Retirement / Separation Considerations

[uhhello]

27 minutes ago, Tank said:

I can retire in April 2023.  My family wants to move to where we’re retiring to post-military in December 2022 so my sons can start second semester at their new school.  
 

My question: will the military move me for my final move earlier than my retirement date?

Start terminal in April or official retirement date in April?  If its the official retirement date, you'll have orders long before december so I think it should work. Think...

[Tank]

21 minutes ago, uhhello said:

Start terminal in April or official retirement date in April?  If its the official retirement date, you'll have orders long before december so I think it should work. Think...

Officially retire in April, will probably start terminal in February.  
 

I’m looking into DoD SkillBridge also that I can start 6 months prior to retiring in my retirement location.  

[uhhello]

10 hours ago, Tank said:

Officially retire in April, will probably start terminal in February.  
 

I’m looking into DoD SkillBridge also that I can start 6 months prior to retiring in my retirement location.  

You can move as soon as you have retirement orders in hand.  Those will come a couple weeks after you apply.  You should be good to go. 

[tac airlifter]

11 hours ago, Tank said:

Officially retire in April, will probably start terminal in February.  
 

I’m looking into DoD SkillBridge also that I can start 6 months prior to retiring in my retirement location.  

What exactly is skills bridge?  

[Tank]

1 minute ago, tac airlifter said:

What exactly is skills bridge?  

https://skillbridge.osd.mil

[HeloDude]

14 hours ago, Stoker said:

While inflation might eat away at retirement benefits somewhat (i.e. I wouldn't be shocked if in times of crisis you see COLAs set a point lower than inflation to save money), Congress has shown itself to be incredibly responsive to groups like military retirees, social security pensioners, etc. Because these groups live in every single district and have a huge financial incentive to lobby their reps, the reps have a huge incentive to keep them happy. No Congressman wants to see his opponent next election with an ad that says he made retirees live on the street. 

“The Times They Are a-Changin”

Seriously…take a look at politics today:  If a progressive Congressman/Senator had to choose between funding our retirement or getting amnesty for illegals, government funded abortions, “free” college, etc then our retirement would lose every time.  Now I’m not suggesting that said Congressman/Senator wouldn’t support funding our retirement and these other programs, but rather just telling you where we rank in the scheme of things.

The military is back to being an avenue for pushing social change and less about being a well prepared lethal fighting force.  

[FLEA]

4 hours ago, tac airlifter said:

What exactly is skills bridge?  

Honestly one of the coolest programs out there. You can use it to take an unpaid internship with a firm for up to 6 months while still receiving your AF salary. I think the reason in pilot land we don't hear more about it is because so many people go airlines and you probably don't want to disrupt your currency/recency on the way out. Know people who have done some seriously cool programs with Amazon and Mantech though. One dude got a second bachelor's out of his. 

Edited October 7, 2021 by FLEA

[di1630]

There are sone chafes coming to the program. The new mantra is that it is to get “needed” skills vs “nice to have” skills. It is cool though.

[Guest LumberjackAxe]

Skillbridge just changed for the worse, now companies have to apply and get approved through the DoD mothership as opposed to with your local base office. This means unless there’s a good chance you’re going to work for said company after the six months, it’s likely not going to get approved. 

[Sua Sponte]

2 hours ago, LumberjackAxe said:

Skillbridge just changed for the worse, now companies have to apply and get approved through the DoD mothership as opposed to with your local base office. This means unless there’s a good chance you’re going to work for said company after the six months, it’s likely not going to get approved. 

There’s another workaround. I’m currently a DoD contractor trying to have my company get approved SkillBridge. The Hiring Our Heroes fellowship allows companies to seek out individuals.
 

https://www.hiringourheroes.org/career-services/fellowships/ 

[FLEA]

19 hours ago, LumberjackAxe said:

Skillbridge just changed for the worse, now companies have to apply and get approved through the DoD mothership as opposed to with your local base office. This means unless there’s a good chance you’re going to work for said company after the six months, it’s likely not going to get approved. 

Fucking DoD -_- 

[D_Vezencuando]

Crowdsource Advice. // Airline hopeful with sufficient hours, resume bullets, and recommendations. Currently deployed to 6-month non-flying gig, 20.5Y Time in Service, and retirement-eligible 4 months after return. OpsTempo and comm issues severely limit access to Apps and Interview Prep. // Thoughts on redeployment: (1) Punch ASAP. Autonomy, but limited recency and rush through VA-Retirement admin, (2) Remain another 6 months. Potential line flying (Qualified, Non-Current) but unsure how Home Station will address return on investment, i.e. fear of “you’re dead to us” message. (3) Remain another year. More flying, but farther from an interview. // Thanks in advance for your insight and points of view!

