This is it.
The lights are turned down low and a few candles throw shadows across the room. A quiet, gentle tune wafts through the air. Fresh flowers are sweetly arranged in a vase on the counter. The kids are at the neighbor’s house for a sleepover. Your spouse gently brushes your cheek and pulls you close. You can feel your heartbeat in your chest as your spouse leans over and whispers quietly into your ear:
“Let’s talk about the budget, baby.”
This episode is all about finances and relationships. We will discuss the challenges of maintaining relationships while one or both spouses are serving in the military, and how finances can impact a relationship both negatively and positively.
As military spouses, “new” experiences, aren’t always new to us. It seems like every other day we’re facing something new: a new plan, a new duty station, a new season of milspouse life.
And, because military spouses are resilient to the core, we know how to embrace new opportunities and make the absolute best of it.
The same can be said for this new year.
Our first guest is Katy Stevick, Army wife, and First Command Financial Advisor, joins us during our first segment to share with us financial resolutions that we should make for 2019!
In our second half of the show, we will hear from guest and author, Suzanne Gordon, who will discuss her new book, Wounds of War: How the VA Delivers Health, Healing, and Hope to the Nation’s Veterans.
Editor’s note: This post is sponsored by First Command Financial Services
It’s no secret… life is full of choices. Hot or iced? Spicy or mild? Original or extra crispy?
But as military spouses, not all of our choices are as straightforward as the food-focused options above. Sometimes we have to make decisions that can impact, well, everything.
Do we stay at our duty station during deployment or move home?
Repeat after me: “Free college money is good college money.”
There are many scholarships out there for military spouses, dependents, and service members who want to attend college and other training… and some of them are just waiting for you.
Yes, you can use the Post-9/11 GI Bill or the Forever GI Bill if you have access to it, but you can also compete for scholarship money to support your education and training needs. Doing so will enable you to use the GI Bill later on or save it for a dependent.
February always reminds me of the most challenging experience my family has had as serial military renters.
Since arriving at my husband’s first duty station in 2010, we’ve always chosen to live in on-post housing or rent a home off post, and before that, we rented apartments. We aren’t yet sure where we’ll settle in the end, so we hesitate to purchase a home.
One of the most important things you can do as a renting military family is purchase renters insurance. With a military bank like USAA, it’s a very inexpensive monthly fee, but it protects you much more than you might imagine.
I found this out the hard way.
At first glance, the military’s new blended retirement system (BRS) looks like a win for military families. With lump-sum bonuses and 401(k)-style automatic and matching contributions, even service members who don’t serve to retirement will walk away with some savings. Unfortunately, career service members and their families will have to shoulder increased financial decision-making which could leave them facing a much less secure future.
As we near the end of August, many things are happening. School is starting again for many parents and students. Summer is starting to come to its end to bring cooler weather, and the year is quickly (more quickly than I can believe sometimes) nearing its end. Though all of these things are happening, for some people, the holidays are still a distant thought among the general everyday chaos.
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