To put it straight: I’m an A1C in the AF and was stupid with my money in tech school. Like truly an idiot with it. I blew it all on subpar food, bad snacks, and just random nonsense. I’m leaving for RAP next week after a four month tech school, and I only have $500 in savings and $600 in my checking account.
Did I mess up? Can I still overcome these awful financial decisions and set myself up better? What are some ways I can do that? Any proactive measures I can take to better my spending habits?
I assume I’ll spend a lot on RAP and leave as well so I’m just super anxious about my finances…this is my first job and my first time alone so I really have no experience or knowledge and they don’t teach this stuff here.
Please and thanks.
I’m going operational finally but am disappointed and anxious about my finances. How can I do better?
byu/Different-Line- inMilitaryFinance
Posted by Different-Line-
1 Comment
I was in a very similar position after tech school, but I followed it up with years of seeking poor financial advice. I’m almost 30 and doing substantially better with my investments than my early 20s when I *thought* I was financially literate.
My best advice is pick up the latest edition of a book called A Random Walk Down Wall Street and invest more into your TSP. The book teaches you about different forms of investment, how to tailor investments to your appetite for risk/age, taxation, and retirement.
The book is one of the only finance books I’ve read that references several long term studies around investing, and after reading it you’ll more easily be able to disregard a lot of “finance bro” culture that plagues younger military members.. in my experience, many of these people are just gambling with a few added buzzwords they don’t really understand.