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That is what I am worried about. The CPA said it should be 120k at a minimum in the Maryland area. I would like to move up a little for take home not back as well.
I assure you, I would bet my entire years paycheck, that you are not getting a $120k position in the Maryland area or any area. That is not being negative, that is stating a fact. The worse thing I see from people getting out of the military is the over expectation/estimate of their value on the civilian market.
I did 12 years and got out (mid-2000's for perspective), did not even have a degree when I did, and went on to college afterwards to complete my degree, and later my employer sponsored MBA. People say "stay in, get a pension", I disagree. In getting out, I am eight years ahead in my civilian career, and the money I have made and will make due to this far exceeds the value of the pension in my opinion.
- For one, there is no guarantee of advancement, none at all. You can make a estimate of your chances for advancing, but it is never guaranteed, you could stay an E5 up to your 12 year point, or stay an E6 to your 20 year point. In the civilian market, you have the option to advance by jumping from company to company if you need to. Think about this; getting out at 12 gives you an eight year jump on your next career. I stayed in touch with people after I got out, and as they got held up at E7, or sadly in one case at E5, I was rapidly advancing in my civilian career skyrocketing my wealth, and with that, having an outstanding quality of life.
- SSgt - an E5? You have way over-estimated your skills and responsibilities you listed in your first post. For example, your "multi-million dollar project management", I assure you that you have not managed any multi million dollar project. You may have think you have, but your did not, you did not have any budget, financing, resource allotment authority/decision making, management software utilization, acquisition decisions/authority, etc at your level. Yours is a very common example of mistakes numerous veterans do, in that they over estimate their skills and involvement in projects, and do not understand how to actually translate what they actually did to civilian terms.
- Your five degrees are cool and all, but few, if any employers really care about how many degrees you have, what they care about is do you have the relevant skills and education that not only meets the requirements of the position, but also do those factors and other "soft" factors make you the best candidate to hire? Plus your degrees are rather soft, not rather soft, are soft, very soft.
My opinion; you should really broaden your job search and understand that you are not getting a $120k position, and should consider yourself lucky to even get a $42k position in the DC area, lower pay elsewhere. Prepare to be a 1099, and prepare to look at positions like tech desk support, low level maintenance, etc. The path to money in the civilian sector is first getting in anywhere, then start hopping from company to company advancing. Once in, figuring out where openings will be happening, and aiming your experience/skills towards those positions, and oh yes, getting to know the right people. If you can get into the large contractors, SACI, CGI, BAH, GD, LM, Boeing, etc, that would be the best way to start your career path.
You can try fed employment, but you are going to start off as a 7 or 9, and maybe not even a ladder. But once in, you are in, and can advance from that point.
I did 12 years and got out (mid-2000's for perspective), did not even have a degree when I did, and went on to college afterwards to complete my degree, and later my employer sponsored MBA. People say "stay in, get a pension", I disagree. In getting out, I am eight years ahead in my civilian career, ...
The point of a pension, is there is no need for a second career.
The point of a pension, is there is no need for a second career.
The pension pay is not much in my opinion, and again, there is no guarantee a person will advance, they could be stuck at E5 or E6 until 20. Sure, the pension is good if someone just wants to live in Arkansas and merely exist until they die, which is just fine, but for a person who wants to live a more elevated lifestyle and do more in life than waddle to Golden Coral on Saturday evenings, they will need a second career.
The point of a pension, is there is no need for a second career.
There is no way we could survive comfortabley on pension alone. It's a 50% pay cut. After all the deductions and SBP it's 50% of that. After bills were paid, nothing was left....and this is living with family, no rent, cable or electricity/water to pay. We moved in with family when my husband got out because we had no idea where we would end up when my husband got a civilian job.We receive rental income for our home but our tenants moved out and caused a lot of damage so then that put more pressure on us. If you have young children to raise pension alone would make it very difficult.
My husband did find a job with a good company at a starting salary above his base pay from the Army, about $9k above, sign on bonus and annual bonus. They even gave us relo pay. He got a raise beginning April 1. Something that my husband was NOT expecting lol. Anyway, he only started working for this company in December. But even with his salary it would have been a decrease in the standard of living when you factor in the loss of BAH. The pension supplements the missing BAH. Maintaining our standard of living. Didn't have to stop saving for college after all.
During my Active Duty career, we invested a lot. After I retired, we found a low cost area we liked, bought over 100 acres, cashed-out our portfolio, began building a house and farm. Ten years later I am an organic farmer and we are still building.
During my Active Duty career, we invested a lot. After I retired, we found a low cost area we liked, bought over 100 acres, cashed-out our portfolio, began building a house and farm. Ten years later I am an organic farmer and we are still building.
We each have different goals in life.
While I applaud your entrepreneurial spirit, the odds of a e6 or below being able to pull that off in today's fiscal environment is practically non existent.
Houses in the major fleet concentration areas are some of the most expensive in the country. An e-5 would have trouble and likely not qualify when trying to buy a home in San Diego. There is no possible way a blue shirt could amass a portfolio of homes even though it was entirely possible 30 years ago.
During my Active Duty career, we invested a lot. After I retired, we found a low cost area we liked, bought over 100 acres, cashed-out our portfolio, began building a house and farm. Ten years later I am an organic farmer and we are still building.
We each have different goals in life.
That's great! We invested a lot of our money ourselves. We lived paycheck to paycheck because of all our deductions. Sometimes it sucked to be honest. Not to mention the extra life insurance! It always amazed me the amount of other couples we met in the military that drove very expensive cars and lived above their bah. All that saving was worth it. We are building a house now (our dream house), and the kids have very respectable college funds. It will feel good living in a home that we don't have to leave in two years and the kids can grow up in. Good luck to you!
He went to an online for profit school that is a complete joke. Completing a degree from a respected college isn't really the norm since there are few, if any, respectable undergrad programs offered through distance.
OP, you can find a job. Finding a job that maintains your current quality of life? That might be a bit harder.
First off there are many things wrong with your statement.
1. Almost every institution for higher learning offers an online education program such as
Harvard (Extension School) Boston University Drexel USC ASU OU
Washington State Penn State MIT Brown Duke Oregon State
The list above is just a few that offer an online degree program at the graduate and undergraduate level.
2. Every school is a "for profit school" if they weren't one then no one would teach with a PhD. in the world when they could make more money doing some other type of work with there education level.
3. Half of my degree is from attending a brick motor school and the only difference I see and have experienced is you get no face time with your professor. Most of my test and quizzes are proctored....
4. Lastly, most people that say that do not have a degree by either giving up or failing out of college (so what is your excuse?).
All in all, your argument at best is pure stupidity. So please do your self a favor and stop speaking because your making very malevolent comments for no reason.
Another thing most people are looking for ambitious and hardworking individuals in the world to work for there specific company in both private or public sectors. My usual day wake up at 0400 go to the gym; after by 0630 I am at work until 1500 then normal PT. After, I go home and help my wife with the two kiddos, when they go to bed I start homework; the average amount of sleep I get in a typical night is 3 hours at best. So again you nefarious comments are very loose and salty.
Fire mike
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