested so much more, but I am glad we started.
I finished my degree, debt free thanks to military spouse scholarships, in December 2014, right after we moved to Connecticut for shore duty. In February of 2015, I began working part-time at a nearby credit union. Eric has been a submariner in the US Navy for almost 9 years, and a few years ago, in my desperate attempt to get him to promise to stay in the Navy, I told him if he did his 20 years, he’d never have to work another day in his life. Well, I have to make good on that promise. Which led us to following the wonderful community of financial independence and early retirement bloggers.
And in all of my friendships and work with military families, I realized that not a lot of families are embarking on this journey. Eric tells me that when people ask him what he’s doing after the military, everyone seems surprised with the concept that you could work for 20 years in the military, and retire after, for good.
This doesn’t necessarily mean we’ll never work again; it just means we won’t be required to in order to put food on the table and have a roof over our heads. If we’re following the savings plan we’re on right now, we should retire in 12 years without giving up anything we currently have.Now, you may be wondering, “how is this possible?” It’s actually quite simple. Simple and easy are two different words. It most certainly isn’t easy, but the basic concept is to live on less than you earn, and invest the rest. That may have simplified it too much, but this is just an introductory post.
Is this blog only for military families? Absolutely not. However, in the context of our lives, Eric is in the military, so it is very strongly related to the success of our personal plan. And as I mentioned before, I haven’t seen a lot of military families pursuing this path, so I figured I would write a blog that addresses military benefits in context with early retirement. Please note that my current plan is based off the current retirement system in place, and I will write posts that address the Blended Retirement System as it comes into play, and that may change a few things for some families, but it will not make early retirement impossible.
My only request for you while you read this blog: if you do not believe in early retirement, or us, please keep it to yourself. Even if you think early retirement isn’t possible for you, you may still learn something. And always remember that early retirement is different for everyone: our path says Eric will be ~42 years old. Your path may be 28, 45, or even 52, but even retiring at 55 is 10 years earlier than 65.If you have any suggestions, questions, comments, or just want to say you’re reading, please comment on any of the posts or e-mail me anytime at jessica@littlemoneybee.com.
Here’s to growing our big moneypot.
-Jessica
