I'm a DA civilian stationed in Germany with about nine years to go before retirement, and my wife is five years after me. I think we have a decent and diverse investment portfolio; although, I didn't get serious about planning for retirement until ten years ago. My wife and I both work, have no consumer debt, and have been living well below our means; however, we never seemed to be making any substantial headway in our portfolio.
In 2004, I hired a fee-only CFA to review our situation and make suggestions. Following his advice, I unloaded all of the stocks I held and invested in Vanguard funds and a couple of ETFs. I was already maxing out my TSP contributions, but made some internal transfers to match as close as possible the recommended asset allocation.
Our initial investment goal was to reach a combination of $1M in the TSP and external funds before I retired. Earlier this year, we exceeded the goal, so the new goal is $2M. We are not counting on Social Security in any of our planning, so anything we receive will be icing on the cake.
I read some of the threads from other members who are now retired, and hope to benefit from their lessons learned.
In 2004, I hired a fee-only CFA to review our situation and make suggestions. Following his advice, I unloaded all of the stocks I held and invested in Vanguard funds and a couple of ETFs. I was already maxing out my TSP contributions, but made some internal transfers to match as close as possible the recommended asset allocation.
Our initial investment goal was to reach a combination of $1M in the TSP and external funds before I retired. Earlier this year, we exceeded the goal, so the new goal is $2M. We are not counting on Social Security in any of our planning, so anything we receive will be icing on the cake.
I read some of the threads from other members who are now retired, and hope to benefit from their lessons learned.
