Originally Posted by
jrwash
I totally agree. That's how I was able to work mine up to maximum years ago. Anybody remember the good old days when we got those huge 4-5-6% raises??? Part of the COLA went to TSP, part went to the take home pay. My wife and I adopted the attitude that it was money we couldn't use until retirement. Period. TSP contributions weren't considered disposable income that we could redirect elsewhere. TRust me, It wasn't easy at times. Except for a couple of really lean years when my kids were in college, I never reduced my TSP contributions. Dropped them by 4% from max for 2 years to get the boys thru and still make ends meet. Once college was done, we got back to max on TSP and then refinanced the house with a very low interest (3.25)% loan my CU offered. Took a total of 12 years to pay off our present home. That was 4 years ago and we're staying put. To me, those were always the two key elements to retiring financially secure at any age. But, especially mid-50s to early 60s.
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