Background:
I grew up very dirt poor, like you wouldn't believe. Without too many details, I did not have running water my senior year of high school and I am the only one from my neighborhood to graduate college and survive past 30 without going to prison or being buried.
I joined the military at 18 and I thought it was the best thing in the world, because I got consistent food and housing and great healthcare and if you got shot (which I didn't, but I did think it was pretty normal), you got even more benefits. I had never been to a doctor before I went to MEPS for processing. Nobody ever told me about retirement at 18, or I never listened.
So years later, after I got my degree and started over as a GS-8 civilian, I was a bit smarter, and started saving for retirement. I was still in my late 20's living in the WDC area so it was difficult to live big. But I was married and had no kids and I saw people who worked much harder than me for much less and with more mouths to feed, and I thought if they could make it work, so could I. At one point, my wife reminds me, I gave up soda and only showered at the gym to save water, and I only used my computer at the library to save on internet and electricity costs.
Lifestyle Creep:
Because of my upbringing, I never really ate out, but living in WDC you start to make friends and it's expected that you go out every once in awhile. The salary slowly went up as did lifestyle creep and before you knew it, I was the guy buying a new iPhone and even a new car at one point. But I always made it a point to bump up my contributions with each step increase, promotion, and award, until finally, at age 30, I was able to max out my TSP.
Back to Basics:
We had three kids in our 30's. It was difficult and childcare is expensive relative to my spouse's salary, so we made the difficult decision of moving to a lower cost of living area and buying while interest rates were absurdly low. We bought a 3br/2ba home on a 15 year mortgage, and then had the third kid. Whoops. We thought about pulling back from retirement savings to get a bigger house, but with climbing mortgage rates and housing prices suddenly skyrocketing, we made the decision to just stay in our very modest home. It can get crowded at times, but it is still a very nice neighborhood with lots of trees (some of which we have planted ourselves) and my kids are still growing up much better than I did, with much better opportunities. We sold that new car for an older, but more reliable car. I buy used computers and phones when I need them. We reuse and thrift and use Goodwill and Habitat for clothes and still find ways to have fun. Having kids later in life did set me back a bit, and with more than 15 years before my youngest is out of the house, I will have to stay on for a bit beyond the MRA and I'm okay with that. Even with all of that, a major family emergency with my dad made me have to reduce my TSP contributions in 2021 and 2022, but after a COLA increase and a grade increase, I am back to maxing it out as of 2023 and I hope I can continue on this path.
Philosophy:
I am not very smart when it comes to markets and timing. My degree was in Macroeconomics with a concentration in Supply Chain Management, but when I listen to Bloomberg or read through these threads I am in awe of some of the math and effort put in. But that's not for me. I am a set it and forget it kind of guy, and I like what Jack Bogle taught. So I am an index fund guy, no individual stocks owned, no timing the market, just holding steady. The only difference is that I view the pension as my safety net, so I do not have any bonds. Maybe this comes back to bite me, but I'm hoping that by the time I retire in 15+ years, I am in a position where I can live on just the pension if possible. Pipe dream maybe, but it's still a goal and worth mentioning.
I do not like the I-fund, so I also max my IRA and that is in FZILX, which is entirely international markets.
I am content as a GS-13. I do not want to take a GS-14 position and move into management. I do not think the tradeoff is worth it. Barring any major change in my work, or a major accident, sudden diagnosis, or worse, I will stay at my current position and just live with the COLA and a few more within grade increases until I max out at step 10. Maybe this changes over the next few years, maybe I find that unicorn job as a Linux Engineer GS-14 level and that changes everything.
I started at rock bottom; there's nowhere to go but up.
-UNIX84
