Self Financial Investment Opportunities in the Marines?

[Visage]

Good evening Marines,

As someone who believes they are more or less financially responsible (and irresponsible when the time calls ), I must ask:

What are the the financial investment opportunities that are available to members of the military, specifically Marines?

I've read comments of thrift savings accounts, Government bonds, and things of that sort. Can someone who knows a bit more about these types of programs explain what is available and what are the ones to keep an eye or healthy interest on?

Thanks!

[TheReservist]

I'm no expert on this by any means. With the thrift savings account, you can allocate as much of your pay/special pay/reenlistment bonuses to go straight to the thrift savings account right out of your paycheck.

With the thrift savings account, I believe that they have several set plans that have various levels of risk and return. Beyond that, I don't know.

[Sgt Leprechaun]

Reservist is correct. If you google 'Thrift Savings Plan' you'll get pretty much how it works.

And nothing is stopping you from doing the regular 'cd' investment thing, either. TSP is easiest but investigate the other possibilities.

[ammermda]

The Thrift Savings Plan is very popular amongst Marines -- you can select what your income/growth strategy is and your money is invested into stocks/bonds/funds that are geared toward providing you your desired level of return.

That said, I myself do not have a TSP. I have a traditional IRA for myself, and a Roth IRA for my wife; both through USAA. I like doing my own research and building my own portfolios. This is much more hands-on than TSP, and I would not recommend it unless you have a higher than average tolerance for risk.

I'm not sure how much you are familiar with investing, so for the benefit of other readers: generally, the riskier the investment the greater the potential for higher returns. (However, since there is higher risk, there is also a greater chance of losing your money.) Also, you have to decide whether you are interested in income generating investments (i.e. those that pay a dividend) or capital gains (i.e. letting your stock increase in value, then selling it at a profit).

There is no right or wrong in investing -- it's all about what your goals are. For me, I am invested in high dividend yield (and high beta -- risk) stocks in order to increase my cash on hand with which to buy more stocks. My two reasons are 1) I'm young enough that I can recover from the losses of higher risk investments; and 2) I need to increase my cash available to invest so I can purchase more quantity of more secure stocks once I start to get ~40 -- at that point in time my strategy will change to being more risk averse, and focusing on capital gains of quality blue chips.

Finally, military service will afford you the opportunity for meeting with a financial adviser/planner (free I believe) and you should definitely seize the opportunity. And I have to add this final disclaimer: I am NOT a financial adviser! My strategy may not necessarily work for you. So, keep reading, learning, etc. and happy investing!

SF

[USNAviator]

The Thrift Savings Plan is very popular amongst Marines -- you can select what your income/growth strategy is and your money is invested into stocks/bonds/funds that are geared toward providing you your desired level of return.

That said, I myself do not have a TSP. I have a traditional IRA for myself, and a Roth IRA for my wife; both through USAA. I like doing my own research and building my own portfolios. This is much more hands-on than TSP, and I would not recommend it unless you have a higher than average tolerance for risk.

I'm not sure how much you are familiar with investing, so for the benefit of other readers: generally, the riskier the investment the greater the potential for higher returns. (However, since there is higher risk, there is also a greater chance of losing your money.) Also, you have to decide whether you are interested in income generating investments (i.e. those that pay a dividend) or capital gains (i.e. letting your stock increase in value, then selling it at a profit).

There is no right or wrong in investing -- it's all about what your goals are. For me, I am invested in high dividend yield (and high beta -- risk) stocks in order to increase my cash on hand with which to buy more stocks. My two reasons are 1) I'm young enough that I can recover from the losses of higher risk investments; and 2) I need to increase my cash available to invest so I can purchase more quantity of more secure stocks once I start to get ~40 -- at that point in time my strategy will change to being more risk averse, and focusing on capital gains of quality blue chips.

Finally, military service will afford you the opportunity for meeting with a financial adviser/planner (free I believe) and you should definitely seize the opportunity. And I have to add this final disclaimer: I am NOT a financial adviser! My strategy may not necessarily work for you. So, keep reading, learning, etc. and happy investing!

SF

I've been using USAA for years. Have all insurance policies, credit card and online banking with them. Also have an investment portfolio including stocks and mutual funds. The down side is that I believe it's only for military personnel and families. It use to be only for officers but that changed a few years ago.

[Apache]

There are a lot of twists and turns to the financial world
Hook up with financial planner

Best case hook up with a rep who makes a commission on your gains