[08Dawg]

On 10/11/2021 at 2:40 PM, LumberjackAxe said:

Skillbridge just changed for the worse, now companies have to apply and get approved through the DoD mothership as opposed to with your local base office. This means unless there’s a good chance you’re going to work for said company after the six months, it’s likely not going to get approved. 

Typical…it was too good to be true, so they had to fuck with it…

[HossHarris]

14 hours ago, D_Vezencuando said:

Crowdsource Advice. // Airline hopeful with sufficient hours, resume bullets, and recommendations. Currently deployed to 6-month non-flying gig, 20.5Y Time in Service, and retirement-eligible 4 months after return. OpsTempo and comm issues severely limit access to Apps and Interview Prep. // Thoughts on redeployment: (1) Punch ASAP. Autonomy, but limited recency and rush through VA-Retirement admin, (2) Remain another 6 months. Potential line flying (Qualified, Non-Current) but unsure how Home Station will address return on investment, i.e. fear of “you’re dead to us” message. (3) Remain another year. More flying, but farther from an interview. // Thanks in advance for your insight and points of view!

Find a way to get your apps in …

[SurelySerious]

Crowdsource Advice. // Airline hopeful with sufficient hours, resume bullets, and recommendations. Currently deployed to 6-month non-flying gig, 20.5Y Time in Service, and retirement-eligible 4 months after return. OpsTempo and comm issues severely limit access to Apps and Interview Prep. // Thoughts on redeployment: (1) Punch ASAP. Autonomy, but limited recency and rush through VA-Retirement admin, (2) Remain another 6 months. Potential line flying (Qualified, Non-Current) but unsure how Home Station will address return on investment, i.e. fear of “you’re dead to us” message. (3) Remain another year. More flying, but farther from an interview. // Thanks in advance for your insight and points of view!

If you’re in a position to retire, get apps in and at worst you can do a get-current stint at the regionals.

[FLEA]

Or run drugs to Panama for Gordon and Kirby! (See squadron bar thread) 😂😆

[hindsight2020]

6 minutes ago, FLEA said:

Or run drugs to Panama for Gordon and Kirby! (See squadron bar thread) 😂😆

 

yup yup. Should make for plenty o' TMAAT story fodder for that mAinLiNe interview lol.

[chris99]

On 10/5/2021 at 11:37 PM, Khruangbin33 said:

Unsure if anyone has seen this yet, but there is some interesting data in this AWC paper from a finance O-6.  Edit: Timing is worth thousands, at least until this gets fixed.  Big takeaways (If you are on the left side of your retirement date):

-- Plan to retire in a month that ends a fiscal quarter (March, June, December)

-- Never retire in September

-- If able, retire in March to realize the best historical chance of highest pay

Tin foil hat time...Broader question (with the caveat that I'm a dumbass):  Given all the turmoil that is going on (debt ceiling, US govt ability to service its debts), how much faith is everyone placing in their pension payout 10-15 years from now?  Are you planning to cover your own expenses with something like a 4% SWR and viewing the pension as a bonus? Or do you believe the point at which you can't withdraw your own money is coterminous with the point at which your monthly pension payment stops occurring?

Edit: Added why this attachment matters - namely COLA calculations as related to your retirement date.  Sorry folks, I been drankin.

The_COLA_Trap-PSP-Fowler.pdf 329.61 kB · 19 downloads

This wouldn't apply to a Reservist who retires and doesn't collect a retirement check until years later, correct? For example, no matter when I choose to "retire" from the Reserve, I won't collect a retirement check until my RRPA month (which is set in advance based on amount of MPA orders served) years later.

[herkbier]

4 hours ago, chris99 said:

This wouldn't apply to a Reservist who retires and doesn't collect a retirement check until years later, correct? For example, no matter when I choose to "retire" from the Reserve, I won't collect a retirement check until my RRPA month (which is set in advance based on amount of MPA orders served) years later.

Oh, good question. Following. 

[DirkDiggler]

On 10/7/2021 at 1:35 AM, FLEA said:

Honestly one of the coolest programs out there. You can use it to take an unpaid internship with a firm for up to 6 months while still receiving your AF salary. I think the reason in pilot land we don't hear more about it is because so many people go airlines and you probably don't want to disrupt your currency/recency on the way out. Know people who have done some seriously cool programs with Amazon and Mantech though. One dude got a second bachelor's out of his. 

