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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]... are you saving for retirement and kids’ college? My DH is an active duty military officer, and I’m a teacher. I don’t make a ton of money but have managed to be employed everywhere we’ve been stationed. The vast, vast majority of my husband’s colleagues are men with stay at home wives. We are constantly baffled at how these families seem to have tons more disposable income than we do. Trips (yes, even through covid), bigger houses that they seem to buy at every duty station, luxury vehicles...  Don’t get me wrong, we live comfortably, but we take minimal vacations, have old cars, and a small rental house everyplace we go. We are diligently saving for retirement and kids’ college. But I  blown away when I see how our day-to-day lifestyle is so much more low cost than these contemporaries... when I know (due to the fact that the military pay is about even and I work and most wives don’t) that our HHI is considerably higher. My husband says he is certain that none of his colleagues are putting away the $1500/month college tuition we are. And that the others are probably just counting on the military pension plus making $$$ working for a contractor after retiring from the military.

I’m posting this here because I obviously can’t directly (and rudely) ask this if our military friends and aquaintances in real life. I’m genuinely curious. I’d love to hear about your savings if you are a military family. Thanks!![/quote]

I'm in the Foreign Service which shares some similarities with military officer families.  At first glance salaries are quite flat so families' financial circumstances should be similar.  However, there are considerable differences when you consider whether/how often both spouses work, kids, and the allowances and differentials earned at different posts (plus to what extent and officer serves domestically versus abroad--FS receive housing abroad but no housing assistance when serving domestically).  Add to that differences in family money plus whether officers enter with student loans or savings from pre-FS work (perhaps less relevant for military).  Then layer on top of that the fact that different families have different financial priorities.  This is will result in different lifestyles and different net worths.  So...no family with exactly your earnings and circumstances is somehow affording to save like you do and have a splashier lifestyle, likely those you're observing have different priorities and circumstances.[/quote]

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