I was talking to some young airman the other day about finances and here is some information I wish I had when I first came in the military.

We were talking the other day about finances, and if you haven’t heard, that’s my passion.  The first rule of finances is not to listen to other’s about finances.  I’m not a millionaire, so take what I say with a grain of salt.  Here is what I would, if I knew then, what I wanted to know now, if I knew then what I know today about tomorrow…you know what I’m saying.

1.  The first thing you should do is start an emergency fund.  It’s a good idea to keep three – six months worth of bills (i.e. car payment, cell phone, etc.) in a savings account.

2.  The second thing I would do is pay off all your credit cards and try not to use them anymore.  Trust me when I say this, being in debt is bad news and will follow you for your whole life/career.

3.  If you feel comfortable that you have your debt in check and don’t want to pay off credit cards, you can start saving for retirement or a house or whatever etc.  There are plenty of choices for investments, but if you aren’t really interested in finances, the Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) is super easy.  You can go to Mypay (httsp://mypay.dfas.mil) and log into it and click on TSP and it will take you to the site.  You can put any percentage you want into TSP up to $15,000 a year.  Talk to me more about this when you are ready to talk about the fund types.

Tips to make saving money easier.

1.  NEVER PAY FEES.  If you are being charged any fees for your account, you should switch banks.  USAA offers excellent banking and insurance fees.

2.  Don’t keep idle cash sitting in some basic savings account.  Contact your bank and open up a high-yield savings account (not a money market) with them so you can be earning higher interest rates on your emergency fund or any other money you have just sitting there.

3.  Pay attention to what you’re spending your money on.  Track everything you spend your money on (even trips to the snack bar) for 30 days.  Evaluate it and I can almost guarantee you will find a lot of extra money to save or pay off debt.

4.  When paying off debt, pay off the smallest balances first.  Hit up that $300 credit card first before tackling the $1200 one.

5.  Don’t start next paycheck, in two months, after this gets paid off or after this event.  Start now!

I’m glad to be back from Texas.  I was gone for a while.  Has anyone noticed an increase in your pay?  Try comparing the federal taxes with last months.  Due to the stimulus plan, you may have had less taxes taken out of your paycheck.  If you adjust your W-4 to pay the least amount of taxes, you might not be paying any taxes and will have to adjust your W-4.  Here is the message from Mypay explaining everything:

MAKING WORK PAY CREDIT

DEFENSE FINANCE AND ACCOUNTING SERVICE

The Making Work Pay credit will lower taxes for most members. This credit was part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, which became law in February 2009.   The Making Work Pay credit, available for 2009 and 2010, is 6.2 percent of a taxpayers’ earned income with a maximum credit of $800 for a married couple filing a joint return and $400 for other taxpayers.  It is phased out for married couples filing a joint return with modified adjusted gross income (AGI) between $150,000 and $190,000 and other taxpayers with modified AGI between $75,000 and $95,000. The credit will be spread out over the year through the new withholding tables for 2009 released by the IRS.  The new withholding tables will be implemented for Military Systems by April 1, 2009.  As a result of the new legislation, you may see a change in your tax withholdings.  Military members do not need to fill out a new W-4 to receive this tax credit.

Single and married members with multiple jobs may want to submit revised W-4 forms to ensure enough withholding is held to cover the tax for the combined income.  Remember it is each tax payer’s responsibility to insure you have enough withheld to cover your tax liability.  IRS Publication 919, available at http://www.irs.gov/ provides additional guidance for tax withholding.

The IRS also released new tables for computing the advance payment of earned income credit.  These tables change the percentage formula to increase payments for some married military members. The new percentage formula was implemented in March 2009.

For more information see http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=204521,00.html

Questions concerning this message may be referred to Mr. John Timmerman at (303) 676-7594.

I have been with AT&T since February of 2007.  I just renewed my 2 year contract and they attendant told me I wasn’t getting the military discount.  I could not believe that I didn’t know about the military discount.  After some research, I found out that AT&T makes it difficult for people to navigate to the military discount.  Here are the instructions on how to do it.

1. Go to http://www.att.com
2. Click on the Shop For “Wireless” link
3. At the very top click on the “Business Center” link
4. Click on the “Government” link in the middle of the page
5. Then click the “DoD” link
6. To the right, look for the qualify for discounts section and type in your MILITARY E-MAIL ADDRESS.

