Believe it or not, I get fan emails from time to time. They come in many different forms. Some of it is precisely what it sounds like, meaning people take the time to drop me a nice note and say how much they liked the blog, the book (or both), or how much something I wrote resonated with them. I’d be lying if I didn’t say that my ego likes those emails. I’d also be lying if I said I have great tracking system for responding to all them. So, if I owe you a response, please accept my apology in advance as I try to work through the backlog. More importantly, please keep sending those types of emails because I find them extremely motivating. They help me write, even on days when I’m not feeling particularly creative.

Advice requests are another form of fan emails I receive. Those motivate me too because I get to help people directly. Most of the time, the advice being sought is pension-related. For instance, sometimes, people want me to analyze their pension as a whole. In contrast, others ask about a specific pension design element. Anyone who’d like to see or listen to me provide an overall analysis of a pension can check out the ChooseFI episode where I counseled a young married couple about the wife’s pension.

Less often, advice requests center on career/life issues associated with pensionable jobs. These issues sometimes include a mental health angle. Since I blog about my mental health issues connected to my previous pensionable job, it’s no surprise that readers reach out with similar problems or questions. That’s the gist of the latest email, which I discuss below.

The Pension Couch

Based on the stereotypical mental picture many of us hold about psychoanalysis, I started calling my advice emails “Pension Couch” emails. In other words, people metaphorically lay down on my Golden Albatross couch (it’s comfy, they tell me) and talk about their pension problems. I then analyze those problems and provide them feedback.

To be clear, I’m neither a trained psychiatrist nor a certified financial professional, so I’m not providing people with mental health or financial advice. I’m simply analyzing their pension-related problem(s) and then providing them with the type of information they might need to make a well-informed decision. That information might be based on my personal experience or my academic research. For the most part, people are appreciative of whatever information I can provide. So much so that I’ve contemplated building a link on the blog where people can sign up for “Pension Couch” time.

However, sometimes my Pension Couch email replies, which include well-researched answers, go without a response from the original sender. No two-word “Thank You” email, no follow-up questions, nothing. I’d even be happy with a “Hey GM, your information sucked” response because at least I’d know they got my reply.

The non-responses happen enough that a “Pension Couch” link on the blog probably wouldn’t be worth my time unless people paid a nominal fee (like $50). That way, I’d know they were serious enough to pay for my analysis and not just wasting my time with a fire and forget question. That said, charging for services through my website is a whole new level of complication that I’m not sure I’m ready for. It might also mess with the “everything here but the book is free” vibe. I’ll bench the Pension Couch service idea for now, but leave thoughts in the comments below if you have them.

“Jody’s Got Your … Pension Couch”

Over the years, I’ve gotten OK at spotting the Pension Couch emails worth responding to, but I’m nowhere near perfect. Take the below email from Jody (a pseudonym based on the cadence songs drill instructors sing when running with new recruits) as an example. Jody sought advice on gutting it out eight more years as a full-time National Guard service member. Doing so would allow Jody to earn an immediate annuity pension versus a standard, time-delayed National Guard pension. The original email’s length and subject matter (which included mental health issues) convinced me that Jody was serious. As a result, I replied within a day of receiving it.

Unfortunately, it’s been almost a month since I sent that reply, and still no response. Maybe my reply is in Jody’s junk mail folder. If so, I hope Jody sees this post and then checks his or her email! Alternatively, maybe Jody read my reply, acted on the advice, but forgot to email a response. In the end, I’ve no way of knowing.

However, Jody’s potential loss is your gain since the original email and my reply were too good to pass up as blog post material. In fact, many of my Pension Couch replies are blog post material, but I’m going to start with this one first. So, if you’re questioning how long you should stay at a pensionable job just to make your pension paycheck bigger, especially a job that’s created mental health issues, then this one is definitely worth your time!

Jody’s Original Request

My standard caveats apply about changing specific details in the email to protect the original sender and make it more readable.

Good Afternoon Grumpus,

I just finished your audiobook! Sadly, I am at an impasse with my military career, and I figured I’d look to your book and you for input. It also may add value to your blog as a topic on pensions that I did not quickly see covered (Active vs. Reserves).

