Sea story? Sure, it's been a month. However, this one has morals about financial independence, early retirement, and knowing your true values. But it has a happy ending, too! Now that my daughter has finished a year of NROTC, we've started some interesting conversations about work/life balance. Submariners aren't ...
Six months ago in the Tricare debate between the Department of Defense and Congress, a task force had recommended gradually raising the Tricare Prime annual family fee from $460/year to $1260-$2460/year over the next five years. It's been nearly 16 years since the last Tricare fee increase, and many veteran's ...
Brandi F on Dollar Stretcher asked an excellent question on the "Money Rules to Break" post: I've always wondered if it was prudent for military members to keep a smaller emergency fund, given their job security and health care. I personally keep the traditional 3-6 months of expenses in my emergency fund for a few ...
A few weeks ago USAA article posted an article on when to break the "money rules". Here's the summary, with my comments in italics: 1. Pay off debt and build an emergency fund before saving for retirement ... ... except when your debt is of the low-rate, tax-reducing variety, such as a mortgage or student loans, and ...
After reading the earlier posts on kids & college (see below), some of you have already been thinking about the next question: "How can I save for early retirement and still save enough for my kid to go to a good college?" An earlier post already discussed whether you want to set aside any money for them to go to ...
Introduction Jan put up a great comment a few weeks back: "I’m curious. The stat on how many dual military couples ACTUALLY retire is amazing to me. Your case is even more unique. How many couples have dual military retirement?" I'm afraid the short answers are "We don't know" and "Probably not very many". A more ...
We're military veterans, not financial advisors. We're trying to share what we've learned and to pay it forward – but you have to make your own decisions.
What worked for us will probably work for you, but unfortunately, we can’t guarantee it. Let us know if something’s not working for you, and we’ll try to figure out a better way... Continue Reading...
Doug Nordman