<prompt> Human: Hello pf!This has gotten some discussion on the military specific subs, but primarily from a was it a good idea or will it encourage people to leave the military earlier?, not strictly looking from a PF mindset. This sub has taught me a lot, but Im still not financially savvy enough to calculate NPV or the future value of the pensions to figure out which option makes the most sense. For those unfamiliar with the current military or new retirement systems, I explain them at the end of the post. Me - Military Officer, O3 with 8 years currently. I plan on staying in for at least 20, probably until year 26; as long as theyll have me. No debt except mortgage 245 mortgage297 appraised. CCs paid in full every month. Married with 3 kids 10,2,2. My salary is 85k, wife 30k. Savings:TSP - 42k 34Tra, 8RothIRAs -45k Half RothTaxable Brokerage -22kSavingsEfund - 24K529s - 17kFor the past year weve been maxing out TSP, and putting the left over into the IRAs, but arent maxing those yet although my wife just started working again since the twins were born a month ago, so that may change. The current military retirement requires that you serve 20 years. If you leave one day before that, you get nothing. If you serve past that, upon retirement you get 2.5 times the number of years you serve times your monthly base pay, each month for the rest of your life and is adjusted for inflation. The new retirement system also has this provision, but changes the calculation to 2 times the number of years of service times base pay, resulting in a pension that is 80 less. They make up for this difference by offering matching funds in your TSP account 1 of Base Pay for the first two years, and up to 5 for the rest of your career up to age 26. They also offer a continuation pay bonus at the 12 year mark which doesnt exist under the legacy system, except for certain specialties like doctors or pilots, which I am not, which can range from 2.5 to 13 times your monthly base pay as a single lump sum. The government contributions vest after two years, so even if you serve less than 20 years you can still start building towards retirement. Theres also an intangible life insurance type benefit - if you die in the legacy system, your pension stops unless you purchase a separate insurance plan called SBP. Under the new plan, youd be able to pass along the money in your TSP account to your spouse or children. Service members with fewer than 12 years of service as of 112018 can decide if they want to opt in to the new system, or keep the old system. After that date, all new recruits will fall under the new system. The major downside is that there is no provision for retroactive payments or catchup contributions for those that opt in, meaning theyre missing out on 12 years of GOV contributions. Im definitely not an excel genius; so Im sure its going to get ripped apart but I put together a little GoogleDocs spreadsheet to try and get a feel for how some of the variables like the projected TSP growth rate and matching contributions affect things. Overall, I feel like the new system is better in a lot of cases for new troops that are coming in, especially for those that can max the match, and invest their continuation bonus instead of spending it. But unless the TSP growth rate is more than 6, and the continuation pay bonus multiple is more than 8, I dont think it makes sense for me to opt in, because of the 10 years of contributions Id be missing out on. Thoughts?  <response>: I agree with you, since youve already been in for 8 years and 10 by the time it would take effect, youd miss out on the biggest bonus of having the matching contributions. Youd want to have a long time period in which to gain returns on your extra 6. The only reason I would take the new program is if i was unsure on staying in for 20 or just starting my career. 