Im in the military and hit 12 years active service in 2 days.
I own a house in NM (since Dec '12) that's currently being rented out. There is a high probability I will be stationed there again before I hit my 20 year mark so that is why I didn't sell it when I moved.
I don't plan on buying another house while I am in, so my wife and I want to start saving for the transition into our next chapter.
So I look to the future and see two or three possible options.
After expenses, retirement account contributions, investments, and fun money is taken out; I've got about $17K annually I can put towards something or "park". That number will grow with promotions, two year bumps, annual raises, etc.
Option 1: I can park this money in some sort of account to use once I hit my 20 year mark. (CD, mutual fund, index funds, etc?)
Option 2: Take all this extra money and pay off the rental house in NM quickly.
Option 3: Both?
Personally I like the idea of parking all the money in an account and using it when I hit 20 years. That's $136K without making anything from interest and not including any bumps in the annual contribution.
At my 20 year mark/transition time out from the military I could sell my NM rental and use the equity + this parked account to hopefully buy the next house cash.
Does that seem like the best option?