Should I stay in the Navy for 140k bonus and 30k a year extra to retire early?
**I’m currently in the navy as a MMN and I hit my 24 month mark for a star reenlistment. If I reenlisted for 2 more years I can get a 140k bonus (actually 98k paid in one lump sum installment of 49k and the rest paid out over the rest of my contract). I can also increase my monthly pay by about 2.2k a month tax free (getting access to BAH). I’ve been on my ship for 2 months and have about 3.5 years left to go on my contract. The job is challenging but I think I could manage an additional 2 years. My ultimate goal is an early retirement (40 is the goal) so this lump sum upon reenlistment is very attractive to me. I currently have 51k in my Roth, 38k in my tsp, 20k in my HYSA and 72k in my Schwab at 25. I have a yearly income of 40k with a yearly expenses totaling 6k and majority of my money left after expenses go towards saving and investing (fun spending has never gone over 5k in a year while ive been in the navy). With the star reenlistment I’d rank up (\~5k more a year) and get access to BAH (26k a year tax free)**
**The upside is a large lump sum towards my brokerage, (I max my Roth each year) and getting closer towards my early retirement with more money compounding earlier.**
**The downside is that navy nukes have a very solid job outlook/network so I could expect to earn 90k+ once I separate from the navy. I would be taking time way from a higher earning civilian career (but also would have to shoulder costs like rent and healthcare). Mathematically, all other things aside does it make send to reenlist for this bonus and spend 2 more years in the navy? My main reason for doing it would be to put that lump sum into my brokerage to accelerate my retirement timeline.**