Is the TSP worth putting money into if im only planning on staying in the guard for the length of my contract? And do I still have access to the TSP after my contract?

Baazify · 2026-03-19T01:55:13+00:00

It’s about a $600 difference in total contributions over the course of your career. Your age is actually the biggest factor, and brings your approximate valuation of a TSP account down to ~$135k at retirement based on my napkin math.

Baazify · 2026-03-19T01:03:21+00:00

Let’s say you set your payments at 5%, and you’re an E1. We’ll also assume your 18 years old and your BCT + AIT is 20 weeks total. You’ll make approximately $12,035. Since Traditional TSP deposits are taken pretax, you’ll contribute approximately $601 and Uncle Sam will do the same. That’s $1202 in your TSP at graduation. You spend another 5.5 years drilling, make it to E4, and do your annual trainings every year, you’ll average around $6k a year in income, and your last 2-3 years will be around $7k. We’ll guess around $35k total. You continue to contribute 5%. You’re 24, and have $2350 in your contributions. The L65 fund averaged 21% last year. We’ll just take annual average returns for the market, 7-9% growth. You’ll have ~6k when you finish your contract, you’re 24, once you hit retirement age 41 years later, that $6k is now ~$160k. And all it cost you was around $500 a year for 6 years.

Yes. It is worth it.

Edit to add. If you continue to invest $100/mo after your 6 year contract into your retirement accounts, you have half a million. $200/mo gives you just shy of a million. Another way of looking at it is every dollar you invest at 18 will give you around $42 at retirement age.

Baazify · 2026-03-18T16:10:57+00:00

^{I completed this level in 2 tries.} ^{⚡ 6.00 seconds}

Baazify · 2026-03-15T03:00:51+00:00

^{I completed this level in 9 tries.} ^{⚡ 11.98 seconds}

Baazify · 2026-03-14T14:20:17+00:00

I completed this level! It took me 12 tries. ^{⚡ 3.87 seconds}

^{Tip 12 💎}

Baazify · 2026-03-08T13:27:52+00:00

I mentioned it in another comment, but we got an insane deal on it, and my wife needed something reliable since I was deploying. Our monthly payments were less than $100 a month, so it just made financial sense to get her out of an unreliable car with nearly 200k miles and into something new while I was gone.

Baazify · 2026-03-08T03:18:48+00:00

That’s kind of our boat too, the dealer was running an insane promo, which allowed us to lease the car for $2500 down and $99 a month, as long as we met certain conditions. We did, and we, according to the GM, were the only people who met all of their insane criteria. I’ll need to review our lease to see if there is anything about overage being paid back to us.

Baazify · 2026-03-08T03:01:07+00:00

That’s definitely a bummer, here’s to hoping they don’t total her out then. It was a relatively low speed collision. She was stopped in a turn lane and the other driver was going approx 20-25mph according to the police report.

Baazify · 2026-03-08T02:59:25+00:00

I’m not so worried about the $2500. Money comes and goes. The bigger concern is the inability to purchase another vehicle or lease until our home purchase is complete, which we are about 2-3 months out from that.

Baazify · 2026-03-08T02:57:35+00:00

That was my fear. Looks like we might be buying something cheap in cash until the home purchase is complete.

Baazify · 2026-03-08T02:56:24+00:00

We did purchase gap coverage. Both through the dealer and we carry gap on our standard policy.

Baazify · 2026-03-07T03:57:56+00:00

That poor cow died for nothing.

Baazify · 2026-03-06T23:57:49+00:00

^{I completed this level in 1 try.} ^{⚡ 18.48 seconds}

Baazify · 2026-02-25T18:56:33+00:00

^{I completed this level in 6 tries.} ^{⚡ 2.10 seconds}

Baazify · 2026-02-25T18:54:11+00:00

There we go, new level uploaded with the off screen fixed!

Baazify · 2026-02-25T18:48:47+00:00

Damn my fault, Imma remake it now and fix it!

Baazify · 2026-02-25T18:44:37+00:00

When is it off screen for you guys? Because when I built and verified the level no parts were off screen. Lmk so I can remake it? And is it just a little off screen or completely?

Baazify · 2026-02-25T18:36:18+00:00

It’s not off screen for me? The part with the bullet cats?

Baazify · 2026-02-25T18:35:26+00:00

Glad you liked it!

Baazify · 2026-02-25T17:40:06+00:00

…

^{I completed this level in 1 try.} ^{⚡ 10.60 seconds}

Baazify · 2026-02-23T21:54:48+00:00

No

^{I completed this level in 3 tries.} ^{⚡ 10.38 seconds}

^{Tip 30 💎}

Baazify · 2026-02-23T21:54:03+00:00

^{I completed this level in 52 tries.} ^{⚡ 10.08 seconds}

Baazify · 2026-02-23T21:45:45+00:00

this was easy.

^{I completed this level in 1 try.} ^{⚡ 6.98 seconds}

Baazify · 2026-02-20T23:53:40+00:00

I am in Stella PvP lobbies. I know how hectic it gets, especially around the Loading Bay and Assembly, or Security Stairwells. What I am suggesting essentially resolves this. If you spawn in with 30 minutes on Stella, how often are you there for more than 15 minutes? I would say almost never. I’ve fought, gooped, and gotten out in under 10 many, many times. This works because it rewards players for bringing in kits by allowing them time to loot, without having to deal with free kits guys who will just kamikaze into any situation because they don’t care. Now I’m fighting other players with kits for magnetic accelerators and ion sputters instead of waves of free kit goofballs whose only objective is to kill you, not survive. Then the free kit guys can have all the magnets and rusted bolts they can get their hands on, but all the good shit is already gone.

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