You don’t have to join the foreign service; many federal agencies have overseas law enforcement positions, most of which cover moving fees (you could rent out your VA house) and have quite a few benefits (schools/subsidized childcare, etc) as well.

I’m in Ohio also and spent the bulk of my early career putting into social security only to join the county government and find out about the WEP. But I think Sam is probably okay because he’s working for the federal government and he pays into social security, something we don’t here in the state of Ohio in county jobs.

You do not need a CPA for tax prep jobs. Most tax preparers are NOT CPAs. I am a CPA and my tax accountant was not a CPA for many years. 🙂 I’m not a tax accountant either.

My only comment is to stay in place once your kids hit middle school. The time to relocate is when they are little. That was my experience, anyway.

Hi Laura,

I just wanted to comment as an owner of a small private consulting firm. I don’t think you need a CPA or other degree to get this type of job and it could be remote, flexible and part-time. Most of these small companies also have a CPA/tax professional for the tax side, but for bookkeeping this could include general budgeting, paying bills, invoicing clients, following up on overdue invoices, etc. This is how most of the small consulting firms / independent consultants I know operate. Hope it helps to keep the idea open for you!

Hi Petra! Great points. To answer your, question, it is possible for Sam to transfer closer to family now. So far though, the jobs that have come open have worse work environments than what he is in now. So we could get closer to family, but he would likely be even less happy at work. We are keeping our eyes open for good opportunities to move closer, but not holding our breath.

I love your FIL’s story, I can definitely see us doing something like that in “retirement”. I think we would be bored (and spend too much money!) just sitting at home all day at 50 and 47. Something low-stress and part time that allows us to pay for fun trips throughout the year would be perfect.

Hi Lynn! That is a great idea, I have never thought of that. Thanks for the comment!

Hi Jennifer! Excellent points. Here is a breakdown of our calculations for the LEO/Firefighter pension:
20 years LEO X $105,000 X 1.7% = $35,700
6 years other FERS X $105,000 X 1% = $6,300

$35,700 + $6,300 = $42,000
$42,000 – $4,200 (survivor benefit) = $37,800

This is the actual FERS pension. On top of this, Sam is eligible for a social security supplement from 50-62. I think this is the wildcard though…. if SS or FERS is reduced before he retires there’s a chance this will be reduced/eliminated. To my knowledge, when Congress changes FERS they have historically grandfathered-in current employees without changing their retirement. So let’s hope this would happen again. But for now, we will continue with the calculation as it stands now:

SS supplement calculation:
$2025 (current SS estimate at 62 from myssa.gov) X 26 years FERS / 40 = $1,316
$1316 X 12 months = 15,795 annually
$37,800 + $15,795 = $53,595 total pension

So this is actually slightly different from the previous pension I calculated. I used an updated estimate for Sam’s SS for this one. Good reminder to check this every year or two.

Good point about health insurance. Currently it is deducted from Sam’s paycheck (pretax) and we don’t even notice it’s gone. Once he retires we will have to pay it out of his pension (after-tax). We will definitely need to work that into our financial plan once he gets closer to retirement.

This is definitely our “plan A”, but we are flexible as well. I anticipate we will both work part time once he retires, which may be even more important financially if the pension ends up being less than we are currently calculating.

Thanks so much for the comments!

I’m wondering whether it could be possible to move closer to one of their extended families already – or to do that soon. Would Sam be able to transfer to a law enforcement department closer to one of the families? That could help with life happiness, childcare costs and with generally feeling supported in life.

All in all, I feel like you guys have a ton of options to make this work. Laura could work some now or she could choose to work some more when Sam’s retired and can take care of the kids more (and the kids will of course also be older then and need less care), Sam could choose to work a bit less now and accept that he may have a slightly lower pension and may have to work a bit more once “retired” (although it could also turn out that the pension is still big enough to cover all expenses). Sam could work less six years from now and take over some household chores which would allow Laura to work more. Sam and/or Laura could later on take on some very low paying hobby job that brings in for example $2k/year, because that’s $2k/year that then won’t be taken out of retirement accounts allowing them to grow more for longer.

As an example, my FIL retired from the military at age 55. He got really bored sitting at home and he drove a school bus for the next 8 years, which was (of course) a parttime job that allowed him to pay for fun summer travel with MIL, and hobbies. He also volunteered for this school, organising and assisting during outings for the kids. He loved doing this and it was a great start to his retirement.

One thing that concerns me is your estimate for his FERS. I’m an ER nurse that has worked for the DOD and now the VA. Maybe your calculation is MUCH different but for me (who is also in FERS) it’s the average of your highest 3 years x years of service x 1%. For me it’s 1.1% because I plan on working to 62….it’s 1% for anyone retiring before age 60. So even with my estimate base salary of 110 grand with 24 years of service…my monthly pension is going to be about $2400. Even my husband who was active duty military for 22 years doesn’t have a pension near as generous as what you are estimating.

If you are correct….that’s great….but I just want you to 100% sure that you are 🙂

Also consider that they will deduct for health insurance (if you choose to keep it) and survivor’s benefit if you choose to have that, too!

Also – most libraries have FREE streaming services like Kanopy etc., so that can be helpful too. Things for adults and kids and it’s FREE.