I am XX years old, and I will hit my 20 years of service this year. However, I only have 12 years of equivalent active duty. I am full-time National Guard, so I am accruing 1-1 retirement years with my active brethren. But, I have to do another 8 years to earn my immediate pension.

Quick Side Story:

In late 2019, early 2020, I had a mental breakdown and was diagnosed with anxiety and depression. I realized I had been depressed for a long time, and it had finally caught up to me. Fortunately, it was rock bottom enough that I ended up seeking professional help.  

Back to it:

Soon I will have a new option on the table, which is my 20-year retirement from the National Guard. This, of course, comes with a nearly 20-year delay (benefits payable at around age 56) in receiving my pension. Retired reserve health insurance is not cheap pre-60 ($1,165.01/month) either. After 60, it mirrors the active-duty medical benefits.   

From a financial standpoint, my spouse and I are on really good footing. Owning several apartments, we could probably deal with a reduction in pay without sacrificing too much. However, it just seems like such a massive loss (Golden Albatross) to even drop from the active duty retirement to the reserve retirement.

A couple of things from your book really resonated with me. You highlighted individuals could consider looking for different assignments that might better match their needs / reduce stress. I hadn’t even realized that I had already done that subconsciously, just to get out of my rut. I now know it is probably the only thing that kept me together for the last 6 years since I found a temporary assignment that didn’t put as much stress on me.   

Sadly, my temporary assignment is coming to an end in December, and I have to go back to the job that sent me into a spiral. I have learned some coping skills along the way and perhaps am better equipped to deal with it, but I’m definitely not looking forward to it. I’m also hoping I have missed something, or you might have a fresh perspective for me.

I feel my three realistic options are:

1.) Tough it out for the Active Duty Retirement

2.) Switch to traditional drilling guardsman [1 weekend a month, 2 weeks a year] and keep Tricare Reserve Select [healthcare] and part-time pay

3.) Just retire from the Guard and perhaps get a part-time job that suits me

I am highly considering number 2, as the tempo is extremely light and gives me an earlier opportunity to start my next life. Obviously, my only hesitation is the decades of lost pension.

Any thoughts you have would be greatly appreciated.  I have no doubt your role in FI for Pensioners is keeping you quite busy.

Thanks,

Jody

Grumpus Maximus’ Response

Hi Jody –

Thanks for reaching out and sending the note. I’m glad you found my book helpful, and I am happy to try and help where I can by providing more context. I’m also sorry to hear about your predicament. I can honestly say that I know what you’re going through, although the time horizon is much longer in your case.

Getting straight to the point, I can’t really advise you what to do, as much as tell you what factors I would focus on in your situation, which would be based on my personal experience and my pension subject matter expertise. And I can do that in two different ways.

The first, which is what I do below, is stick to the big-ticket issues. The advantage of this method is that it allows for a quick response from me and a faster decision. The drawback is that I don’t have all the details required to tell you exactly what I would do and why. The second option is to go deep on this and really drill down on all the details. The drawback to that approach is that I might overwhelm you with too many details that may or may not prove helpful in your decision-making process.

So, if you get to the end of this email, and you still want to discuss this more, then maybe we should set up a time to talk via Skype or Zoom after I get some more details from you. Otherwise, here are the broad brush ideas/principles your email made me think about.

