Senior LT trying to figure out finances

[werise55]

@kitty346 It’s Traditional TSP and L 2060

I looked at a lot of posts on here and many said they just leave it in the L fund and forget about it (I also don’t know much rn about that part of finance)

 

[kitty346]

@werise55 The L Funds are a great option, especially if you’re not interested in researching other options or just want to choose one thing and leave it alone.

Most newish military members benefit more from the Roth than the traditional, but it does depend. Basically you’re trying to predict whether your current tax rate is lower or higher than it will be when you withdraw the money. Military members tend to have low tax rates because BAH and other allowances are tax free.

Traditional might be better if you have a high income (high rank, a significant bonus, etc), additional non-Military income, a spouse with higher income, or you’re expecting to leave the Military and have some years of very low income when you could convert from Traditional to Roth at a very low rate (for example, living off the GI Bill while at school).

 

[werise55]

@kitty346 Thank you!!

 

[paramedic848]

@werise55 Pay off that debt first. Then max out TSP and open and Fund a Roth IRA as well (Fidelity or Schwab). Just buy ITOT or VTI or similar, you can buy ETFs such as these through any brokerage. Strive to not take any more loans. Keep expenses low and invest as much as you can while you're young.

 

[nothinges]

@werise55 Increase Roth TSP to max it. There's no excuse to fall short of maxing Roth TSP as an O3. Even if you don't max, 9% is woefully inadequate contribution.

Get rid of the $100 allotment.

Open a Roth IRA. Contribute your $6.5k AMEX HYSA for tax year 2023. Your $4k in checking that you never touch goes into it for tax year 2024. Deadline for 2023 contribution is April 15.

If the $8k in savings isn't a HYSA, move that to the AMEX HYSA or put it into a money market fund with your IRA broker.

Develop a plan to max the other $3k into Roth IRA for the rest of the year.

 

[jesuslover19]

@werise55 Are you an O2.5 or something? Whats a senior LT

 

[werise55]

@jesuslover19 It’s a pretty common term I’ve heard, like senior CPT

 

[dandan27]

@werise55 Never heard of a senior anything in regard to officer ranks. Sounds like something an LT would say though lol

 

[crimson12]

@dandan27 Senior Capt is pretty common since they’re usually Capt for 6 years.

 

[dandan27]

@crimson12 Good to know. Thanks. I’d feel awkward referring to myself that way though. My kids already want to refer to me as a senior citizen even if I’m no where close.

 

[kiwisalad]

@werise55 Good on you for thinking seriously and deliberately about your financial planning now.

Before I begin, I would urge you to think about your money more in exponential terms than linear terms. You speak of a HYSA (High yield savings account); it's better to think of it in terms of the % annual return (which should be 5% in 2024 for a good money market/savings account). You speak of your debt, but you don't mention what the % interest is that you pay. You speak of moving 9% of your income into TSP, but you're not saying which fund your TSP money is in. Consider focusing more on how your money is or is not working for you.

As I read your OP, you have about $1.7K in your checking and about $18.5K in various other checking and savings accounts. I see no information on how much you have in your TSP.

With that in mind, here are two immediate-action steps you should take:

1. Adjust your TSP settings to optimize for long-term growth. Check your TSP and make sure all your TSP is in stock-based funds (I do mostly C with 10% small cap and 10% international). TSP defaults to the bonds-based G-fund, which generates far less long-term growth. Also, if you're not putting 100% of your your TSP contributions into the Roth option, especially this early in your career, you really should.
2. Consolidate your cash to one checking account and one savings/money market account, and make sure your savings/money market account is getting at least 5% growth per year. Don't trust that any savings account is getting a decent return because a bank calls it "high yield." If you're not getting 5% on a savings/money market account in 2024, you can and should do better. Leaving your money alone in a low (or zero) yield checking account is wasting an opportunity to have your money work for you. You should never feel any sense of loyalty to any bank's checking or savings account system. It's a good idea to hold onto one or two credit cards long-term, but you should keep your eyes and ears open to better options on checking/savings accounts, because even good bank account options change their rates and rules over time.
3. Set up a brokerage and Roth IRA account at Schwab, Vanguard, or Fidelity, so you can handle your own savings and investments outside of the TSP. Don't sign up with a financial advisor/broker; they tend to charge commissions and put your money into relatively under-performing assets. If First Command ever tries to recruit you as a customer, politely refuse; you will do far better investing on your own.

All that said, you seem to be in a good position to really start pushing your long-term savings contributions and growth up, especially once you get that debt paid off. Now is a great time to set some short, medium, and long term savings goals and put together a plan / order of operations to service those goals. Here's one example of how you might do this:

Goals: $2M for retirement once you hit 65, $100K for a down payment on a house in 10 years, $20K for a car in 5 years, and an emergency fund of $10K by next week.

Order of Operations (to be taken after the immediate action steps):

1. Establish an emergency fund. Put $10K of your available cash into something that gets 5% annual returns in 2024 and is fairly accessible. A good option for this is a money market account (Schwab and Vanguard have good options for this). As I read your OP, you already have about $10K in cash on hand you could dump into your emergency fund. Do that, and then leave it alone until/unless you have a financial emergency or your financial responsibilities grow (marriage/kids).
2. If your interest rate on your loan is 5% or greater, take the rest of your on-hand cash and pay that debt off now.
3. Readjust your allotments. Instead of dumping $100 a month into a crappy savings account and $450 towards that debt, try to put $600 / month toward your brokerage account for your future house/car purchase. Use this to automatically buy an index fund (I use the Schwab S&P 500 index fund for this kind of thing). This will grow over time, allowing you to make big purchases without going into debt again.
4. Increase your Roth TSP contributions to be as high as you can reliably sustain every month. Your ultimate goal is to max it out (current limit is $23K per year)
5. If/when you have excess money, put it into your Roth IRA account and invest it in that same index fund you use in your brokerage account.
6. If you're maxing out your Roth TSP and IRA contributions and still have money left over, put it into your brokerage account for now, reassess your financial goals, and readjust your plan accordingly.

I hope this helps.