About Me

Amy

I created this blog because I like reading other military spouse's blogs. Part of being a military spouse is having the uncertainty of not knowing where you will have to live next or for how long. It often means moving around every few years and dealing with the deployment of a loved one. Financial advice isn't one size fits all and often financial advisors tailor their advice to the non-military folks out there, saying to buy a house right away and talking about 401k's instead of TSP's.

Two years ago (soon after my husband and I got married) I saw David's Bach's book, "Automatic Millionaire" and it truely changed my life and how I thought about money. We started out with pretty much nothing when we got married. I had $1,000 in credit card debt, and my husband had $1,000 saved from a recent re-enlistent bonus. We have since opened 2 retirement accounts, a high-yield online savings account (with automatic deductions from our checking account) and increased our networth from $0 to $18,000!

My husband's military pay includes his base pay, housing allowance, cost of living allowance, food allowance. All together it's $2,000 on the 1st of the month and $2,000 on the 15th.

We save 15% of his pre-tax income in the Thrift Savings Plan, which is the government's version of a 401k retirement account, only with no matching funds. Some people think we're crazy saving for retirement when we're in our early 20's, but we just want to use compound interest to our advantage!

We also save 25%, or $1,000, per month of his take home pay. We're saving to buy a home at his next duty station, though I have no idea where that will be yet. Currently we have about $12,000 saved up for our first home, and by the time we leave here (1 1/2 years from now) we should have at least $30,000 saved.

Part of the reason that we can save so much is that we have no car payments. I'm no finance expert, but I firmly believe that people spend too much on new cars when they should be saving instead.

Finishing school during DH's deployment

June 22nd, 2007 at 01:41 pm

My DH will be deployed for 15 months and I have 2 years left to finish my degree. What to do? I guess go back to school anyways and finish as much as I can. Is it worth it to almost finish? Is it even worth it to finish at all, if we keep moving around (due to DH being in Army) will the degree really mean a higher paying job? Should I take out student loans or pay from savings (and future savings)?

Posted in Uncategorized | 7 Comments »

7 Responses to “Finishing school during DH's deployment”

momandmurray Says:
June 22nd, 2007 at 03:04 pm

Depends on your major. However, since you will probably be moving, a degree will also help you get a job at your new home. You need an advantage over all the other military spouses that are looking for work as well. I am married to a Marine. He is no longer active. We decided to not move as a family, when he was stationed overseas. I owned my own businesses. It was easier for us to stay in one place and let him do all the moving. In most cases, that doesn't work out. If you get a degree, you will according to stats get a higher salary. If your hubby is going to be getting combat pay, use that to pay for your education. Good Luck and keep him safe!
Amber Says:
June 22nd, 2007 at 07:07 pm

First, I 'd like to say I am praying for a safe return for your husband and even though I do not agree with the war it doesn't mean I do not appreciate every man and woman in the service,what's sacrficed (family, friends careers)is more than I can imagine, so I salute both of you.
I went back to school in my late 20s and I have taken a class here ,a class there and now I am looking at about a year and a half and for me it is well worth. Even if I do not leave my job now in which I make decent money, it will be the idea that I have accomplished something that can never be taken away (my education. Not only that I will be the first person in my family to earn a bachelor's degree, just thinking about it gives me chills

good luck
finance ninja Says:
July 2nd, 2007 at 01:42 am

Hi armyamy. Well, i see you aren't single that sucks. lucky him. I also noticed on your networks you are up -$6000 in credit card debt though you say years earlier you only had 1000 in debt. Is the automatic millionaire about not racking up credit card debt? I suppose it was for good reasons. Why are you only saving 15% that is so low. It doesn't sound like you have kids. With a $4000 income in hawaii you should be saving half that increasing your networth at least $24,000 a year.

well anyway good job on working on your BA degree. so am I. are you in HPU? funny if you were in an online class with me. anyway. later and keep investing!
finance ninja Says:
July 2nd, 2007 at 01:43 am

networks = "networth" for june (whoops my bad)
Amber Says:
July 2nd, 2007 at 07:05 pm

What did you decide?
armyamy Says:
July 16th, 2007 at 05:32 pm

thanks for the comments you guys! I'm sad that DH will be leaving but excited to be going back to school. I've decided to use the money we would normally save and instead use it to pay for tutition and books. Wow, classes start in about a month!
Amber Says:
July 17th, 2007 at 04:29 pm

Good luck and thanks for the update

Army Amy's Amazing Personal Finance Blog (wow!

Saving money while my husband's in the Army and I work for peanuts.

Finishing school during DH's deployment

7 Responses to “Finishing school during DH's deployment”

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