r/MilitaryFinance

I am maxing out my Roth IRA, Roth TSP, and investing in real estate. Why Roth? I'd rather get taxed a little bit now rather than get taxed on the money that I decide to take out when I reach retirement age. My goal is to plant a seed today so that my kids can rest in its shade when the time comes. My hope for them is to continue the cycle.

I'm an E5 and 2 years into my military career.

My aim for this discussion is to learn from others who are more experienced from me - but even more than that, I hope I can use my experience to counsel others who want to do the same. AMA.

I’m currently an active duty E4 in the Army stationed in California with two years into a 6 year contract.

I was recently offered the opportunity to buy my mom’s home(my childhood home) from her back in Texas. This home is listed as my permanent residence in my records from when I enlisted. Would I be able to use the VA loan to buy the house despite being stationed out of state?

Need help with TSP

Hello, I'm 18M currently in AIT for another 2.5 months, and National Guard. I am interested in putting more money into my TSP to let it grow since the guard is more of a part time thing and I got about 4.5 years left till my contract is over. I don't really plan on taking my money out of a TSP in my 50s but rather when my contract is over when I'm 23. I was wondering if it'd be smart to put 75% or any high percentage into that since I already have about 7.5k in savings alone and I don't really spend a whole lot. So I supposed I'd have my money grow out over time.

More info about me:

E3

Live with my parents

Thanks.

Spouse and I are dual mil right now, but once one of us gets out and we continue using the CDC does VA count as income when they determine our Category number?

Hello!

I'm currently active duty Army (68X, Behavioral Health Tech), E1-E4, under 4 years in. I'm following the Dave Ramsey baby steps: no debt, written budget, quietly stacking savings, and putting 5% into my TSP. I don't pay rent right now, and I plan to move back home for a bit after I get out in 1.5 years. The logic being to keep stacking while I finish grad school.

I'm using my benefits to fund an MPP and an MSW. Here's where I'd like feedback:

• Transition from AD → Reserves + GS role. I already have a GS series in mind. Do 20 years in both, eventually landing two pensions (one around 50, another after 60).
• Direct commission: Talked to a medical recruiter - I could direct commission as a Social Work Officer after finishing my MSW. If I like it, 20 years active duty gets me a military pension around 50.

Currently single, no kids, but that could change, and I know it affects how AD life-cycle vs. Reserves/GS compares long-term.

I don't have a strong preference between the two.

Looking for input from a neutral third party who also weighed these options.

I joined the army when i was homeless last year. joined as 25U simply because it was the only one that would get me out sooner. The plan was simple: Go to college as soon as I get to my first duty, get my BA while there and extend if need be. Whether I do a second contract was up in the air at the time.

Well, I started college and ended up getting deployed after 3 weeks, so i had to withdraw. So now I plan on switching to 46V during my second contract and try again with school. 46V because im interested in video editing and 3d animation. 3D anime is what I plan on getting my BA in. Once I get out, Ill use my benefits for video production.

The problem is, obviously, I have no place to go. When I get out, I want to be in a state, i plan on living for several years and buying a home with VA benefits. According to another post, I would have 48 months total for my education benefits, then some state have additional benefits I can use afterwards. I was planning on using Post 9-11 benefits and pocketing the BAH towards savings. But I want to maximize it. The obvious choice would be to go to a states with higher cost of living. But I fill like that would backfire. Colleges that are geared toward learning art are expensive as well.

So I really don't know how to go about finding a college and place to live. Ideally, I would like to go to a state with good benefits like no state income. But colleges where I can maximize my benifits is also important. Then I was have to determine if I should live on campus, or rent out a place which would eat into BAH.

Hi team,

I just had a quick question regarding TSP. I am new to America and the retirement system differs heavily from my home country (Australia) which does a flat 15% employer contribution for retirement.

I am an 09S starting state OCS next year. Currently just drilling with a unit in the meantime. My civilian job pays well, and does a 401k matching.

Can I select TSP and have it all in the C fund? Or is it for military pay only?

Second question: I’m maxing out the Roth IRA thing, is there a military equivalent?

Current order of ops:

401k matching
Max out Roth ira
Vanguard investment $200 a week
Money to Australia to pay Aussie mortgage and build offset
House deposit for USA home

Does this sound about right?

goin through a local mortgage broker - credit both 750+ doing a dual VA loan with my partner (unmarried; he’s active duty, im a vet) on a new build in NC. We were quoted 6.125, and that feels a little high to us for a VA loan right now. I’m seeing lots get below 6% should we be looking elsewhere? Settlement date is on the 3rd of August so we need to start an approval now if so.

Just curious from the military finance experts, if there are published NW goals to strive to achieve either by age or rank similar to what Fidelity publishes by age? I know military life/pay is much different than civilian so just curious what others milestones are in the military community.

So I am trying to plan ahead for an optimal financial decision with my (30M) upcoming promotion to O3 in August. My wife (26F) is an O1. After promotion, I plan to set our TSP percentages to max TSPs. I am torn between placing additional savings in a taxable brokerage account or a HYSA. I would like to start investing in a taxable brokerage to build a gap fund to bridge to retirement age. I would also like to have enough funds in a HYSA to pay cash for a vehicle should our family grow to 2-3 kids within the next 5-6 years. Assuming we have an extra $1500/mo to save or invest, is it better to put that into a taxable brokerage account or HYSA? Here is some additional info for context:

TSPS (both): 103k

IRAs (both) 103k

HYSA: 40k

- First child expected beginning of next year.

