So I’ve always been a little responsible, but not nearly as smart as I’d like. My current status, 33 years old, 15 years active duty military, definitely staying for 20, maybe longer. Legacy high-3 retirement system, but still contributing 25% to TSP over the course of my career. Current TSP balance is just over $200k. It’s all in traditional TSP because I listened to really dumb “financial advisors” (retired E9s readying a powerpoint) when I was younger. Embarrassed to admit I took a TSP loan for $50k a few years ago. Almost finished paying that back. The missed opportunities on that $50k sting.
I have about $55k in HYS (emergency fund), and another $45k ready to invest. I have been able to save $750 a month this year.
Not yet married, no kids. But will marry and intend to start a family soon.
Don’t yet own a house because we expect to move one more time. But we have an 8 year plan to pay off a house when we do. We don’t yet know our FIRE number, because we want to wait until the house is paid off to calculate.
So my questions, Where should I start putting my excess money? I don’t have any brokerage accounts yet and am pretty willing to open whichever makes the most sense. How much of one’s excess income should be saved for current recreation/lifestyle/vacations vs invested for retirement? I don’t want to touch our emergency fund ever, but I also want to be able to “splurge” from time to time on hobbies/travel/date nights/etc.
Thank you for the help. I have really loved this sub and all the information you all share.
Getting serious about my future
byu/Advanced-Zucchini552 inMilitaryFinance
Posted by Advanced-Zucchini552
1 Comment
https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/wiki/commontopics
tl;dr – If you want to maximize retirement then max TSP and an IRA. If you have mid-term goals (like buying a house), then some of that can go to a taxable brokerage *if* you’re willing to wait for the market to be up to buy, otherwise put it in a HYSA. If you have even shorter-term goals (like <3 yr), put it in a HYSA.
Once you’re maxing retirement accounts, the above advice just generally applies to any excess you want to save…taxable brokerage for mid or longer term goals, HYSA for shorter goals.