chris99

That's not true. I had a three-year break in service 2007-2010, came back with a rated recall and was promoted twice and will collect a Reserve retirement when I'm 55 with the RRPA. //Break, break// So what I'm hearing is I will in fact obtain a Reserve retirement as an LTC without having to serve the last 7-months in Active Duty service since I have over three good years TIG as a participating Reservist as an LTC...correct?

I had a break in service, but I’ve been participating in the Reserve for 13 years since that break in service ended.

You mean since I’ve pinned on?

Thanks fellas!

I'm not looking to get an Active Duty retirement, only a Reserve retirement. I just want the higher "jelly of the month club" multiplier that retiring as an LTC gives you because I think it's approximately $800/month more as an LTC in my situation. With my RRPA, I'll start collecting when I'm 55. I just want it to be the higher monthly amount that comes with the LTC multiplier.

What is “DSG?” I got promoted in October 2019. I’m an IMA that has done 2.25 years of MPA since my promotion and I have been actively participating when I haven’t been on AD orders. I’m wondering if I need to do MPA for the remaining .75 year in order to hold LTC in retirement.

So you’re saying if I have three good years as a Reserve LTC then I can retire as an LTC? That “Active Duty” verbiage was throwing me off…

OK, I need some clarification from people in the know about Reserve retirement. 10 US Code 1370(b)(1) states: "(1)Service-in-grade requirement.—In order to be eligible for voluntary retirement under any provision of this title in a grade above the grade of captain in the Army, Air Force, or Marine Corps, lieutenant in the Navy, or the equivalent grade in the Space Force, a commissioned officer of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, or Space Force must have served on active duty in that grade for a period of not less than three years." AFI 36-3203, Para 8.2.5 states: “Three-Year TIG Requirement for Retirement Above the Grade of Major. To voluntarily retire in any grade higher than major, an officer must have satisfactorily served— as determined by the SecAF or designee—a minimum of three years TIG while on AD for AD retirements or during creditable service for AFR members retiring under 10 USC § 12731.” The regs seem to state that the 3-year TIG must be on Active Duty service. This seems like a lot to ask for a Reserve retirement--am I understanding it correctly?

I'll take a stab at it. H.R.25 (the Fair Tax Act) would be a good solution in my opinion, but Pres. Biden has threatened to veto it if it passes. If you aren't yet aware, the Fair Tax has been proposed in Congress regularly since around 2005 but has never seen a vote. The Democrats/mainstream media try to paint it as a 30% regressive tax that will increase the middle-class tax burden. But if you read the actual bill, you'll find out why it's never seen a vote and why politicians hate it so much: it takes lobbyist money out of their pockets and takes away the control they exert with the IRS. The bill completely does away with the incompetent IRS (which fails to collect a TRILLION dollars of owed taxes each year: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-treasury-irs/irs-chief-says-1-trillion-in-taxes-goes-uncollected-every-year-idUSKBN2C0255) which costs over $12 billion to fund each year. This means there will be no federal income tax or payroll taxes withheld from your paycheck and you won't have to file federal taxes each year (it gets rid of capital gains taxes as well). The Fair Tax is also progressive in the sense that everyone (every registered household) will receive a monthly prebate (rebate) check to cover purchases of necessities up to the federal poverty level. This effectively makes the tax rate 0% up to the poverty level and then it staggers up to 23% based on what you buy. This is key because it encourages saving money and purchasing used goods since the tax will only be levied on new goods and services. You are now in control of your tax rate based on what you choose to buy or not buy. The Fair Tax would get rid of tens of thousands of pages of IRS tax code and replace it with 100-200 pages of tax code. Politicians don't like it because it closes all the tax loopholes people like Warren Buffet and Donald Trump use to pay less taxes than middle-class Americans. It also get rid of corporate (and export) taxes (which only get passed through to the consumer anyway). This will bring businesses and jobs back to American soil because there will be no reason to move them offshore any longer (except maybe wages for labor). It is also fair because everyone (regardless of income) pays the same rate. This is important because we are recently seeing a huge jump in rich people moving overseas to avoid taxation (https://calbizjournal.com/why-wealthy-people-are-giving-up-their-american-citizenship/). Also, it will potentially bring in more money because all the people that don't pay taxes now (career criminals, undocumented immigrants, pimps, etc.) will then be paying sales tax at the register for new goods/services. Most states are already equipped to collect sales tax so it won't be a huge transition. I wish people would spin the monthly prebate checks as "reparations" because then lots more people might support it. 🙂 Wikipedia has a lot of the details regarding the amount of the prebate checks, etc.: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FairTax.

