I created a second account since I don't want any of this information to be tied to my main one.
I'm asking for some financial advice. I've read through much of the FAQs on this subreddit as well as r/financialindependence. Although, they have helped me get an idea of what I *should* do in the future, I still need some clarification for what I should do now. I've followed this subreddit for a few years now and am hoping I can get some help from you guys.
I'm 25, single (but in a long-term relationship), no children, no debt (paid off new car/student loans) and am renting an apartment. I'm in the US military and my income is roughly $55-60k per year. My monthly expenses are roughly $1500 or (rent/internet/food/etc.)
I contribute $1020 each month to my Roth TSP and I add between $1-2k to my savings each month. It's hard for me to calculate exactly since for the last 5-6 months, I've been spending more than normal for holiday, home stuff and other travel. My income has also changed recently and I've adjusted my TSP contribution a few times over the last few months and so I don't have a solid number. I don't have an issue saving or following budgets and so I'm not concerned about being able to get a good track on that.
I, unfortunately, didn't enroll in the TSP Blended Retirement System since I had legitimately forgotten about it. So, I am missing out on that sweet federal contribution to the traditional TSP.
As of now, the only thing I have done for my retirement/future is contribute to the TSP and save money. I'm well aware that more needs to be done, but I'm not sure which steps I should take now, and which I should do later.
Right now, I have roughly $30k in savings/checking accounts, of which I consider $10k to be for emergency funds, which leaves me with $20k to invest. I'm in the military and so losing my job isn't a worry and I have a pretty sure line on jobs with better pay following the end of my service late next year. I'm not worried about employment and I'm not worried about losing my apartment or anything else etc. That $10k would solely be for car issues / family deaths, etc.
I'd like to ask what the next step I should take is. My idea is that I take care of the extra money in my savings and then continue to slowly accrue my savings again while also contributing to my TSP.
Obviously, my money isn't doing me any good just sitting in my savings and so I think that I should invest that extra $20k into some index fund (Vanguard?). Is there any other diversification I should do when it comes to that, or would this money be better used somewhere else entirely?
Also, once that is taken care of, I'd like to ask if it would be better for me to completely max out my contributions to my TSP and still save money on the side, or should I leave my contributions at $1020 a month and contribute to something else instead? I'm not sure, yet, if I can happily contribute $1.5k a month or so to max my TSP yet since I would like to slowly save money for vacations and other purchases in the future.
Basically, I should so something with the $20k then figure out contributions/investing and also save some money on the side for purchases I'd like. I don't need help figuring out exact numbers or anything like that, but rather what steps I should take and when should I take them?
I don't have an age in mind for when I'd like to retire. My main goal is to give future self as much financial flexibility to make that decision.
Thanks for any amount of help that you guys can give me. If anything that I said is confusing or if you have any questions at all then please ask. I'm eager to learn and so anything is helpful.
This is one of those situations where I don't know which questions to ask yet since I have such little experience in this field.
Submitted April 14, 2019 at 11:18PM by redditgivemeaid http://bit.ly/2IlFRmL
