@davidolonge I really appreciate that, I will have to sit down and do more budgeting but this is helpful, I’m very focused on my future and hope to utilize every tool possible
@cheky1818 If you haven't seen it already, there's tons of investing, budgeting, saving, etc, tips over on /r/personalfinance - make sure you give the wiki a look and once you get a handle on some basics there's tons of people there that can help you with general money management. It'll be less military specific, but it'll still apply to most of what you do with finances throughout your life. If you do plan on posting questions though try to provide complete info...it's hard to help someone find weaknesses in their budget when they only list expenses covering half of their income and "don't know where the rest is going" but are living paycheck to paycheck.
@firefly01 This!!!!! when I was in basic 4 years ago as a E-1, I had mine set to 40% for the first year I was in.
I knew I was going to be going through A School for 4 months and TAD for 6 months for another training as an HM before checking in my first command. Haven’t figured out what my account information is so don’t know how much is honestly in there.
@poeticchristian It’s not too late to do so. When I was in a school we couldn’t leave base for a while or allowed to drink so the commissary and the chow hall became my food source. The money was already being taken from us so why not go to these places to eat (unlimited dinner chow) or shop for things for the room.
I didn’t need a big tv or a gaming console (had those at home in storage to get at my next command) when a rec center on base had all the movies, consoles, pool tables and other amenities to do.
@firefly01 50% is a bit high you never know what the future holds and locking away the majority of your savings in retirement maybe isn't a great idea. i've got a 6 year contract and after a little over 2 years in i'm unexpectedly probably getting separated soon and i'm pretty grateful that only a little less than 1/3 of my cash is in my tsp. i'm in a pretty good financial situation to get separated right now but if i had been putting 50% in my tsp the vast majority of my money would be stuck in retirement right now and i'd be kind of screwed.
