Hello all,

    Long time lurker, first
    time poster. I have always been decent (I think) with money but reading through
    the wealth of knowledge in these posts makes me think I may not be making my
    money work as hard as it could be. For reference, am an active duty W3 at (just shy of) 18 years and plan to retire at 22 years. My wife got a new job (on top of her current one) that drastically changed our financial situation and will allow me to leave the military comfortable, hitting my high-3 as a W4 if all goes well.

    What my finances look
    like. For the first time this year I will max my TSP, IRA and Wife’s 401k.

    Roth TSP: $135k – will max for the next 4 years (C& S).

    Traditional IRA: $77k – will max for the next 4 years (Victory S&P 500 Index Fund).

    Wife’s 401k: $100k – will max for the next 4 years (not sure, but has gotten about 10% this year).

    HYSA: $32k (4.3%)

    VG Brokerage Acct: $37k – contribute $1550 a month total. (VFIAX & VTSAX)

    Own one house outright, worth about $223k

    Mortgage on primary residence, owe $205k, house is worth about $400k.

    Have some other smaller I accounts I play with: crypto, individual stocks, REITs, but all together are sub $15k and I only contribute about $250 a month to things that I don’t need to count on.

    All this said to ask, what would you do differently? These 4 years will likely be the most my wife and I ever make combined and we are looking to allow me to retire from the military and not be desperate for money and to ensure we have what we need to retire in the future. We should also have a bit more a month to invest, where would you put it? Thank you who have read this far and I look forward to hearing what everyone thinks!

    What would you do differently?
    byu/Wayofthegun96 inMilitaryFinance



    Posted by Wayofthegun96

    2 Comments

    1. Why are you using a traditional IRA? You likely don’t qualify for any deductions, so it’s pretty pointless (though I don’t see your taxable income here).

    2. Ok-Republic-8098 on

      Don’t understand why you’re doing traditional IRA. It’s helpful if you’re doing a back door Roth, but it seems silly otherwise. If you want traditional, I put some into traditional TSP so I have the added flexibility.

      What the heck are you doing with the second house? Is it an income producing rental? If it’s not, I might get rid of it. Houses are selling with higher prices now that interest rates are coming down and there’s talk about getting rid of 1031 exchange.

      If your wife isn’t maxing out her ira I would shift from brokerage to IRA contributions

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