<prompt> Human: After being a long time lurker of reddit I finally made an account to ask a question I couldnt seem to find an answer to. I am a newly commissioned officer in the military and I was wondering what are the benefitsdisadvantages to investing in the government TSP plan in regards to the freedom to use that money later down the road to buy a house or other big purchases. From my reading of how the TSP both the tradition and Roth options are set up there are penalties to remove the money before you retire. So my question is it smart to use the TSP to save money or would I be better off keeping that money accessible in a Vanguard or Fidelity type investment account?  <response>: Ultimately you need to do both. Tsp is a great retirement savings plan, but you should not use it as some type of method to save for a house. Yes its an option, yes it is a bad option. Newely commissioned, invest 15 into the tsp, put 5 to 10 of that away for home purchase.You are looking at about 4 to 8 years before you buy a home. 