First off, I’m 18 years old in the Air National guard, I have a full time job currently making about 32k gross annually, and open to getting a second job. I currently have a HYSA in which I contribute $100 monthly.
Expenses and bills combined comes out to about $800 monthly. So, after my HYSA and expenses, I get to pocket about $1,000 monthly.
I have two credit cards, I pay off every month with a limit of $2.5k combined, and I have a credit score of 730 currently.
Now, couple questions,
Since I am only in the national guard, I only make about $900 every three months from it. So, should I be contributing more to my TSP? (Currently at 5% Roth, 5% trad). I also have it 100% C fund.
I plan on increasing the amount I contribute to my HYSA, but how much should I increase it to?
My work provides me with a 401k, I don’t think they match it, and I just set it up, so should I contribute to it, how much should I contribute to it, and what do should I put it in?
Majority of my expenses is my $400 car loan (6years left), I plan on using my bonus from joining on fully paying it off within 3 years, I don’t currently make principle payments because I don’t have too much saved at the moment, ~$3k. (I’m saving to pay for my car payments while I’m gone during basic)
I pay my own phone bill, I have health and dental insurance from my job and national guard, I pay all car expenses including insurance, registration, safety, etc.., I don’t currently pay rent as I live with my girlfriend, I pay food expenses, and that’s all I can think of, is there anything else I should be planning on adding to my bills anytime soon?
I ship to basic in a couple months, it’s 6 months long, is it possible to pause my car registration or any other bills while I’m gone? And should I?
I’m planning on using tuition assistance for my degree once I am back from basic and tech school, I have the Montgomery Gi bill + kicker ($~800 monthly), can I pocket the GI bill for my expenses if I’m doing full time school and part time working?
@clare100 Why both job and national guard insurance? Tricare reserve is most likely better than your job insurance for a lower cost.
I would look at the job 401k plans expense ratios before putting money into there if the cost is more than TSP then just increase TSP contribution instead.
I would also open a Roth IRA and work on maxing that before increasing TSP or 401k contribution. Keep TSP at 5% to get match, use the TSP/401K contributions to ROTH IRA first to max then try to max out the TSP/401K.
Look into state benefits as well as fafsa. My state fully covers tuition cost for veterans in state schools so I keep fafsa and any other aid.
For HYSA, keep 3-6 months of expenses in it, after that you can use the old HYSA contributions to contribute to 401k or Roth IRA.
Invest in yourself. Low tax bracket means you should be fully Roth (10%) just changing what you have now.
Invest in yourself. If you don’t have something you need then save for your future. As much as you can/want so you can use it for something most beneficial.
If they don’t match then just check expense ratios. If higher than TSP use TSP as able. If you want to save more for retirement than your part time paychecks allow use an IRA (Roth).
Invest in yourself. Get an education in something useful and/or hard. Can be a degree, can be a trade but do something special. As appealing as it is to save early for retirement, you need to spend to enhance your job skills. I read a comparison recently on what $2k in a Roth can do vs $2k in education that can reasonably lead to a raise and the education won handily.
Get an education. For the “[best return on investment] pour your purse in your mind.” -Ben Franklin (probably).
Oh and it doesn’t hurt to put some money away for retirement early if you have excess. A little compounding still hours a long way.