- Wife will promote to O3 next year (skips O2 in medical corps)

To restate my question, where is the best place to additional funds after maxing retirement accounts that has the flexibility for future big expenses (e.g. car purchase)? Open to any other financial advice for dual mil couple as well. Thanks!

I’m looking to buy a home, I have good credit and a decent income stream, but the problem is my price range only includes condos and dated rowhomes. There are a few places with more square footage that I actually like, but they’ll need work. I’m down to do renovations, so that doesn’t bother me. Mostly worried whether a VA loan would even work for a fixer-upper or if the condition of the house could be an issue.

Has anyone here successfully bought a fixer-upper with a VA loan? Is there a specific type of loan available for this? Interested to hear what y’all would do in this situation.

Can lenders actually get you approved for a home if you’re just at an E2 pay rate. No debt btw. Curious to know if anyone qualified at such a low rank.

So my unit was scheduled to receive our per diem on July 2nd and it’s been approved since June 6th. Does it come exactly on the 2nd? Or does it take a couple of days to deposit in our accounts?

Hey everyone, thanks for welcoming me into the forum. I am a USMC veteran currently trying to re-enlist after 6 years of being out. A couple of years before I got out, the military introduced the blended retirement system. Those of us that had been in before 2018, They gave us the option to either opt in or opt out of it. I never opted in, and chose to keep the 20 year legacy retirement. However, a couple of years later I EAS’d. Now I’m in the process of trying to reenlist. Would I be able to still keep the old legacy retirement system? Or will they automatically just put me into the new one? I’ve tried asking my recruiter this, but have not gotten any clear answers. Thanks for any input! The way I see it, it would be so worth it if I could keep the old system. I would just have 15 years til retirement.

I just got out of basic a few weeks ago and I am trying to get my financials sorted and obviously I need a budget.

I would like to know how you all make your budgets do you use an app or do you use a spreadsheet or do you wing it and are you using the 70-20-10 methods or did you get your own way.

Did anyone sit down with the military financial advisors?

For context I am in the coast guard about to go to my first unit and I am an E-3

Wanted to ask if anyone has experience using MAS and what was it like taking delivery back CONUS? Also what financing option you took along with any local dealer rebates? I’ve read that it’s up to the person buying the vehicle to secure their own financing option (credit union, local dealership, through MAS, etc.) and how early did you submit the order to ensure it was there when you arrived. I am also aware that I will have to pay the sales and possible state tax when registering the vehicle at the DMV. Thank you!

I currently have an auto loan with 12.1K remaining at 6.79% interest and a little under 3 years left on the loan and that is my only debt. I also have an emergency fund with around 17.5K earning 3% interest in a HYSA. I have recently been considering taking 7.5K from my emergency fund to apply towards my car loan in order to save on interest, then moving my contributions for my emergency fund to my car to pay off the car by early next year. Once it is paid off I would take the amount I usually spend on the car payment to replenish the emergency fund. This seems like a good idea to me due to the ROI from saving on interest, however I feel like I need a sanity check before doing it.

I got Active Duty orders for overseas in Nov of 25 but because of a bad roommate arrangement I HAD to move out of that apartment. My current orders were still active until April and I signed a new apartment lease in march.

Am I fucked? or is there any way to apply my SCRA? I leave on the 2nd of Sep and when emailing my apartment complex about wanting to use my SCRA I got told it was no applicable since they're from Nov of 25.

Currently an O-2 working for the Army and unsure if I will get out pre-command, post-command, or stay until retirement. I have tons of financial questions about how to get the most out of benefits and set myself up for life, so any financial advice given is appreciated! But I’m making this post with a focus on best methods for saving money is HYSAs/retirement accounts. Also been told to buy a duplex using the VA loan at my current/next duty station and start building real estate assets.

Here’s my current savings situation:

Roth TSP: Putting in 10%, just started getting the 5% match from the Army. Sitting on around $7k in there with a mix of S, C, and I (following crown tribe on fb, iykyk)
Edward Jones Roth IRA: Around $18k sitting in there, but I’ve had this account longer than the TSP, opened in college. It’s financially managed and I throw $250 in there each month, currently 12.65% rate of return in the past year. Planning to increase monthly contributions next month. Tho it’s financially managed, I’m piggybacking off my parents account, so I don’t pay much in management fees.
Marcus HYSA: Around $14k in emergency savings. I used to throw money in there every month, but I stopped as I figured $14k is good enough for emergency money. 3.40% APY on that.

Any recommendations to change what I’m currently doing or shift money around? Anything I’m leaving on the table in regards to benefits I’m unaware of? I also have Robinhood Gold so I was thinking of opening an IRA with them for the 3% match, instead of increasing my Edward Jones account contribution. But then I’d have to manage the individual investments within the account which I’m not super familiar with. I guess I would just throw into the an index fund like the S&P500

DTS Voucher approved. GTCC was paid off but have yet to receive per diem. It’s been 2 weeks now. Who do I talk to?