Spekkio
He bowls overhand.
But they have a Roth option that's capped at $17.5k, which gives you tax-free growth on your invenstments.No, servicemembers don't get their TSP contributions matched.
But they have a Roth option that's capped at $17.5k, which gives you tax-free growth on your invenstments.No, servicemembers don't get their TSP contributions matched.
This is a really sweet deal... so if you're deployed to a combat zone where your earnings are tax exempt, and you put them into the Roth TSP while in the combat zone, since it's taxed up front you pay essentially zero tax at all, right?But they have a Roth option that's capped at $17.5k, which gives you tax-free growth on your invenstments.
It's what we should strongly advise that they do, after they pay off debt and before the dependapotomii can spend it.^yeah, because the first thing an enlisted dude is gonna do with his SRB is drop that shit in a Roth.
Or before they get that great deal on a Mustang.It's what we should strongly advise that they do, after they pay off debt and before the dependapotomii can spend it.
I would argue that it's actually good to have cash on hand, say six months of living expenses tucked away in a CD or something else easily accessible. You should be advising your guys to fund their TSP continually each month, have savings, and carry little debt. I wouldn't automatically default to dropping 50-100% of an SRB into something they can't touch for another 40 years.It's what we should strongly advise that they do, after they pay off debt and before the dependapotomii can spend it.
Sure, but it takes time to build up that savings account, and it can take a lot longer to find a decent civilian job than people might expect. For someone who's planning on staying in, it might make more sense to focus on investments more than just a savings account, but for a guy who's even thinking about getting out, having that six months+ of living expenses is a smart thing to do (especially given the [anecdotal, don't have stats] underuse of GI Bill benefits).The 6-month rule is a rule of thumb, and part of that rule of thumb is that people in civilian world can find themselves with a pink slip a lot more readily than servicemembers. It also is a generic metric for people who may own homes or have children, something most junior enlisted servicemembers don't have.
I said 'as much as possible' because 'six months of living expenses' for a junior enlisted servicemember is $0. Everything they need to live is automatically deducted. They generally have no idea what that magic number ought to be. Hence, setting up a vehicle to put away almost every dollar they earn instead of blow it on cars, motorcycles, or marrying strippers is the smart thing to do. Some of that needs to go into the 'how I'm going to feed myself when I get out of the Navy' fund, some of that needs to go into the 'how I'm going to feed myself when I eat through a straw' fund. Besides, the topic at hand was what to do with a bonus, which should be extra money that isn't factored into the budget anyway.
Married with kids is a bit of a different story. In general, if you get to that point without some kind of savings built up and need a tax-free reenlistment bonus to make ends meet, you have a spending problem not a saving problem.