What is financial planning about? This is a common question I get asked. After all, isn’t financial planning just something we do as a part of our lives? Why should you hire a financial planner to help you? Why can’t you just implement all of this financial advice on your own? Intellectually speaking, there’s no …
Advice for the Newly Widowed – Perspective from a Fellow Widower
Lessons Learned in my Grief Journey The death of your spouse tops the charts as the number one most stressful event in life. I know. This happened to me when I became a widower two years ago. I learned a lot in that experience. Here are some of the most important lessons I took away …
Advice for the Newly Widowed – Perspective from a Fellow WidowerRead More
Why I Took an 8 Month Sabbatical after Active Duty
Sometimes in the world of personal finance, the focus can become solely concentrated on the “finance” part and neglect the “personal” dimension. I’m going to be starting a series of posts on most Fridays to delve into what that “personal” side often entails and will be using some of my own personal experiences with my sabbatical this year to …
How Much Is Your Military Pay Really Worth?
This post about military pay originally appeared as a guest post on The Military Guide so I’m reposting with permission. Ever Wondered Just How Much All Your Military Pay and Benefits Add Up To? For any servicemembers who are transitioning out of the military or perhaps daydreaming about what that might look like someday, many of …
How I Turned $80K in Military Education Benefits Into $2.1 Million in Lifetime Value
Have you ever wondered how beneficial are the education benefits offered by the military? The media, our peers, parents, and even politicians bemoan the ever rising cost of a college education. Recent statistics from StudentLoanHero show that student loan debt in the United States now stands at greater than 1.3 trillion dollars with the average now at $37,172! …
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Why Should You Hire a Fee-Only Financial Planner
Why Fee-Only? There are very few products or services out there where the consumer doesn’t really know the cost of what they’re getting. But when it comes to financial advice, what you don’t know can really hurt you. For example, many financial advisors offer a “free financial plan.” What clients don’t know is that that financial plan can …
3 Life Lessons I Learned as a Widower
There’s nothing quite like the loss of a spouse at a young age to make you step back and think. After I became a widower at 31, I spent quite a bit of time journaling and reflecting. Here are some of the three most important things I’ve learned. I hope that by sharing my story I …
BRS Financial Touchpoints
As part of the MCRMC report back in 2015 that advocated what we now know as the Blended Retirement System (BRS), the commission also recommended creation of more military financial education opportunities. This was to not only help servicemembers understand the new BRS, but also to help combat the troubling challenge of financial illiteracy that often has a negative …