Got any wise investing advice for a young soldier?

[mortarman]

I've only been on the forum for a month or two now, but I've already seen the wealth of knowledge floating around on here. So I'm turning to y'all for help.

I'm 24, married, with my first child on the way (son, due in august). I'm a sergeant in the US Army, and pull in about $3600/month. We've got about $45K in school debt (hers). After our debt payments and living expenses, we are left with about $900/month. If we pushed it, we have about 7 months worth of food. We can get by with our current firearms battery, ammo stockpile, barter goods, etc. but could always use more. Like everyone else, we are saving for a piece of land on Michigan's UP (well, not everyone). We have only a few hundred dollars in savings now for the baby, the next gun, and moving expenses.

I recently withdrew the funds in my TSP (Thrift Savings Plan) Acct. in order to beef our silver holdings up to where they are now. However, I still have the option to contribute with the Army matching up to 4% of my paycheck (not that I'd prefer to).

My wife and I have about $225 face in silver dimes, with an additional 54 1 oz silver bars. About 215 T oz. of silver and no gold.

And that's pretty much where we stand. What should I be converting my limited FRNs into for the long term? ASE/AGE? Fractional AGEs? Dollar cost averaging? More Junk silver? Or should I press on with the John Pugsley, Alpha Strategy approach, and continue buying necessities before inflation wipes out my purchasing power? Or focus on means of production, i.e. leather sewing machines, commercial reloading press, electric furnace to melt canadian copper, etc.?

My three primary concerns are: 1) maintaining an income regardless of any poor decisions made by the Fed Gov, 2) finding the best way to save for a land/house down the road, and 3) saving for the day when my body breaks and I can no longer provide for my family's needs (hopefully, that'll be the same day that I kick the bucket). I appreciate your time and insights.

[Somnophore]

Learn useful skills, knifemaking, farming, etc, I'd personally spread my investments, don't invest all your money in PMs, the saying don't put all your eggs in one basket comes to mind.

Buy ryedale, sort and sell and use profits to buy junk dimes.

I'd put as much in your pension as you can afford too, it's all very well preparing for the worst and SHTF, but it's stupid to not prepare properly for if everything doesn't go to hell. Have to prepared for all scenarios.

[mtalbot_ca]

I tend to agree with Somnophore, learning of usefull skills is essential for lifelong piece of mind (no matter what the circumstances are). The same applies for your wife.

I would also probably contribute to the max to your pension.

On the savings side I would diversify with gold, specifically for your down payment on the land. Your silver could be for emergency or if everything goes well, for your kid.

You are off to a good start.

Keep us posted.

Cheers,

[Heartkill]

I'm the same age and AD as well. Sounds like your doing OK. I would advise against withdrawing from the TSP however. Were you all in the G? I have a mixed portfolio with strong holdings in the S-fund and I'm up just over 14% for the year. The Army matches contributions...? That's news to me but I would be taking full advantage of that by putting in the 4%.

[fusscharles]

10 percent max on silver and gold, maybe 5% in copper....buying gold and silver every month will ensure you don't get caught when there is a real fallout. If you get a chance to exchange currency, get some canadian and chinese currency at real exchange rates. Write all your costs down and listen to bloomberg surveillance as much as possible;-)
I feel a good spread is 50% land, 10% metals (in non-new normal times), 10% basket of currency, 20% Equities (stocks), rest cash...

[mortarman]

@ Heartkill

TSP w/ matching was thrown in at MEPS as an incentive for a longer initial enlistment term. I took it figuring it'd be great if I was career, but now that's up in the air.

Honestly, I hadn't been following the account, which sounds absurd to anyone here. Spent a few years in country and didn't think much about it. Just kept contributing. Then woke up one day, I suppose. With talk of insolvency, and the treasury "borrowing" our retirement accounts to prevent failed auctions, I decided it was time to move to greener pastures, so I bought some more dimes. I'll be the first to admit I don't fully understand the TSP or how it works, but I'll also say, in the words of Mark Twain, I'm not so much concerned with the return on my money, as I am with the return of my money (or it's purchasing power).

[shinnosuke]

Here are a few things that come to mind:
1. How much longer will you be in the Army? If you are going to be transferred a time or two before becoming a civilian, do you have a good place to store your preps?
2. Can your wife shoot? How about a weapon for her?
3. Do you have a tight network of buds in the Army or near your current (or eventual) home? No matter how much you try, you can't prepare everything you need. But you may be able to survive with a little help from your friends.
4. What's the average number of sunny days in the UP? Why don't you try Texas for milder winters and lower taxes? I would like to have a friend like you nearby.

[Treetop]

It depends what you want to do with your life... but for my part I feel food production is great. there are several angles at it also. You do mention you want land....

For instance you could actually grow most of your food, including the animals, or chickens or ducks for eggs. Fish can be done well without to much effort with the right set up or a pond.

