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Grumpus Maximus shares his military background, his blog about understanding pensions, and his path to FI.
In this episode we cover:
- Interview with Grumpus Maximus about pensions and the military
- Where the name Grumpus Maximus comes from
- The Golden Albatross
- Grumpus Maximus’ backstory
- How he discovered the FI movement
- How he wanted to quit the military but would then lose all the benefits
- His relationship with Mrs Grumpus about money
- How to manage your finances as a couple
- What FI looks like now
- How Grumpus got through the mental breakdown
- His top resources for learning about FI
- How to understand the pension
- How the retirement system is changing for the younger generation
- Grumpus presented FI to his colleagues in the military
- Hot Seat questions
Listen to Brad and Jonathan’s thoughts about this episode here.
Links from the show
- Grumpus Maximus’ blog
- What is a Golden Albatross?
- The Pension Series
- Worth vs worth it
- Mr Money Mustache
- JL Collins | The Stock Series and 4% Rule
- Retirement Planning: How to Calculate your Gap number
- Can I retire yet? Blog
- FIRECalc and Flexible Retirement Planner
- Grumpus Maximus Facebook Page and Facebook Group
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15 thoughts on “057 | The Golden Albatross | Grumpus Maximus”
I don’t see a link to download the podcast.
thanks for the heads up – should be there now
How do we start the audio?
got it
The Golden Albatross, once given wings, is a light load to carry. I retired from 23 years of military service last summer, going through the Albatross gambit of feelings at 15, 18 and 20 year milestones in the service. After 20, any bad day, week, or month became My Choice. We found a way to recharge and Continue Mission (Charlie Mike in the military service lingo).
The next Albatross is the switch to a draw down strategy. Numbers be darned, it is difficult from going to max’ing out the Thrift Savings Program, 2x ROTH-IRA, 2x 501K funds for the kids…etc, to drawing upon the funds. Two step process seems to be working. Year 1 of retirement, track and reset the budget and see what the savings rate can be.
P.S: Mil$ provided me with a platform for discussing Military Retirement on her blog, for which I am grateful for the accountability and chance to document at the time.
https://militarydollar.com/2017/11/01/an-interview-with-an-early-retiree-ginzu/
Hey Ginzu, funny running into you here. I came to write an email to Brad and Jonathan and look to the column on the right…lo and behold I see my name on the screen! I hope retirement is going well.
Mil$
Small, but growing, FIRE community. The niche overlaps sometimes. I hope neither ChooseFI nor Mil$ mind the linkage to one another this way. The crossover was just too correlated from Grumpus Maximus interview and what you do with your blog. (I was able to use “her” properly now that you’ve chosen a gender to reveal!)
Jonathan, i think you might be linking to the wrong place for Jim Collins.
Thanks Brian, fixed
Hey guys – very much enjoyed this episode. My wife will be getting a small-ish pension when she retires in about 8 years and I really hadn’t given it much thought other than to consider it as a safety margin. But this episode makes me realize we need to give it a closer look to better understand how it will factor into our post-FI years.
Many thanks!
Jonathan & Brad, thank you so much for presenting another excellent topic and platform to share it. I appreciate the show links which provide such a wealth of information to always gain knowledge and add new life hacks. This show resonated with me as I am currently 23 years into a Federal job that I do not love & I would have to work for 13 more years to be eligible to receive a pension. This presents a difficult decision for a potential early retiree. Does the benefit of a pension outweigh working several more years of your life? Thank you, Grumpus Maximus and Choose FI for, as always, making me stop, think and recalculate.
The link to the pension series is crossed out. Why? Where can we get it?
Hi Jonathan, Brad, and everyone else. I just wanted to say thank you again for having me on the podcast. For a relatively new blogger like myself the experience was great and provided a number of great lessons learned. In fact the response was so overwhelming it crashed my blog for a few days. It’s back up and operating though at https://grumpusmaximus.com
No more www in the address.
The feedback and support I’ve received from your audience since the podcast aired has been, and continues to be, overwhelming and positive. Anyone who has a pension as part of their equation for FI, or is considering walking away from one, the best place to engage with me continues to be the blog and my Golden Albatross Facebook group. For those of you who’ve already reached FI with the assistance of a pension, I look forward to joining you in a few short years. Please come and share your experience both with me and my readers over at the blog and on the FB group.
Finally, if you are someone struggling with mental health issues that are job related and have no where else to turn, please feel free to seek me out. You are not alone. Your problems, no matter how overwhelming they may seem, can be overcome. The solutions may not be easy, but if you’re willing to make the effort, there is always a way.
Regards,
GM
Great episode–love the nomenclature “gap amount”, etc. The importance of tracking your expenses rather than your earnings.