Ratner is 100% spot on here (except he should not have just singled out conservatives). And he is most-assuredly speaking about private conversations with liberals. Unless you can have a rational conversation with someone of the opposing viewpoint, nothing is going to change. Some people might be too far gone to have a rational conversation with, but from my experience, if you try to put yourself in their shoes, go have a beer together, and not talk solely politics and religion; you should have at least a little success in establishing some rapport and being able to have a productive dialogue. We also need term limits and at least one other viable party to vote for to break out of this funk in my opinion. I think the FairTax (H.R. 25) would help as well because it would abolish the IRS and curb lobbyism/tax loopholes.

Who manages your AirBNBs?

For the Reservists/Guardsmen in the crowd, you can hedge your bets and take the full SBP benefit payout if you die from when you stop serving until two years after starting retirement pay and then cancel it. You have one year to cancel SBP from the two-year anniversary of starting retirement pay (see below). To me, this seems like the best bang for your buck because you will only pay for two years of SBP and still be covered (if you die) for multiple years depending how big the gap is between when you stop serving and when you start collecting retirement pay. Once you cancel SBP within these limitations, you can then rely on more economical options such as term life insurance as required. -Survivor’s Benefit Plan (retirement annuity) law (https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?path=/prelim@title10/subtitleA/part2/chapter73&edition=prelim): 10 USC Chpt 73 (BLUF: you can cancel SBP for a one-year period after the second anniversary of when retired pay is received. See “Stopping or Changing Coverage” bullet #4 at: https://www.dfas.mil/retiredmilitary/provide/rcsbp/) --Para 1447 6(B): Full amount under reserve-component annuity.—In the case of a person who would have become eligible for reserve-component retired pay but for the fact that he died before becoming 60 years of age, such term means the amount of monthly retired pay for which the person would have been eligible— (i) if he had been 60 years of age on the date of his death, for purposes of an annuity to become effective on the day after his death in accordance with a designation made under section 1448(e) of this title; --Para 1448a: Election to discontinue participation: one-year opportunity after second anniversary of commencement of payment of retired pay (a) Authority.—A participant in the Plan may, subject to the provisions of this section, elect to discontinue participation in the Plan at any time during the one-year period beginning on the second anniversary of the date on which payment of retired pay to the participant commences. (b) Concurrence of Spouse.— (1) Concurrence required.—A married participant may not (except as provided in paragraph (2)) make an election under subsection (a) without the concurrence of the participant's spouse.

I made this move years ago. I use a free app/website called Personal Capital to manage my accounts/net worth in one place. Not necessary, but if you private message me your email, I think I can send you a referral code that gives us both a $20 Amazon gift card (I've never referred anyone before...). They try (not aggressively) to sell you financial planner services, but you can ignore the couple emails they send out and just use the app for free. I've been using it for a few years now and haven't paid a dime. I bank locally now and use a Citi unlimited 2% cash back Mastercard. By "nerfed" do you mean they are canceling it?

This wouldn't apply to a Reservist who retires and doesn't collect a retirement check until years later, correct? For example, no matter when I choose to "retire" from the Reserve, I won't collect a retirement check until my RRPA month (which is set in advance based on amount of MPA orders served) years later.

I work in PACAF, so I don't know what Robins AFB is doing, but today the A3 was briefed that if you are retiring (I assume those separating will be included as well) before 01 April 2022, you will not be required to take the vaccine. This is new information as of this week and applies to the Air Force specifically.