But if you dont have the drive or time for all that, there are still other things you can do depending on where you live. Fruits and nuts and berries specifically if you pick varieties disease free in your area, can eventually have lots of output without a ton of work. you do need to get them going the first few years in most areas. There are tons of other things in that realm depending on your tastes, wild greens to grow, and lots of other useful things.

Im of a homesteader mind myself. not even in case TSHTF either. I just always wanted it this way. Much higher quality of life imho. Let alone tastier and likely healthier food. It can also lessen the blow of only one spouse being able to work..... It is great for a family with kids.

[wagsthadog]

Hi there-

Have you looked at buying foreclosure properties? I really don't know real estate but my brother is a realtor. You might look at buying some type of land and renting it out, though I dont know the ins and outs of that and you could get burned. Maybe you should look at buying some land in Detroit :O I hear you can buy entire blocks of houses in the wasteland part of the city for a few thousand dollars! Then hire some thugs to go collect the rent No, apart from being a slum lord, maybe look at buying some undeveloped land lots? My uncle has one in upper Wisconsin. Basically it's a piece of forest. Literally. Like, "here you go, start chopping!"

I'd keep going with the junk silver. Dollar cost average!!

Other than that, I like to get my one house in perfect order and all debts paid before I start buying other things. You could also focus on making your house more secure with more food, no debt, more coins, etc.

wags

[Tourney64]

Motarman, thanks for your service to this country. The UP is not very desirable for growing food but can provide an abundance of fresh protein from hunting. There is a lot of free money out there for people who are willing to work hard. There is free copper for those who can spend the time sorting out the pre 1982 Lincoln cents. There is free silver at 30 times face value. There are abandoned storage units auctions for great value, as I mentioned on earlier posts...i.e. Nice $2,500 living room furniture for $1. Just make sure you have enough money available to take advantage of these great deals. Once you make some money from these, just keep it available to continue your operations. Keep your eyes open for great deals here also. Many of the members here were able to profit several hundred dollars with the ATB sets, but you had to have the $937 investment to make the $350 profit.

[Treetop]

i know people north of there who grow all their food and work full time. Well they hunt for meat actually, but everything but sugar and coffee, and dairy stuff is grown. he just got into chickens though for eggs more then the meat.

So you can do it there just fine if you had a drive to.... for the record. though he did do a lot of work and trial and error getting the right seeds. I could put you in contact, Im sure hes got extra of most of them, hed probably love to trade for a few dimes. Or free, he sent me stuff for short cool seasons to. Everything he has can finish up in 90 days or less.

[aristobolus]

Diversify

A former soldier and Chaplain in the Army Chaplain Corps: Pro Deo et Patria!

[Sheikh_yer_Bu'Tay]

A sergeant now makes $3,600 per month??! Wow! What E grade are you? That is terrific!

Continue to contribute to the savings plan with the Gov. matching 4%. That will really add up with time!

It sounds like you are doing really good. Keep up the good work and keep on improving!

[aloneibreak]

looks like youre sitting better than most your age

congrats on your expected son !

my boy is just over a year now

i'd make sure to keep a few more frn's on hand for when the baby arrives

theres bound to be unexpected expenses come up, and its never fun to have to sell things to pay bills

better to have a small cash stash to reach into

keep paying down debt

youre on the right track !

[mortarman]

Here are a few things that come to mind:
1. How much longer will you be in the Army? If you are going to be transferred a time or two before becoming a civilian, do you have a good place to store your preps?
2. Can your wife shoot? How about a weapon for her?
3. Do you have a tight network of buds in the Army or near your current (or eventual) home? No matter how much you try, you can't prepare everything you need. But you may be able to survive with a little help from your friends.
4. What's the average number of sunny days in the UP? Why don't you try Texas for milder winters and lower taxes? I would like to have a friend like you nearby.

1. My enlistment is up in Oct 2012, however, I am submitting a WO packet to try and get into flight school in Sep. All of our preps are stored here with us... tends to get a bit cramped in our 1 bedroom apt.

2. My wife is a better shot than I am. She's got a 38 snubbie, a 1911, and a ruger 10/22. We'll get her a piston AR eventually.

3. My tight network is in Dallas, but my wife is from michigan. We've just got her family up there. But she's 1 of 12 kids so there's quite a few of them.

4. I've got not idea, but my understanding is that it's not so much the clouds but the low incidence of solar radiation that tends to limit the seasons up there. I'm a Native Texan but have come to grips with the fact that our population is unsustainable without the aquifers, most of which are being depleted more rapidly than we can get new ones online. And, God forbid, if the balloon actually does go up, I wouldn't want to be near the hungry and thirsty masses of dallas/houston/san an/el paso.

