Veterans benefit from financial planning, just like everyone else
Everyone can benefit from financial planning.
Period.
One group of people who may not think so is veterans of the military.
“For members of the U.S. military, traveling and re-locating often, returning home following a lengthy deployment and living with uncertainty isn’t always easy,” according to an article on the website of Ameriprise.
Establishing a routine after a big life event like a re-location, deployment or completion of your military service can be challenging, and comes with many new decisions, including new or changing financial choices and obligations.”
The Kiplinger Newsletter recently offered a series of financial planning tips geared specifically toward members of the military.
These include:
- “Take advantage of low-cost investments. Service members are lucky to have access to one of the lowest-cost retirement-savings plans around. The Thrift Savings Plan charges just about 25 cents a year for every $1,000 invested, and it lets you choose one of five index mutual funds or a target-date fund.”
- “Benefit from tax-free in, tax-free out. Saving in a Roth IRA can be a particularly good deal if you’re receiving tax-free combat-zone pay. In that case, your money goes into the Roth tax-free and your contributions as well as your earnings come out tax-free, a double tax benefit that’s tough to beat.”
- “Sign up for inexpensive life insurance. Service members have access to one of the lowest-cost life insurance programs available”
- “Take advantage of low loan rates. The Service Members Civil Relief Act provides special legal benefits for service members, including an interest-rate cap of 6-percent on any loans you took out before you were called to active duty. You have to apply to the lender for this benefit, which is intended to help you if your ability to pay is affected by military service, as it may be if you take a pay cut when activated to the Reserve or National Guard.”
