[JThiessen]

Originally Posted by FireWire79

If you are young, please listen to what I am about to say. I can make you rich by serving in the Army. I am 30 years old, and if someone had showed me this when I was your age, I would be a lot better off right now.

Lets say you go to college for 4 years. You come out with $50k in student loans. You enlist into the Army and get no signing bonus, but since you went to college you are an officer. A first year officer makes $2600 a month, before additional allotments are added in. So per month, just out of college you are making around $3k, for a total of $36 a year. Not bad, not great either. Now in order for this to work you need to do twenty years of service. I know that's a lot but you will be 42 years old (18+4yrs college+20 years Army=42) An officer that has been in for 20 years should be a Lt. Col or above by that time. Base pay for a LTC with 20 years in is, $8000 a month, plus additional allotments and inflation, figure around $10k per month in twenty years.

That comes out to $120k a year at 42 years old. Ask around, that is really good money.

Now get out of the Army. After twenty years in you get to retire with half your pay for the rest of your life. That is $60k a year, guaranteed, for the rest of your life, and that's not even including any 401k that you may have setup. You are 42 years old. Get another job for 20 years. You'll be 62 this time. You will retire again, and get a second retirement package. Lets say you were getting $60k before, plus $40k a year from your retirement package. You are now making $100K a year, retired earlier than all your friends.

$100k a year, retired. That is fantastic money. I can go on and on about the Army, as I am serving right now, but if you join, you will see the other perks firsthand. People will respect you. Friends will always be there for you. You will be a member of a time honored corp. This things are priceless. People literally kill for them, and you get them for free. All you have to do is give a little time to the country.

Older adults, look at these numbers and tell this kid that this is a lot of money.

Good info Firewire - and I agree that being able to retire with military benefits at 42 would be a wonderful thing. I'm 42, and would be looking at that right now.....DAMN!

But..... your math tends to be "round up optomistic" - very similar to how my ex-wife miltary brat did her finances.......what are these magical "additional alotments"??