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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Well we have a DoD budget of over $700 Billion a year so that explains a lot of it.   [b]An O6 Captain(18 years service)  in the Navy grosses $138k plus  a housing allowance with great heath/dental benefits.  And the 4 years at the Academy counts towards service.  [/b]After 20 years of service they will get a pension and can get a job in the private sector.

In The DC metro area you see the expensive cars driven by officer families.  Not the case with enlisted personnel.  You do your 20 years in the officer cadre and then move to the private sector.  You never  accrued educational  debt so  it is easier to spend on quality cars.  Plus with a generous  pension,  they do not have to  save/invest as ordinary citizens.  I'm the son of a retired Navy Captain.[/quote]

Are there really that many people that become an O6 after just 14 years of service, after being in the academy for 4 years?   That's a 36 year old Captain!
My Dh is a retired Marine officer, and most people we knew, after 14 years of actual service were a couple years into being an 04.   My Dh retired 10 years ago, have things really changed that much?[/quote]

An O4 w/20 would still get like 115k a year in pay, plus they will also get over 40k a year in Base Allocated Housing here. [/quote]

So a person in their early 40s with a college degree that has worked for the same employer for 20 years is making $165/year in the DC area.   Is that really considered high income?[/quote]

It's not the same--the officer's pay is equivalent to way more than 165k in the private sector. That's because the Base Allocated Housing is nontaxable, plus most military do not pay state income tax b/c of where their home of record is.  And there are additional tax breaks for military.

Plus there is the pension and ohter benefits.

And then you add in the fact many have spouses that work, and the spouse does not pay state income tax either because they can claim the same home of record. [/quote]

Not my experience that "most do not pay state income tax."  For most of my Dh's career we lived in our home state of record.
Still what exactly is "way more than $165k" and is it a high income for someone with a degree and 20 years of experience with the same employer?[/quote]

Then you did it wrong. A stent in Alaska is really the key to maximizing state income tax benefits [/quote]

There are plenty of tax lawyers willing to advise that if you were ever stationed in FL or AK and then move around with “the intent” of eventually going back, you can continue to claim those as your home state. [/quote]

Again, there are few (if any?) opportunities for a Marine to get stationed in AK.   Florida is a bit more likely, but unfortunately never came up as a possibility when my Dh was due to PCS.   We got choices like California, Gulfport Mississippi, and Okinawa-which I've been to and is not my cup of tea.[/quote]
It doesn’t matter your choice to where you can be stationed, it is your INTENT where you want to live that is your home state.  You can literally choose any state. [/quote]

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