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 »
With the impending government shutdown, how should you prepare? I’ll spare you the lecture on having an emergency fund. If you don’t already have cash saved away, you won’t be able to do anything about it now. I’d definitely keep an eye out on the Department of Defense News page for the latest news. However,
Government Shutdown Resources for Enlisted Military Read More »
Having an emergency fund is vital to your long-term financial success. It’s really important to leave some amount of money completely separate just in case everything turns for the worse. You just never know what might happen and having cash on hand for an emergency is always a good idea. We’ve had an emergency fund
Start Your Emergency Fund Read More »
I was 24 years old and in charge of getting 52 souls safely to Afghanistan. There’s really no equivalent experience outside the military. I had no clue what I was doing, but I figured it out. That’s really the most succinct way of summing up what we do in the military – Figure It the
Investing in Yourself: Experience, Training, and Leadership Read More »
