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.

LTC Eugene Chu the 401K allowed me to retire, comfortably, at the age of 55.

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.