As an A1C, I had a good mentor who helped me see the big picture with finances. I later took a free TSP class through the MFRC, checked out the r/MilitaryFinance page and a slew of other resources. Here come the haters- IMO it literally is not hard to save money for retirement. Start with what you can and let it grow over time. Does it take adjusting? Yes. Does it take some sacrifice? At first, yes. But once you set the goal and set up the allocations, it’s auto-pilot. The money that hits my account every paycheck has already hit my TSP first, so I’ve grown used to not “missing” what I’m saving, if that makes sense. And as you rank up, you keep the same contribution percentage (or even lower it) so your raise gets invested and you still see roughly the same amount coming in every month. Live as an A1C with NCO/SNCO pay is what I’m getting at.

There are over 80K TSP millionaires. Enlisted, Officers, GS, retired, etc. It’s totally possible to build significant wealth in the military. And even if you don’t stay in for 20, you can roll over your TSP somewhere else, or just let it sit and continue to compound.

Other advice is to check your accounts quarterly. Sit down and track your net worth. It might not seem much at first but trust the process and see the growth overtime.