1. What would the extra money from an immediate pension and cheaper healthcare coverage do for you? 
   • The first thing I would focus on is determining what, specifically, the money created by staying for an immediate pension would unlock. I would also do this with the money saved on healthcare. If I couldn’t answer those big questions with a  detailed answer, then I wouldn’t even bother with sticking it out for eight more years. I say that because there’s nothing of high enough priority to risk further damaging my mental or physical health. And let’s be honest, that’s the trade-off a person in that situation would be making.
   • To be fair, the immediate annuity that I earned from active duty is nice, and so is the subsidized healthcare. But, if I hadn’t gotten significant compensation from the VA [Veteran’s Affairs], I’m not sure I would’ve felt like the reward was worth my mental and physical injuries. I say that even though I had a written plan that detailed exactly how I would put those rewards (i.e., the pension and healthcare) to use.
   • Of course, the mention of VA disability brings up the option that you could still earn some sort of immediate payment if your disability rating is high enough. That assumes Guard members receive the same benefits as Active Duty members. Or, maybe in your case, that full-time Guard members receive the same benefits. That’s something you’d need to research, and if so, then plan your submission methodically. BTW, did you read my latest post on what I learned from my first 18 months as a pensioner? I talk about VA disability in it.
   • I know VA disability is a total crapshoot, and there’s no great way to predict what you would be rated at. However, I had a lot of physical and mental health issues, and everything was documented copiously. So, I suspected that I might end up with a 2^nd monthly check. You might be in the same place.  
2.  How good are your mental health guard rails?
   • You mentioned that you sought help and now have some coping mechanisms, but how good are they? More importantly, how good are they at picking up early signs that something’s wrong?
   • In my case, I went through two rounds of talk therapy and multiple medications just to endure for three more years. Even then, I finished my second round of treatment as I retired and was told I need a third. So, you got to be proactive about this type of injury, just like you would for rehabilitating a physical injury.
   • Now, maybe your issues aren’t as bad as mine, but eight years is a long time to endure the stress from a job that has already caused you known mental health issues. There are very few scenarios where I see that ending without you suffering further injury. The question is whether you can set up a system that mitigates most of that stress without worsening your condition.
3. What’s the next part of your life look like? And, how bad do you want it?
   • “Retire to something” is what all the expert retirement planners say, and they aren’t wrong. For me, I retired to the life of a father who is present in his kids’ day-to-day lives, an overseas GI Bill student, an ex-pat, and an author. That’s a lot. In fact, towards the end of my studies, I wondered if I bit off too much. That said, I’ve yet to have a day where I regretted retiring.
   • So, you mentioned starting that next part of your life sooner with option number 2. That sounds like a great compromise to me, especially if you’re worried about bearing the costs of full retirement. I say that because it puts one foot in each camp for you, so you get to sample what life beyond the military would really look like. 
   • Of course, I don’t know what your exact financial footing looks like. For instance, do you have younger kids with upcoming university bills in the future? Or, do you have a GI Bill you could use? However, I’ll take your statement that you and your spouse are in a really good financial place at face value. As a result, I’d ask you why not try COA #2 and see if it works?
   • Knowing what I do about full-time reserve positions, I suppose one drawback might be that full-time Guard positions are few and far between. So, maybe you lose out on a guaranteed return to full-time service if you decide you want to. However, I think the likelihood of that is small (barring some unforeseen financial crisis).

So, Jody, those are my broad brush thoughts. Again, if you want to get more detailed, I’d need a lot more detail from you. However, I’m not sure you need that level of analysis … unless there’s some substantial financial issue (like a ton of credit card debt) that you haven’t mentioned. In my opinion, you appear to have worked out an excellent bridging solution with COA2. I think that will provide you the insight you need to make the correct long-term decision on retirement or a return to full-time duty.

Feel free to reach out again. Otherwise, thanks for listening to my book and reaching out! Please leave a book review wherever you bought the audiobook from.

Regards,

GM

Final Pension Couch Thoughts

As a former military instructor, I will foot stomp (i.e., emphasize) my first point to Jody. Sure, an immediate annuity pension is worth more (see Pension Series Parts 3 and 25 for why). However, if a person doesn’t have a plan or an identified need for that extra money, then what’s the point in staying?

Obviously, since Jody hasn’t responded, I don’t know what his or her reasons for staying might be beyond the money. I guess if he or she wanted to use that extra money to open an orphanage for refugee children from a war-torn country, then maybe gutting it out for 8 more years would be worth the trade-off of further mental injury. On the other hand, if Jody’s only motivation for gutting it out is to earn a bigger pension paycheck, then he or she missed a major point I made in my book: pension money is just a means to an end, not the end in itself!

Actually, I think I said that “money is just a tool, not an end state”, but hopefully you catch my drift! If pension money is just a tool, then it’s up to each pensioner to determine that tool’s purpose. If all a pensioner needs for a successful retirement is a tool the size of a screwdriver, why stick around to earn a tool the size of a sledgehammer?

The other point I want to foot stomp is that gutting it out for 8 more years in a mentally injurious job is probably not a recipe for success under any circumstances. Jody is lucky that he or she can either retire or switch to the traditional National Guard operational tempo rather than return to the high-stress, full-time job. Not everyone has that luxury. If I were Jody, it’s a luxury I wouldn’t squander.