Continuation Pay is probably the least understood benefit within the Blended Retirement System (BRS). Many service members don’t know what Continuation Pay is, miss the cutoff to request the bonus, or are downright confused about how Continuation Pay works. It’s not surprising because it’s really difficult to find any single place to understand the program […]
How Continuation Pay Works to Benefit You Read More »
One of the most common questions I get asked is how much you should be saving for retirement. Once people start thinking about their finances and understand they should be saving for retirement, the next logical question is how much. It’s actually really hard to predict exactly how much you’ll need in 20, 30, or
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It’s been years, actually over a decade since we changed banks for our high-yield savings account (HYSA). But this year we’re making a switch. I’m actually kind of embarrassed about it. Long story short, we were not valued as loyal customers and I refuse to stay with a bank that treats me unfairly. A Quick
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Just for fun, I decided to copy and paste our expenses into ChatGPT and have it write a story about our holiday spending. I was pleasantly surprised at the comic relief I got from this! I felt weirdly better about it too. My wife and I tracked our Christmas and holiday spending with a Google
Holiday Spending Regrets? Make AI Write You a Story! Read More »
If you’re a money nerd like me, you’ll love creating your own little “holiday” for it – Money Day! I originally got this concept from J.D. Roth’s blog, Get Rich Slowly. Our annual Money Day has evolved over the years, but it’s a great forcing function to keep us on track financially. This also serves
My Favorite Financial Tradition: Money Day! Read More »
I commend this service member for following their heart (eventually) and prioritizing their enjoyment in life. We can often feel stuck trying to “gut it out” to retirement. Ever wonder why there’s so many angry, senior leaders running around? This service member understood exactly why. I really wish I’d had the forethought and courage (and
The new Department of Defense Dependent Care Flexible Spending Account (DCFSA) for uniformed service members could be a great benefit for you to pay for childcare. However, there are several pieces of your financial life that you need to consider carefully. I’ve labored over trying to reduce this program to useful rules of thumb, but
Thinking Through the DCFSA Read More »
Do you have questions about emergency savings? Here are my answers to the top 13 questions an enlisted service member might have about emergency funds. Keep in mind, this is just my opinion and your personal situation may be different. The biggest thing to me is that you actually have some type of emergency savings.
Top 13 Questions About Emergency Savings Read More »
The time to think through a financial emergency is not during the emergency. When you’re in a stressful situation, if you don’t already have a game plan, you’re going to make mistakes – sometimes “financially fatal” mistakes. You really do want to know what to do in crisis, but that’s not always possible. Instead, I
Emergency Decision Making: “Three in Three” Read More »
There are many ways to use your military service to set yourself up for the future, the Marine Content Creator is an exceptional example. Please read along and hear the enlisted success story of the Marine Content Creator. I actually ran across him on Instagram and reached out to see if I could share his
The Marine Content Creator: Enlisted Success Story #1 Read More »