NOTE:

Entering your MILITARY e-mail address is very important because it skips the military verification steps.  The verification steps makes you send in a copy of your orders and military ID.

1. Once you receive the e-mail, click on the link sent in the e-mail.
2. On the right, under Discount Qualifications, click on “Discounts Registration.”
3. Fill out the applicable on-line registration form depending on whether you are a new customer or current customer.

Reposted from a contact.

“So you want to be a millionaire? Every young boy and girl wants to be a millionaire when they grow up, but just how might they go about getting from point A to point B?  The National Foundation for Credit Counseling (NFCC) is providing students with the opportunity to contemplate that thought and express it through art.

In an effort to spread lessons in financial literacy to our nation’s youth, the NFCC is once again sponsoring the Be Money Wi$e National Financial Literacy Poster Contest for 2009. The contest is designed to get young students thinking about how to manage money effectively and offers them a creative outlet to demonstrate their knowledge.  It also offers the opportunity for local and national recognition for student artwork and rewards winners with U.S. savings bonds and other prizes.

In an effort to spread lessons in financial literacy to our nation’s youth, the NFCC is once again sponsoring the Be Money Wi$e National Financial Literacy Poster Contest for 2009. The contest is designed to get young students thinking about how to manage money effectively and offers them a creative outlet to demonstrate their knowledge.  It also offers the opportunity for local and national recognition for student artwork and rewards winners with U.S. savings bonds and other prizes.

To become involved, teachers, parents, and/or students are encouraged to visit www.MoneyWisePosterContest.org, where they can find more detailed information, including contest rules, entry forms, and where to submit poster entries. Submission deadlines are in February but will vary based on your location. Please check www.moneywisepostercontest.org/find_near.cfm to find more information about your area’s submission deadline.

Please visit us on MySpace:
www.myspace.com/BeMoneyWise
 
Please visit our Facebook Fan Page:
www.facebook.com/pages/2009-NFCC-Be-Money-Wie-National-Poster-Contest/44841229435“

I know a lot of stay-at-home spouses that are looking for stay-at-home opportunities.  I don’t know why all spouses aren’t using these free sites that make money.  I’ve been using Deal Barbie Pays for a long time now and I’m satisfied with the operation.  There is absolutely no cost to join or to participate.

It is called a “Get Paid To” site that allows people to do surveys, read e-mails, complete offers and use coupon codes for normal buying that gets you money.  The site makes money by splitting the rewards with you.  You also get “signs” for each offer that allow to redeem them for the site’s paraphernalia or cash.  It’s real easy.  I don’t use it as much as I should but you can make as much money as you want off of it.

Most similar sites are pretty much the same, so I’m not endorsing this over other sites; however, I have received payment from them so I can confirm the site does pay.  If you decided to try it, let me know on this blog.

Taken from official e-mail.

“Disney World Armed Forces Salute Ticket

Travel Dates: January 4 - December 23, 2009

Walt Disney World has just introduced a special Armed Forces Salute
Ticket for 2009. Each qualifying Military Service member* will receive a
complimentary 5-Day “Disney’s Armed Forces Salute Ticket” with Park
Hopper and Water Park Fun & More Options included. To receive the FREE
ticket, visit any theme park Guest Relations window and show proper ID.

In addition to the free Armed Forces Salute Ticket, up to 5 of their
guests can purchase for $99 a Disney’s Armed Forces Salute Companion (5
Day Base) ticket. Park Hopper or Water Park Fun & More option are
available for $25 each (which is 50% off the normal price). Companion
tickets may be upgraded to Premium, Annual or Seasonal Passes. Seasonal
Pass upgrade requires proof of Florida Residency. Companion tickets may
not be upgraded by adding the no expiration option, and you cannot add
additional days to the passes.

Companion tickets may be purchased at any Disney World ticket window or
guest services. You may also purchase tickets at Shades of Green,
located at Walt Disney World or on your base (these two options are
tax-free). If you purchase the tickets at Shades of Green or on base,
you will receive a voucher that you will trade in once you arrive at a
Walt Disney World ticket window.

Armed Forces Salute tickets will expire on 12/23/09 and have no
block-out dates. Tickets may be upgraded anytime between January 4th
-December 23, 2009 as long as there is usage left on the ticket.

