spaceman

Thanks for the replies gents! The student loans are actually a few loans within one account (subsidized/unsubsidized, etc.), so roughly a third of it is at 4% and the other two thirds 5.88%. Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk

Dudes, awesome thread! I'm deployed and using my spare time to finally get a grip on my finances, so I have been researching and finally finished reading this whole thread. I'm about to turn 30 and so far have been pretty irresponsible as far as investing/saving for retirement... I probably should've started taking it seriously 6-9 years ago but I guess no time like the present. Anyway I have a couple of questions but first some background: Wife and I are both 29, I'm a pilot (O-2 with maxed out TIS) and she's a teacher; our total income is ~$100k (no kids yet) We own two houses, one we live in and one rental property back home that we pretty much break even on Both cars are paid for, but wife has ~$30k in student loans that I'm now focusing on paying off I have a 401k from my old job worth about $23k sitting in a Wells Fargo account that I haven't really touched in 3.5 years So far during this deployment I've pumped up our savings account from $10k to almost $25k, so I have a decent pile of money to do something constructive with. We've also built ourselves a pretty detailed budget that I think we can actually follow, which leaves us $3-3.5k per month for investing/paying off debt. So far my rough plan is to open a Roth IRA somewhere (Vanguard probably) and max it out for 2016, with some combination of the cash that I have plus monthly contributions between now and the end of the year. (Then continue maxing it out each year by monthly contributions) Next I'll focus on paying off the student loans as quick as possible. Then I'll invest whatever's left in some other account (Roth TSP maybe?). Once the loan is paid off I intend to invest at least 15-20% of our income total. Anyhow, my questions are: 1. Does this plan make any sense? I know I should pay off the student loans ASAP, but I feel like I have some catching up to do retirement savings wise, so maybe it would be worth it to at least max out a Roth IRA for the year and then put more towards the loan after that. 2. Is there a rule of thumb or method for deciding if it's worth it to convert a 401k into a Roth IRA? I know I'd have to pay taxes on the $23k I have to convert, but with my deployment I don't think my taxable income will ever be much lower than it'll be this year. 2b. Traditional to Roth rollovers don't count towards your annual Roth contribution limit, right? So I could roll over my whole $23k plus put in another $11k to max out mine and my wife's contribution for this year, if I understand the rules correctly. Thanks guys for all this info; this has been one of the most educational BODN threads ever! ETA: I realize I'm asking for financial tips from a bunch of pilots but many of you guys are obviously way smarter on this stuff than I am so I'll take any free advice I can get

Weak

The carbon brakes are already out there... Temperature monitoring would be awesome though.

New Balance OTB is also really light. Similar to the Nike ones but my feet agreed with the NB's better.

Legacy course I take it? I did the J course so it was a PCS for me anyway, but I have a bunch of friends who did the H course. Everyone brought their own car and family if they had one, and everyone lived off base. I don't think there are any restrictions on where you can live. I can tell you I haven't met a single American officer who stayed in the dorms! I don't think you'll get a rental car. Out of the eight or so buddies I had TDY here, they all stayed in one of three places: The Links in Sherwood - pretty close to base, okay apartments with a par 3 golf course between the buildings. The Enclave in North Little Rock - pretty big apartment building with newer/mostly smaller apartments, right next to a foot bridge to the bars downtown, and close to the freeway towards base. Block 2 Lofts (I think that's what it's called) - pretty cool but more expensive industrial style apartments on the main drag downtown. There are plenty of other options but those just happened to be where all my bros ended up!

If you're single your options will be the dorms on base or anywhere off base. Depending on when you show up they might be forcing all single dudes to live in the dorms, or allowing (or even encouraging) dudes to live off base if the dorms are full. If you want to have your pet with you, you will want to live off base since you can't have pets in the dorms and you won't live in the family housing on base since you're single. Sent from my HTC6500LVW using Tapatalk

For Legacy: https://lregoutside.c130ats.net/etims/ no .mil req'd. Also the J version is: https://jmats.littlerock.af.mil

No Jar Jar Binks, no Hayden Christensen, no Jake Lloyd, no CGI Yoda/Jabba the Hutt, and zero hours of talking about politics/economics/midichlorians... 10/10 would watch again

They will teach you how your pay works at OTS, and that's one of the few classes I recommend you actually pay attention to! Sent from my HTC6500LVW using Tapatalk

Finally got through all of em... Excellent!

True and also Octavio's downtown for more good tacos, the Chinese takeout place next to Jumbo, and Flamingo's for awesome burgers. I think the Italian place downtown is Napoli's; their pizza is pretty good but that's about it IMO. For bars, yeah Callaghan's has probably the best beer selection but it does get old. Crappy's is a pretty cool dive bar, and if you go with a group you can take over the back room which has pool and darts. Captain's Quarters is another armpit which is pretty fun to get loaded at when it's open. Scooter's for late night disgusting drunk ladies, which you'll have to check out at least once. Both strip clubs in town are shitholes so don't go sober. The good liquor store in town is Proof. Also get your hair cut at Blue Jay. That sounds like a lot of suggestions but I think we pretty much covered everything there is to do in Enid! If your class isn't a bunch of d-bags than there's plenty of opportunities for fun while you're there.

Another +1 for the Ruger SR-22. I bought my wife one a few years ago as her first gun and we both love it! I personally haven't had any trouble with any ammo I've put through it. Sent from my HTC6500LVW using Tapatalk

I wouldn't bother buying unless you plan to be a FAIP... You're only going to be there for a year and a half or so. Are you married? If so the family housing is not bad. We lived on base and had a lot of fun while we were there, mostly because there were a bunch of other married couples in our class that lived on base plus the dudes in the dorms, so we had cookouts and parties all the time within walking distance. If you're single, I'd consider living off base a little more strongly only because the dorms are pretty small so you could get a lot more for your BAH, especially if you have a roommate or two.

Didn't know they dropped those to UPT studs... I thought they were only taking spec ops fighter pilots

"Selected for pilot" just means you are going to UPT. That doesn't guarantee you won't get an RPA, or wash out and reclass to any other AFSC in the AF.

This person expected a different result?! http://popularmilitary.com/army-officer-becomes-a-woman-complains-he-his-still-called-sir/

Looks pretty cool, but it's so small (STS)! Max T/O weight is 6,000 lbs... that's lighter than a T-6! The T-1 with its shitty spoilers actually did a decent job, I thought, of handling like a bigger airplane (a Herk at least; I don't know about REAL big airplanes). The Toner's crappy OEI takeoff performance in summer also provided for a good intro to TOLD planning for a big aircraft. This 550 looks like it handles real nice and has great takeoff performance... What kind of training is that?!

I read the book a couple months ago and it's awesome! The movie is pretty faithful to the book. A lot less detail but overall a great adaptation. I recommend both!

Thanks! Sent from my HTC6500LVW using Tapatalk

Any chance someone can just re-upload this file on the new forum? I'm at a new squadron now and need to print out another copy...

You can definitely be an Air Force pilot and go through Ranger school, but that doesn't mean you'll be in Ranger Regiment doing Ranger shit! ETA: I'm only thinking in one direction. I guess you could totally be an Army Ranger and then later in your career get commissioned and become a pilot.

I did hear Martin Baker is working on a new seat that will eject you straight out the nose, and also allows you to hop back in the jet mid air if you change your mind. Sent from my HTC6500LVW using Tapatalk

I wear frickin black ankle socks with my boots so when I put my feet on my desk all you see is pasty white man calves. I've been doing this for years and no one has died yet. Sent from my HTC6500LVW using Tapatalk

That's what I heard