Posted on Nov 12, 2013
Officers being offered great jobs in the civilian sector
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I've heard of a Major who almost dropped his 14-year career to join a company who would pay almost triple what the Air Force was paying him including a full year of salary as a sign-on bonus. How does one go about making the decision between serving for at least X more years until retirement or going into the civilian sector? And has anyone here experienced offers from companies that would be willing to share details?
Money
Transition
Civilians
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 7
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MAJ Parker, I guess its a good thing that I have exactly zero offers that even come close to tempting me at this point... I am on track to retire at 20 and go the retired life on a warm beach somewhere where my retirement check goes a little further than it will here!
I absolutely agree that some of the "extras" of a full retirement are crucial to consider in any kind of retirement plan - especially health care (when Tylenol costs $8/pill at a hospital...). However, that doesn't preclude the option of a potential 15-year retirement at a reduced % but WITH the "extra" benefits if that magic $300k offer were to materialize.
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MAJ Joseph Parker
Well, MAJ Zeski, I guess you won't be retiring here in Steilacoom since you want a WARM beach! Beautiful views, though!
From your posts it is easy to see you are a very smart leader. Transition will be good to you. Hopefully you'll also think about my humble corporations and look into us when you are ready to hang up your boots.
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I've been in about 14 years. If a stable civilian company offered me triple, I would definitely have to consider it. There are a lot of factors that would make me lean one way or another (location, job type, hours, etc), but, strictly from a financial standpoint, it makes more sense, I think, to take that 3x pay job rather than go for the 20 year retirement.
I mean, financially, let's say I make $80k now and when I retire (at 20 years), I get half... that's $40k. With that other job, I could continue to live the lifestyle I have now and put 2/3 my paycheck into savings ($160k/year). In 6 years (when I would have retired), I would have almost 3/4 of a million dollars just in savings. How many years of retirement pay is that? Actually, it doesn't matter because I could put that nearly 3/4 of a million dollars into a moderate interest rate investment and get more than $40k out in interest every year... it'd be just like a military retirement except that I'd have the option to keep living large and keep working if I wanted to.
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MAJ Joseph Parker
MAJ Z; I would advise 2 things on your quick analysis: First: most of your retirement benefits are not monetized, like Tricare. My Tricare benefits are easily double my retirement pay when monetized. You may want to consider those type of retirement benefits into your equation. Second: No such thing as a stable civilian company! Enron one day, gone the next. Ask the other vets and retirees. Regardless of how high you go into a company, the last ones in are the first ones out if money gets short. Even big huge corporate entities are broken down into a lot of smaller corporations. Just because somebody is hired by Chevron doesn't mean their division of Chevron won't be shut down or cut back. If an SM has 14 years, I would recommend gutting out the next 6 to retirement, at least from an economic point of view. Of course, each SM has to weigh the other factors, like family, stress, risk, job satisfaction, etc. If you get offered triple for a civilian job, ask around before getting into the back of that van!
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I am an Army logistician who has just hit the 6 year mark and I haven't seen anyone offering me anything yet. I probably wouldn't even consider something on the civilian side until I get my Masters Degree (probably logistics or supply chain management). So until then, I will probably focus on what I love; taking care of Soldiers, training and leading. Unless someone offered me a boatload of money to do similar work in a nice location, I will probably stay in for a while. But we all have our price... Just not sure what mine is yet!
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