Retirement is long way military personnel under the age of 30; however this is a important time to begin retirement planning. And the sooner young members in the military invest the easier it will be for them to retire young. The simple lessons below will have you on the road financial security and, equally important, will allow you to fully enjoy life now. You can become financially secure in the military while you're young with some simple steps. Follow the simple suggestions below and be on your way to and early military retirement.



1) Invest - Get that military paycheck working for you immediately. The sooner you begin to invest the sooner you can plan to retire young. By investing young you are able to harness the power of compounding interest which is a great ally in achieving your objective of an early retirement.

'Compounding interest' is earning money from the profits of your investments. So you're making money off money you did not have to work for. This offers young military members a tremendous advantage. In fact, investing as little as $100 per month starting at age 18 could make you a young millionaire well before you reach retirement age. Plus it will give you the ability to do the things you like to do while keeping on track to retire young.

2) Consistent investment plan - Investing on a consistent basis will allow you to generate long-term gains over time. For most in the military this consist investing over time may allow you to retire young. Start to follow a consistent investment plan now; then as your investment knowledge grows you can add other forms of high-return investments.

An ideal investment for young military personnel ready to retire young is low-cost broad market index investments. Warren Buffet states, "A very low-cost index is going to beat a majority of the amateur-managed money or professionally-managed money." This is one of the easiest investments you can make. An added bonus is that it takes only minimal knowledge and about 60 minutes to start getting your money working for you.

3) Diversification - Diversification lowers risk. If you have all your money invested in the stock market, and the market crashes, you could potentially lose a lot of money. Now if you had a portion of your money invested in stocks, some in real estate, some in businesses and some in other alternative investments - if any one of the markets corrects itself, you wouldn't get hit as hard since you're diversified.

4) Tax benefit vehicles - By using investment vehicles that give you tax benefits you'll be on the road to retire young. A Roth IRA or other form of retirement account can be a key investment vehicle that will allow you to reduce taxes. Many people don't realize about 40% of your income goes to pay taxes. So by choosing an investment vehicle like an IRA may help to keep more money in your pocket.

To retire young from the military, start to follow a simple, consistent investment plan at a young age. Being diversified and using investment vehicles that provide tax benefits will help to supercharge your returns. Get started now because you'll be able to afford the things you want now and in the future.