When I taught the topic of survivor benefits to brigade and battalion commanders, I received more questions about the following information than any other area. In this third part of my SBP Series, I am going over what spouses receive when a servicemember or retiree passes away. Given the well-documented divorce rates among military members, it’s…
MY WIFE AND I recently read The Ant and the Grasshopper, from Aesop’s Fables, to our youngest daughter. If you recall, the grasshopper mocks the ant for spending all his free time amassing food. But when winter comes, the starving grasshopper begs for assistance—and the ant refuses. Lately, I’ve been struck by the irony of this parable. As…
I RECENTLY discussed retirement plans with my old college roommate, Joe, who now runs his own business. As we wrapped up the conversation, Joe asked if I had any book recommendations. I told him I was about to start Good to Great, the management book by Jim Collins. It’s been a huge bestseller, with four million copies…
Two weeks ago, I wrote a piece for MilitaryMoneyMatters.org (https://militarymoneymatters.org/2020/03/28/top-9-tsp-moves-in-turbulent-times/) about how to handle the Thrift Saving Plan. The advice applies to government employees, but it is also relevant for American investors writ-large. Since the time I wrote that piece, the market has roared back (though not anywhere near it’s February high); I imagine this…
Recently, I stumbled on a resource that not only had fresh content but also took an honest look at financial issues facing the military, veterans and their families. That website is called Military Money Matters. I did a little more digging and discovered the author was a young Army aviation officer named Jonathan Lee. His analysis…
The S&P’s current drop of 30+% is among the steepest and quickest in market history. The other two times in U.S. history that eclipsed the rapidity of this current decline resulted in markedly different outcomes. The 1987 Stock Market Crash, which was the result of selling triggered by a failure in portfolio insurance, caused a decline…
The only thing that the military loves more than acronyms is changing uniforms and retirement options. DoD has had three,* arguably four (if you count Redux), different retirement systems. Those who enlisted prior to January 1, 2018 fall under the Legacy Retirement System (commonly known as High 3). I’ve previously detailed the intersection with Survivor…
7 days of stock market panic. Whether it was due to the market being overbought, the possibility of a socialist becoming president, that Coronavirus is going to cause a pandemic that will potentially eradicate a large portion of the world’s population (and/or possibly cause a recession), it should not change how you invest. I don’t…
The following article was published on HumbleDollar.com, which is an excellent website run by a giant in the personal finance journalism space, Jonathan Clements. I have a few upcoming pieces that will appear on HumbleDollar (and will republish them here after receiving Jonathan’s permission). The first two articles both deal with index funds and are…
I plan to run a multi-part series on the Survivor Benefit Plan over the next few months. This first post pays the groundwork for understanding the underpinnings of the plan that takes care of military families after their service member dies. In my experience, it surprises more than a few military members to learn that…
