Hey reddit,
Today, I finished a 6-year contract with the military, over which I was able to save over $100,000. Below, I'm going to go over how I did it, as well as some things that I didn't know that can make your results even better.
1) The Plan
I joined the military primarily for monetary reasons. I didn't want to risk gathering debt that I may not be able to pay back by going through college, and the jobs available to me as a young, unskilled worker were all dead-end jobs. I also wanted the training and job experience in a field I could use to land a job after my time in, so I went enlisted.
Before I joined, I looked at the basic pay charts available online, and calculated how much I'd be able to save over the course of my enlistment. My plan was to put away 50% of every paycheck, starting from day one. The number I came up with was around $65k. As it turns out, there were many benefits I didn't know about, and I was able to save a lot more.
2) Maximizing income
Firstly, I chose a job that gave real-life skills that I could use after the enlistment. (I highly recommend a field that does both this, and advances quickly).
Early on, my goal was to advance as fast as possible. Certain jobs advance more quickly than others, and my job in particular was quite competitive. There were a few times that I didn't think I was going to pick up, but I managed to make it the first time, every time (For those considering joining, I suggest you pick a job with high advancement to maximize your chances).
I made it a point to get BAH (Basic Allowance for Housing) as soon as I could. The day I received BAH was the biggest payraise I ever received. In my experience, the single BAH for any given area was usually enough for a 2-3 bedroom apartment. This meant that I could get roommates and pocket the difference.
Lastly, I got stationed overseas. At first, I didn't know the pay would be higher – I just knew that I wanted to go to see a new country. It turned out to be a great decision, as there were multiple bonus pays that came along with it. COLA and OHA utilities, which I won't get into for the sake of brevity, added a huge (tax-free) amount to my pay to the point that I had a $3,500/month (post-tax, post-rent) income, which grew to over $5,000 over the years.
3) Minimizing expenses
After graduating bootcamp, I had a few thousand that I used to buy a computer and a cheap cell phone, which served as my entertainment. I opened up a credit card with cash back, and set it to pay itself off from my checking every month, in full. Because of this, I never paid interest, and got to build my credit score, while making money off the banks.
I ate and slept on base, so I had virtually no expenses. Because of this, I was able to put 65% of my E-1 paycheck into saving and investments. As I ranked up, I was able to save more, while also increasing my standard of living. I followed the principle of “pay yourself first”, and sent an aggressive amount into my savings automatically every month. I avoided many of the pitfalls that some of my peers ran into, such as buying brand new cars with high interest rates, or dropping 3 digits at the bar every weekend.
Because I was frugal on most things, I was able to afford the things I wanted most. I'd drop $10 on drinks at a dive bar vs. $70 at an expensive club, but shell out for a nice dinner. When I traveled, I would stay in a cheap B&B vice a hotel. I never had to worry about money, because I splurged on the things I really wanted and ignored the rest.
4) In conclusion
In a little over a year, I had saved $10k. At 2 ½, I was up to $25k. At 5 ½, I had hit $100k and now, at 6 years, I am sitting at $118,000 including all of my savings and investments. This is starting at $0, using purely the money I have gained during 6 years in the US military.
For those of you skeptical of my ability to make as much as I did, make sure that your calculations include BAH/OHA, COLA, and BAS on top of base pay. The thread is meant to motivate and inform, not devolve into arguments on how much the military is really paid.
All in all, I'm very happy to met and exceeded my goal, and I hope that I helped you as well, be you military or civilian. Though I won't disclose any personal information on things that I have done, feel free to contact me for advice on things you should do if you want to follow the same path. Good luck.
Submitted November 07, 2017 at 03:39PM by Tydaljames http://ift.tt/2hbS2Tn
