<prompt> Human: I am starting my 4 years for the USAF, i will have a steady paycheck and foodhousinghealthetc all covered. Do i stack the money up in a savings account for the entire 4 years, or are there better routes to take. Assistant: I would put 3 months expenses in the savings account as a base or say 3,000 since you wont have many expenses and while in the process of building that look in to your investment options. Look seriously in to the Thrift Savings Plan and, if you deploy to a combat zone, the Savings Deposit Program. You should be easily able to save a large portion of your income 25 during your contract if youre smart, and put yourself on a great footing. Id also head over to the education office and see what programs are available to continue your college if you arent already a graduate. I wasnt USAF, but Ive heard good things about the CCAF.Whatever you do, dont go out and buy an expensive car or get married just to move out of the barracks.Human: So the TSP is like a retirement savings account? do you know the yearly growth on something like that, or how accessible it is?  <response>: The TSP is basically the federal governmentmilitary version of a 401k. If you do it as Traditional you dont pay taxes on your money now but will at retirement. If you do it as Roth its the opposite, no taxes on withdraw.The Plan has various funds, you can see some growth info here: The simplest one to look at is one of the L funds, which are on a timeline. Right now, theyre mostly stocks. As the fund continues and you get closer to retirement, it automatically resemblances to safer and shorter term investments. If you drag the slider on the top right here, you can see how the re-ballancing works: 