My community has had several guys (both O & E) do this program and haven't heard a bad review yet (at least before the change to the rules).  We even had an O-5 pilot type do an internship with a classic car restoration company; he got hired at the end of it and now has a full time "job" doing his life's passion.  Pretty cool program for anyone that can make it work.

[Chida]

This wouldn't apply to a Reservist who retires and doesn't collect a retirement check until years later, correct? For example, no matter when I choose to "retire" from the Reserve, I won't collect a retirement check until my RRPA month (which is set in advance based on amount of MPA orders served) years later.

To the extent a reserve retirement can be gamed: law says that you may begin to receive your pay any month after you’re due pay as you direct. Most people will elect to receive pay as soon as eligible. If you elect to receive it later, you will receive back pay at the rate you would have been paid had you elected to receive it at the time it was due.
The only gamesmanship I’m aware of is beating taxes. For example:
-I am due my first Reserve Retirement pay Jan 2039.
-I plan to retire from my civilian job at a little over age 60, in Nov 2039.
-I could elect to delay receipt of my reserve retirement pay until Jan 2040 to ensure it won’t be taxed as much (since I’ll theoretically have less total income in 2040 vice 2039).

[ClearedHot]

10 hours ago, Chida said:

To the extent a reserve retirement can be gamed: law says that you may begin to receive your pay any month after you’re due pay as you direct. Most people will elect to receive pay as soon as eligible. If you elect to receive it later, you will receive back pay at the rate you would have been paid had you elected to receive it at the time it was due.
The only gamesmanship I’m aware of is beating taxes.

I know a dude who delayed to screw (sts) his ex-wife.

[Chida]

To the extent a reserve retirement can be gamed: law says that you may begin to receive your pay any month after you’re due pay as you direct. Most people will elect to receive pay as soon as eligible. If you elect to receive it later, you will receive back pay at the rate you would have been paid had you elected to receive it at the time it was due.
The only gamesmanship I’m aware of is beating taxes. For example:
-I am due my first Reserve Retirement pay Jan 2039.
-I plan to retire from my civilian job at a little over age 60, in Nov 2039.
-I could elect to delay receipt of my reserve retirement pay until Jan 2040 to ensure it won’t be taxed as much (since I’ll theoretically have less total income in 2040 vice 2039).

One more caveat: if you delay receipt or claim of reserve retirement pay by more than 6 years, you’ll start to lose money due to the Barring Act which limits claims against the gov’t.
This happens, for example, when an old boy wakes up one day, he’s 70 y/o and says “Hey! Don’t I get a pension?” So then he files for it and gets back pay only to age 64, losing out on what he would have gotten for ages 60 (or whatever his RRPA is) to 64.
One question I had is: if I delay receipt of pay, do I also lose the ability to get Tricare until I receive pay? I asked the question to MOAA and they said yes, so there’s that to think about also.

[di1630]

Residency question as I move to from AD to a TR position.

I live in AZ and will stay here for the TR job.

I am an Alaska resident where I hope to live part time eventually.

I run a business seasonally in WA

Do I need to change residency for tax purposes? AK and WA do not have income tax. AZ does…

[abmwaldo]

15 minutes ago, di1630 said:

Residency question as I move to from AD to a TR position.

I live in AZ and will stay here for the TR job.

I am an Alaska resident where I hope to live part time eventually.

I run a business seasonally in WA

Do I need to change residency for tax purposes? AK and WA do not have income tax. AZ does…
 

While Alaska doesn't currently have an income tax it's likely to get one, IMO, as soon as the uncle sugar COVID/infrastructure bill money runs out. The governor is using, in many cases, one time federal funds to count as state "income" with no viable way (significantly lower government spending, greatly increased revenue i.e. income tax, or revisiting Senate Bill 21 a.k.a decrease corporate oil profits in Alaska) to replace it. Continually taking the Permanent Fund Dividend (a.k.a. universal basic income) to fund state government is akin to slaughtering the sacred cow and is truly a regressive tax. 

I'd expect to see an income tax in the next 5 years, reduced PFDs, and flat to moderately declining state spending (big chunks of state spending will be replaced by Federal infrastructure bill/COVID spending so it'll be a wash). Big Oil outspent the citizens initiative to change the corporate oil tax structure $21M to $1.3M in 2020 so don't expect any changes there.