Military Retirement Calculator: Should I leave today or stay for one more year…

Deciding whether to stay in the military or transition out isn’t easy. There are big life factors involved: Are you ready to go TDY again? Can you handle another move and uprooting your family? Is it worth taking your kids out of their school?

These are tough, personal questions that no calculator can answer. But when I was getting close to leaving the military, I realized there was one thing I could quantify: the money. Specifically, I wanted to know what staying an extra year would be worth in terms of my pension. I saw too many people just multiplying the extra retirement pay by the years they’d live, but they weren’t accounting for one big thing: the present value of money vs. its future value.

That’s why I built this Military Retirement Calculator. It helps you figure out how much income you’d need to make if you left the military today, to offset the difference in pension if you stayed.

How It Works

You input your current pension, how many more years you might stay, and your future pension estimate. The calculator factors in things like pension increases and inflation, then compares your current pension to your future pension. It tells you exactly how much extra income you'd need to make in your next job to cover the pension you'd be giving up. Simple math for a not-so-simple decision.

Use our Military Retirement Calculator to find out how much income you’ll need to make in your next job to offset the difference if you decide to leave today, or if waiting a few more years would be worth it for a retirement boost. Whether you're thinking about transitioning now or holding out for 4, 6, or 14 more years to hit that 20-year mark and full retirement, this calculator helps you make a smart, informed financial decision.