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octotron3000 OP t1_j6i982h wrote

Reply to comment by pickymeek in I have a financed car and less than 30 days before navy basic training. by octotron3000

What do your acronyms stand for, and yes I have someone who could sell it. This is a good idea.

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vt1032 t1_j6iarsl wrote

TSP= thrift savings plan. It's a traditional or Roth retirement account that was rolled out for service members a few years back when the retirement system was reformed from the 20yrs or nothing model. They will match your contributions dollar for dollar up to 3% and at .5 per dollar from 3-5% so that's basically free money. It's a no brainer to at least put in the 5% they'll match. G funds are one of the available investment choices within TSP. They are very low risk/low reward, so basically a bad choice for anyone who is not about to retire. They have more aggressive funds you can choose or lifecycle funds which are based on your anticipated retirement age and are a diversified mix of funds that adjust risk/aggressiveness as you get closer to retirement.

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Swissgeese t1_j6jrng2 wrote

You need to go to legal services on your base and get them to use the Service Members Civil Relief Act to lower any of your preservice interest rates. Also talk to a financial counselor at the service center on base to get advice on retirement and your TSP as mentioned. I would use USAA or Navy Fed as a bank as well.

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octotron3000 OP t1_j6kkyym wrote

I appreciate the info. I'm pretty sure I have to graduate boot camp and be stationed first tho.

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beekeeper727 t1_j6ktruj wrote

You’ll get an opportunity to talk to both USAA and Navy Federal banks while in boot camp, they allot specific time to set up new banking/work on existing things! You can ask them about refinancing at that time. Also, once you get to your duty station you can ask about a new insurance rate through USAA.

If you have the opportunity I’d keep the car for A school depending on where A school is located. A lot of a schoolers with cars actually make out well because folks without cars pay them to give them rides and such. A lot of rides share services still don’t have base access.

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octotron3000 OP t1_j6kvw4t wrote

Thank you for this info, single handedly the best advice I have received on this post.

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DANKROM_33 t1_j6n00tw wrote

Ask your recruiter for your orders to basic, once those orders are cut and official you can feed them to your creditors (car loan owner, credit cards, banks, whomever you're paying interest too) and they are legally REQUIRED to lower your interest rates under SCRA. If they do not then you can get your legal team involved during basic. Usually this process is all automated now if you have orders, or is a short 5-10 minute phone call.

The savings in interest could make it worth keeping the car. Honestly though probably just sell and keep expenses low while you're getting laid through basic and first duty station.

Take the advice above and start contributing to your TSP (Thrift Savings Plan) as much as you can afford. Roth and traditional options are available and it's a great plan for all service members.

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