Conservative Assumptions:
● Dividends, existing deposits, and new deposits invested at a 3.5% yield
● Dividend growth 1.5% above inflation. I want to project in today's dollars. Raw dollars tell me very little. I will buy fixed income assets too, I do not want to rely 100% on stocks. Fixed income has no dividend growth.
●Deposits of $500 per month. I can easily save $1,000 a month while in Korea, but I will be leaving soon. I intend to have children and may be getting married in the next 1-2 years. Deposits will be tough, but I should be able make more as my career progresses.
Assuming everything goes to plan, I'll be sitting on roughly $1,300/month (2013 dollars) in dividends! This will be a great addition to a military pension and would make me financially independent!
With a little luck and a lot of planning, I may be able to retire before age 50. A lot can go wrong here, but I believe this is very achievable.
The 2028 target retirement date of $16k annual dividend income includes military retirement right?
ReplyDeleteGood luck in your pre age 50 goal. Thats mine too and I think I am on track.
Yes the pension will be my main income source. It would be somewhere around $2,100 - $2,400+ per month (with yearly COLA adjustments) depending on my final rank. Dividends and interest will bridge the gap between my income needs and the pension payouts. I might buy an annuity too.
Delete1,300 per month is not enough for the kind of retirement I have in mind. I am pretty frugal, but not extreme.
Cheers!
Those goals look amazing! I like your conservative way of looking into projecting your income and focusing on "real dollars". I think that you will be able to save more than $500/month, because your "real earnings" will increase faster if you get good promotions.
DeleteI hope the tensions with North Korea are not going to impact you. Thank you for working to make us all safe!
Thanks DGI! Yes my income will go up, that's a fact. I foresee my expenses going up too. This little excercise was supposed to use conservative numbers. In reality I know I'll save more than $500 per month.
DeleteKorea can be a pain sometimes, but I have remember many of my brothers in arms are over in Afghanistan right now. This is a cake walk compared to that. I spent a couple years in the Middle East and I hope I never go back. However if my country needs me to deploy, I'll do it with a smile on my face.
If I do deploy again my savings rate will be astronomical.
This is an awesome way to motivate and see how consistent saving and investing over the course of the next 15 years will really pay off!
ReplyDeleteMy plan was to suck it up and save a lot in the beginning so I don't have to be as extreme later. Compounding requires time.
DeleteI've now put myself in a position where I only need to save $500/month after I leave Korea to realize my dream. As long as I stay in the military anyways... haha
Great plan and nice projection. I am a bit afraid doing it for myself since the numbers can blow me away from my dream. But I know I should do it as well to see where I stand.
ReplyDeleteCan't hurt to see. Even if the numbers aren't what you want, you can take steps to fix it.
DeleteCheers!