2025 Retirement Calculator

The NDAA hasn’t officially passed congress but it appears that it won’t have to many issues in the Senate despite some poison pills that the House attached to it. So, with that, I am happy to release version (200)5 of the retirement calculator. You can download the latest version at https://www.signal-chief.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/Post-Military-Salary-Calculator-v5.xlsx

2024 Retirement Calculator

Rifle Military Biathalon U.S. Army

Now that Congress has finally passed this year’s NDAA, we know what the final pay tables for 2024 will look like. This updated calculator also includes updates to the IRS tax brackets for 2023 and the new VA disability rates that went into effect Dec 2023. Again, if you see any mistakes, please let me »

New Adventures

Today I am excited to announce that I have a new job! After spending the last year and a half or so at SEE, I’ve decided to make the move to SealingTech. While I love the team at SEE, SealingTech offered me a new adventure.

Retirement Calculator 2022 Edition

A year or two ago I decided to create a retirement calculator to help me figure out my finances for when I was getting ready to retire. It occurred to me earlier today that I have done a poor job of keeping it current, so I decided to spend a few minutes and get it fully updated (I think) for 2022.

Retirement….One Year Later

Retired Vet

Today marks one year since my last day wearing the uniform. Sure, my official retirement date wasn’t until Sept, but a lot of things have happened. In that time, we’ve continued to live through a pandemic, I’ve started a job, quit a job, and started another one, done a lot of work around the house, and been able to enjoy life a little bit.

Money and Waves

View of the Beach

After 7 months of rarely leaving the house my family headed to the Outer Banks. As much as I would love to continue to rub that in, that’s not why I am writing today. I figured I would pass along a few more lessons learned with this whole retirement thing.

A little Update

Troy From Secure Enterprise Engineering

A short update. I have officially been out of the Army for 16 days now and a lot has happened. I started my terminal leave back in mid-May, at the height of the Covid crisis. To say it wasn’t how I had planned to have my transition would be the understatement of the world.

Retiring in a Rona World

DD214 Blanket

Greetings from Fort Livingroom. I am now 35 days into my terminal leave (well 20 days PTDY and 15 days leave). I have decided to forego the “Freedom Beard” for right now (my wife threatened me with divorce) but my hair is rapidly approaching hippy level.

Time To Sign Off

SGT Ward Deployed

Yesterday I did something that has been nearly 21 years in the making; I finished my last working day in the Army. While I still have 2 weeks of out processing to complete, my time has come to an end. I will be the first to admit that this is a day I never thought I would see.