When was it very common for people to retire at 38 years old?
Draw a pension... not necessarily retire. In the 90s, the refinery I hired in at was phasing it out. This can all be verified with a Google search, but I'm sure you're just testing me.
Pretty sure that drawing a pension after completing your service is unconstitutional
So not many people know what a Military Retirement entails, or military pay for that matter. Simply put, at 20 years, you'll get half your Base Pay for life. So if you're making $80K will you get $40K post retirement? No.
It's Only your base pay. It's not food (~$350/month). And it's not your housing (based on rank/zipcode. Mine's ~$1400/month). It's also not any travel pay, flyer's pay, nor hostile fire pay from deployments. It's just your base pay.
Also worth noting that a few years back the military changed their retirement system. It's now 40% at 20 years, but they'll match your TSP (401k for government) up to 4%.
So with your numbers 12 months of 1400 dollars for housing over 20 years is $336,000, after receiving that much you should own your home outright and not be having much for housing expenses any longer
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