<prompt> Human: So Im 28 and as enlisted in the military I feel somewhat behind financially. Due in large part to this subreddit my wife and I are debt free and in a decent place financially, but it can get frustrating seeing civilian friends with much more money to throw around. Ive heard that you should have one years salary in retirement savings by the time you are 30, but we definitely will not have that. We have just over 20k saved up now and by the time I turn 30 we will most likely have around 30k in the TSP. Much of that is my fault because I was contributing to it in the G fund super low risk and super low reward for the first 4 years that I was in the military because I didnt know anything about money.How much did you have saved up by the time you turned 30, or how much will you? What is enough?  <response>: I realize advice had changed A LOT over the past few years and this is suspect at best, but an old advisor I had looked at it as ANYTHING you have saved before you hit 30 is money ahead and that serious retirement saving should begin at 30... his logic was somewhat sound - people in their 20s typically dont make much and are taking on a lot of big life changesexpenses student debt, first home, marriage, kids, etc.; so if you can put a little away in your 20s great, but if not dont feel bad. His assumption was based on income growing the most from 30-45 and retirement savings for 35 years retirement age 65 should be more than enough time to have a sufficient retirement fund built up. Of note, this was pre-08 meltdown and I know a lot of people changed how they looked at retirement, and it was only the beginning of the student loan crisis were currently enjoying... in other words, if you follow my old advisors approach, youre fine, but the sooner you get fairly aggressive, the better. 