Need advice for the TSP thrift savings plan!!! Joining the Military?

Actually, if your recruiter is telling you that they match you, its wrong. UNLESS thats one of you enlistment bonuses. I know they match our civilians up to 5%. I just taught a cl on this last week. if you are active duty military, your best bet is to first start of with an IRA. There are 2 types of IRA's. One is a traditional, and the other is called a Roth. The difference between them is the tax that you will pay. Also, your only allowed to put in a certain percent of your base pay into the tsp. They amount allowed per yr in a ira, just went up to 4,000 a yr. max. So first do the IRA, and if you have extra money left over every month, then do the tsp. And with a ira you can take/ borrow money from it. When you get out, you should be able to use your v.a loan to get a house. Never jump into what a recruiter says, go to your bank, and ask about ira's. I hope this helped....good luck!