The entire party needs to be present for purchase (Spouse or military
dependents can receive the companion discount without the military
service member being present as long as they have their military ID).
The military service member will need to show ID; Cast Member will ask
for their Base’s name, and the State where the base is listed.

This offer is only available once per service member.

*This offer is available to anyone on active duty in the US Army, Navy,
Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard, National Guard or Reserve, and retired
military. Activated members of the National Guard and Reservists must
present active duty orders in addition to valid military ID. You must
have been active for any length of time between 1/1/08 and 12/23/09.
Dept of Defense (CIA, FBI, Secret Service) and Coalition Forces are
excluded.”

On Beale AFB, the gas was $1.83 a gallon.  I have the Services Rewards Credit Card where I get 2% cash back on all purchases.  If one buys gas on base using his or her STAR card, he or she can save 3 cents a gallon.  I was at the gas station and had to make a fundamental decision; which card to use.

If I were to calculate the gas savings on buying 10 gallons on gas on each card it would come out to a 30-cent savings using the STAR card and a 36-cent savings using my rewards credit card (assuming no interest applied).  However, if the gas prices go down, the 2% savings will be worth less than the 3 cent savings offered by the STAR card.  For example, if gas came down to $1.43 a gallon, the STAR card will save me 30 cents still and the credit rewards card would only save me 28 cents.

All this math may sound trivial to some readers; however, this is how everyone should feel about all purchases, big and small.  You must always think about how to make your money work harder for you.  Believe me when I say that the government and companies are figuring out how to make YOUR money work harder for them and not YOU.

The top hits to my other blog was any post on SABRE Electronics.  SABRE Electronics was a company that sold super-discounted electronics to military members through AAFES.  A flood of complaints came in about their product and they shut down.  AAFES refuses to pull the product off the shelf and continues to sell the rest of the product; albeit, with a limited warranty that I’m finding out barely helps with the failing product.  When the company went out of business so did their customer support.  My blog was one of the only blogs covering the disaster.  The top search hit to my blog is about the SABRE remote codes to use on universal remotes.  Here is some information I found from the comments on my other blog:

Anonymous - “I just bought the Sabre 47 inch LCD. So far, so good. I called my cable provider, AT&T U-verse, and they had me use a general use code, 922, for their remote and it works great. ”

SABRE spokesperson - “2006 Sabre products do have codes, but unfortunately, the codes are not in most existing universal remotes. Each universal remote comes with an embedded code library. Being a new and exclusive brand for the military, Sabre codes are not part of most code libraries. The Sabre products do work with Learning Remotes that can be programmed to “learn” codes.

For all of the new models coming out this summer, we do have codes that will work with universal remotes. We have mimicked traditional brand codes to provide a quick solution for our customers.”

xps_01701@yahoo.com - “559 seems to work… but every mfg’s codes are different. ”

Anonymous - “The website says that the codes “mimic” Toshiba codes. Try those in your universal remote.”

I hope this helps.  There is no more www.sabrece.com and no more technical support.  Good luck and keep checking this site for more SABRE information.

I recently got the Services Chase Credit Card.  I was using my ATM/Debit card from USAA and was receiving 1% on all purchases using the credit function.  The new Services credit card gives me discounts on base, gives 2% on all purchases on base and 1% on all other purchases.  I do most of my shopping on base so I’ve essentially double my credit card rewards.  I like cash back anyways and that is what the Services credit card uses.  You can either get a $25 check or a $25 gift card to popular restaurants or stores.

The USAA ATM/Debit card was alright but the credit function wasn’t always available to get the reward points and it was only 1% compared to the 2% you receive on base.  The Services Credit Card uses a point system but it is essentially one point or two points for every dollar spent.  Once you have accumulated 2500 points you can cash in your cash or gift card.

I don’t know if this is an Air Force only program but I’m going to do more research on the other services and post about them too.

I have finally decided that after two years on www.blogger.com that I will finally move to my own domain.  I bought the www.moneyformilitary.net and www.moneyformilitary.org domain names.  Someone already has the www.moneyformilitary.com domain name; however, I will find that person and get that one too.

For the next couple of weeks I will be working on transferring everything to this new site.  I will do posts on both sites until I have built the traffic up on this site to justify the move.  I will need to change all my links to my site.