I made it. Can’t tell anyone I know so I figured I’d share here

Edited to correct a word.

Long time lurker here who has learned a lot from this sub but only posted a few times.

Well, I guess I did it. I finished all of my work responsibilities and am working on a few days of outprocessing before I start to burn my saved leave and retire at 42.

I've been fortunate to have had the opportunity to save aggressively and to have a pension that begins immediately (military) and I'm looking forward to pursuing volunteer opportunities and whatever else looks interesting without having to worry about moving again for work or being sent away for 6 months to a year on short notice.

As a military member I was compensated fairly but never at the level of someone working at a tech company. What really helped is that my spouse was able to work throughout my entire career with a remote job, a luxury I'm very thankful for as meaningful and consistent employment is a major issue for military spouses.

We found that a slow and steady approach of index ETFs fueled by the market returns over the past decade did the trick for us and put us in a very comfortable spot to retire early. I'm hoping my spouse pulls the trigger soon as well so we can start enjoying the free time together.

Numbers:

$3.8M between brokerage, retirement, and checking/savings accounts. I don't count home equity or the brokerage account and 529s I fund for my kids in my numbers.

I'll also be pulling about $120K in pensions, some of which is tax free at both the federal and state level. My state also doesn't tax military pensions so that's a nice bonus.