Sign up for TSP Immediately
With the new Blended Retirement System coming soon, most Airmen won’t have a choice since it will automatically sign you up at 1% of your base pay. This will come into effect 1 January 2018. For someone who is already in the Air Force or just coming out of Tech School to their base, I would highly recommend signing up now.
How much do you value your future? Starting early will definitely give you a big advantage compared to someone who’s been in ten years and haven’t contributed a dime. Steer away from the G Fund unless you want your money to just keep up with inflation.
Five Ten Twenty
So here’s the deal with the new blended retirement system that’s coming out, they match your contribution! Now take it easy Bo Jack Horseman easy… DOD matches up to 4% of your contribution when you have 2 years of service.
That means that if you don’t put in at least 4 percent you a losing out on free money. Now if you are already in the service and decide to opt in will automatically get the match. With that said, I still don’t think that’s enough.
The question to ask yourself is how much are you willing to contribute to your future self?
Is your future self only worth 5 percent ? I guess that’s ok.
Maybe 10%? That’s a bit better.
Let’s give future self some love at 20 percent? Now that’s loving yourself.
The big lesson that I hope you take from this is to get the ball rolling at a young age is what matters most. Increasing it gradually or maybe even extremely can make a huge difference when it’s time to pull that money out. As a young Airman, I personally put in 10 percent. Now, I double that at 20 percent and I really don’t notice. The difference compared to back then is when you put 10% with the blended plan, you get a 4% boost.
Do not buy a fancy car
I can’t even count how many times I would get home from work and I would see all these fancy cars parked outside. I’m talking about Porsche Boxster, Lifted Chevy trucks, Mustangs, Chargers, BMW, and the list goes on and on. Some Airmen, fresh out of tech school are spending 50% of their income to purchase shiny cars they can’t afford. We’re talking $750 a month. Don’t be like those Airmen. Be smart with your money and buy a decent used car and maybe get newer used car as you get promoted down the line.
Avoid the need to buy the latest gadgets
The new iPhone X is coming out soon…will you be in line? The answer should be a big fat NO!
The device cost over $1000.
That’s used car territory.
With taxes included and a Verizon plan, you’re looking at $1350 for the first month. I’ve seen this happen every time a new iPhone comes out. Think twice before letting go of your hard earned cash. Many hours at work was sacrificed to earned that money. It is really worth it?
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