Smart Military Money
Personal finance tips andadvice for the military lifestyle.
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Plan ahead before your deployment to save money.
Deployment can be a time of anxiety and uncertainty for both service members and their families. Finances have a tendency to take a back seat to spending time with family and preparing for deployment.
However, if you take some careful steps before deployment and maintain good habits while away, it is actually possible to return to a much better financial situation than when you left.
Fax your deployment orders to your cell phone company and ask them to pause your account until you return. Cell phone companies should be more than happy to do this and, on average, will suspend your account up to 18 months.
Change your coverage to reflect that your vehicle will be in storage and will not be driven while you are gone. Your car will still be insured against damage but your premiums will be lower.
These plans can add incentives for contributions made during active duty service. The Thrift Savings Plan is sponsored by the federal government and a great place to start.
See if your bank will give you a reimbursement on any foreign transaction fees while on active duty. If your bank doesn’t offer reimbursements, find one that does. USAA gives fee reimbursement for up to 12 months.
Setting up automatic bill payments and talking to your creditors about your active duty status leads to a maintained credit score. Remember, the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act gives you added protection for your finances while you are deployed, be sure to take advantage of the benefits you are entitled to.
Be sure your family is covered in case the unexpected happens.
Find the cheapest ways to call back home from where you are stationed. Calling cards can be expensive, so check out Skype and other VOIP providers to see if they could save you money.
and meet them. Saving a little each day will have added up big time when you get home.
for applying for reemployment at your civilian job. The federal government provides reemployment protection for military members.
Photo thanks to heraldpost under a creative commons license from Flickr
4 Comments
Great information indeed. I’m here to see good quality comments!
I appreciate you taking the time to talk about them with all of us.
You can also use your orders to show credit card companies as well as your car loan company to get a reduced interest rate during deployment.
my boyfriend is deployed and we discovered the app called Viber, it’s free calling and messaging as long as there is wifi. working well so far!