Do these 3 things as soon as you get your paycheck to keep your finances in good shape

I will do some analysis later for TSP.

Let's assume the historic stock market return over 200 years to be 10% every year, and that is really a close approximation. We will assume SM invests in a stock market TSP.

Salary = $24,000/year
SM invests 5% salary a year to TSP = $1,200 a year.
Military max matching is 5% of the salary = $1,200 a year.

The value of the TSP fund will be $137,460 after 20 years to include the impact from the matching funds. What is total cost to the soldier for investing over 20 years? $1,200 X 20 = $24,000. The total cost for the SM is $24,000 and the value after 20 years is $137,460.

This calculation is for a Roth IRA.

If you have questions shoot. I might know the answer, I might not.