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A comment on The U.S. Air Force learned to code and saved the Pentagon millions. Parent comment

Re:The U.S. Air Force learned to code and saved the Pentagon... by Jtsummers on Friday July 06, 2018 @12:00PM (#17472473)
$40k household income for life, and that's still above median for many parts of the US (though about 2/3rds median for the US as a whole). Are there other job opportunities, outside some police departments, that offer similar compensation and let you retire at age 40?
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Re:The U.S. Air Force learned to code and saved the Pentagon... by DennisP on Friday July 06, 2018 @12:50PM (#17472936)
Yes it's great, it's equivalent to over a million dollars with a safe withdrawal rate. I'm just saying you're probably still going to be working, not actually retired.

$40K is the figure I got from a Navy commander who's been in over 20 years. He and his family are used to approximately triple that level of income. He doesn't feel he can retire.

Lower-ranking people will be used to living on less, but will also have proportionally lower retirement pay. If you're a lower-ranking person and can get significantly higher pay in the private sector, it's not necessarily a dumb choice to go for it.

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