This is the first article in a series where I will discuss the many financial benefits associated with serving in the U.S. military. As a veteran, and as someone who has taken advantage of many of these benefits, I wish I knew about some of these benefits much earlier in my career. The goal of this series is to create a consolidated synopsis of as many programs as possible so that members of the military and veterans can optimize their benefits.
The United States military retirement system is designed to provide service members with financial security after their dedicated years of service but is highly complex and difficult to navigate. For many years, the military had only one retirement plan, called High-36 Retirement Plan, or High 3. This required the service member to serve at least 20 years before becoming eligible. However, many individuals did not serve a full 20 years and left without any retirement savings whatsoever. The Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) was expanded in 2001 from only federal civilian employees to include members of the uniformed services.
