' I was in the Navy Briefly ... for 20 Years'

Five-year years prior to my retirement, my wife and I sat down and looked at our current financial state and where we wanted to be when I retired. We just called it the our five-year plan to a successful transition. The plan is simple: have no credit card bills, car payments or a mortgage by the time retirement day rolled around.

I thought the hardest part of this plan would be to sell our house and rent for a year. This actually proved to be easier than previously thought. Our house went on the market and in seven days sold for the listed price (this was well before the current mortgage crisis).

This part of the plan was executed at the one-year mark before retirement. The credit cards and car payments were actually quite easy to pay off, as well. We made double car payments and paid off credit cards and just didn't use the cards for about two years prior to the retirement date. If we couldn't pay cash for it, we didn't buy it. The money from t he car payment went right back to our savings account, so now instead of paying the bank we were paying ourselves.

In the meantime, I had been doing on call vendor work on the side for a company that operates executive aircraft on a large scale, so capitalizing on my FAA Airframe and Powerplant license proved to be useful. I got this job through networking with a friend who was working for that company at the time. Additionally, I spent my spare time finishing college getting two Associate Degrees in the aviation field under the Navy's tuition assistance program. Even during deployments and scheduled flights, I managed to graduate -- so it can be done. My only regret was not starting college sooner and aquiring a Bachelor's Degree.

Remember that company that I mentioned I was doing on call vendor maintenance for? I was called to interview for them and was hired with two months of terminal leave left to go. Yes networking does work. Our plan was simple and easy to execute with some discipline and creativity, and it paid off. Since retiring, I haven't looked back. My time was well spent in the Navy, but that chapter is done and I am moving on. My daughter even jokes with me "Dad you were in the Navy once" I reply with a smile, "Briefly, for 20 years."

(Submitted by Davie Gibson, Jr.)

Comments

[Ron Smith]

Davie,
That sounds like a great story but most military members throughtout their career because of the opportunities being associated with the military you are afforded discounts and deals that put you in what you think will be short term debt ie; car payments, mortgages or time shares for vacations, credit card bills used on holiday gifts etc, so from the 5 year to countdown to retirement they may be playing a loosing game. Now, you seem to be one of the lucky ones that just so happen to have a friend through networking that was able to hook you up with the right people to get on with that company. But the truth is that most people come to you looking for a hook-up thinking that you can get a government job asside from maybe the Post Office. School is always a good thing to expand on but the government will not pay for it all you will have to put in your part if you decide to go to college after you get out so the best way to acquire a degree is while you are still in the military if you have the time. When you have a family to support or even maybe an extended family to deal with then you need money for their needs. So, your children have needs that are apart of growing up and lets not even counting their abitions of going to college. If your kids don't get scholarships then you are going to bear the costs.
Retiring isn't what it is hyped up to be plus if you have a really good job in the military that you loved then you want that opportunity in the civilian sector.
Chances are you aren't gonna find the same in the civilian sector.
So, the best you can come up with is to settle for the simple life, living close to the beach and not working many hours and find a hobby that doesn't take up too much money and be happy being alive and to have survived 22 years in the military without be disabled.

[David USN Ret(Feb2009)]

Davie,

Were you a former C-130 FE? Glad to here that someone has gotten hired. I am still trying even as the unemplyment rate hits 7.3%.

I was forced to transfer 18 months prior to my retirement, due to my command being decomissioned. All the networking I had done seems to have fell thru the wayside.

Congrats!!