[beauanderos]

It sounds like you're working with limited funds. If you are staying in and can continue your pension contributions, then at least contribute enough to get the match (4%). That's a fifty percent return, very hard to obtain elsewhere. Figure that as a "bet" that normalcy will continue and those funds not be confiscated by a greedy govt. Aside from that, I agree a "cash cushion" is manditory... but here's the catch. Use your cushion to order half dollar rolls from the bank and search for silver to stack. Don't know the size of communities you are near, but you can slowly continue to add to your stack in this fashion, and yet you still have easy access to "emergency" funds. Hope this helps, thanks for your service to our country.

[Rosco]

It sounds like you're working with limited funds. If you are staying in and can continue your pension contributions, then at least contribute enough to get the match (4%). That's a fifty percent return, very hard to obtain elsewhere. Figure that as a "bet" that normalcy will continue and those funds not be confiscated by a greedy govt. Aside from that, I agree a "cash cushion" is manditory... but here's the catch. Use your cushion to order half dollar rolls from the bank and search for silver to stack. Don't know the size of communities you are near, but you can slowly continue to add to your stack in this fashion, and yet you still have easy access to "emergency" funds. Hope this helps, thanks for your service to our country.

Plus ! Your are young so pay more than MIN on the Debt but unless the Interest is high just keep paying modest amt allowing you at the same time build cash an use some to sort 50 cents with if you can find a good dump bank. Chase bank has been good for me in AZ too return rolls at. If first choice doesn't pan out for your School think about Mechanical maintenance or heavy equipment operation as a skill that is good for rest of life. I also agree the you should put enough in retirement for full match,

Your thoughts on going to Michigan are spot on, But rent first an stay close to job sources, after you are established you can buy further away and you hopefully have more money to put down on land or small town big lot home.

Best of luck an Thanks for Protecting Us.

[CU Baker]

Just keep doing what you are. Take heed of the mistakes you make along the way, some loses end up being a great education in the long run. But most of all thank you for your duty to our country

[Neckro]

If he's an EM, or NCO, I highly doubt he gets lots of free time to do anything, especially if he's associated with a unit that is on its off deployment cycle. Splitting time with work which can lead into the last evenings, to the early work times. Time is something I doubt he has enough of to be doing much of anything with.

[mortarman]

I'm a squad leader in our battalion mortar section. Free time is not something we've got much of after training and dealing with out Soldier's personal/professional issues. However, after recently returning from our second deployment, we are getting a bit of a break and aren't redeploying for a while. But I've made a point of sorting/stacking and recently had limited success.

I kept getting skunked with ordered boxes of halves and decided to try dimes. Found about one per box of $250, then started doing CWR only. Found $5.80 face the last full week I was doing it. But it required my lunch break every day of the week, every night until 6, and all of saturday going to and fro between all the local banks and my network of dump credit unions. My returns have been comparable ...my wife just asked what I was talking about on here and I told her it was my lack of free time. She laughed and told me I had enough free time to spend on here... anyway, they've been roughly comparable to my hourly wage, if my salary plus allowances was hourly. Good return but I know there are folks doing better.

[Mossy]

I have about 40 firearms, plus a bunch of ammo for all. This would be a BIG problem if I had to move, and the collection is worth a lot less than I expected due to everyone having firearms in this area. (You plan to move someplace where the locals are all armed?) Don't get caught in the same trap.

I recommend you stick with the basic four: Deer rifle, shotgun, .22, and handgun, and use any extra funds for food or PM's. Fifth firearm: a second handgun, and make it as close to the same model as the first (you /don't/ want to be messing around, trying to work different safeties on whatever gun you have in hand). The purpose of the second hand gun is to have something to use if the first is in the hands of the police while they are trying to decide if a shooting was justified, just in case the bad guy has relatives or something. Make sure the wife qual's on everything.

Get the wife involved with sorting the coins, your marraige will last longer if both of you are contributing. You might try to get her going to garage and estate sales, looking for foreign coins, sterling, collectable jewelry, etc. That will help her stay busy while you are deployed. "Keep the troops busy" applies.

[AFModell]

Perhaps this is not in the same vein as everyone else, as it does not focus on preps or PMs, however I support those pursuits as well.

Id suggest to approach the rest of your time in the army with the mindset to get as much from uncle sugar as you can. Get promoted the first time you test (or however the Army does it). The salary increase, of whatever size, is always welcome. Use your educational benefits to learn something, or have your wife learn something. If trade school is the route to go, then do that. Take up welding, or carpentry trades and learn something useful...but make sure uncle sugar pays for it. Dont get yourself in any trouble (boozeing, fraternizing, etc) and dont enter into any more debtor servitude.

In regards to the TSP..any contributions that go in while you are downrange in the AOR grow tax free for the remainder. Everything else contributed will be taxed when you withdraw it. I didnt know the USA would match....I wish the USAF did.

Best of luck to you and keep up the good work! My dad retires in september from 30 years active Army so I understand the sacrifices involved. Thank you, sincerely, for your service!