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New Financial Resource for Military Members
November 18, 2014
When it comes to their financial lives, military families are different. It's just a fact. When they're serving on active duty, they're typically asked to move every few years (ten times more often than civilian counterparts, according to the Department of Defense). This, of course, makes the decision of when to buy versus rent a home a tougher one to process. But it also raises other issues: How do you come to terms with the fact that the cost of living in your new location may be much higher than it was in your last? How does your spouse find work in city after city without starting at the bottom of the ladder each time?
The list goes on. That's likely why, according to the 2013-survey of Blue Star Families, financial issues rank at the top of concerns about military life. All in all, 65% of military families said they had experienced stress when it came to their finances.
Operation Money: A Financial Guide For Military Service Members And Families is here to help. What's Operation Money? It's a new, free e-book that I wrote, NBC published, and Citi supported - which you can read or download here. The aim of this project was three-fold: Stop problems before they happen; give people the tools to manage through a tough situation if they're already facing one; and help them figure out how to plan for their future - either in or out of the military - and then help them do it. This is the second e-book NBC has published with Citi dedicated to improving the financial health and capabilities of the military community, complementing the work of Citi Salutes, a company-wide initiative, led by Citi Community Development with employees across the firm, to support service members and their families.
The book contains a dozen chapters dealing with everything from getting yourself and your family on a budget to building good credit, buying homes to buying cars, gearing up for retirement to protecting your financial life. But because one issue military families - like so many others - often grapple with is paying for college, I decided to address it in this post.
Currently, several programs are available to provide tuition assistance for service members and their immediate families, including spouses and children. Some programs allow service members to transfer unused benefits to immediate family members, while others provide tuition assistance for licenses, certifications or associate's degrees at approved academic institutions.
For more information about education benefits for service members and other financial advice for military families, download Operation Money - and spread the word.
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