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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.

About 5 years ago (very soon after my husband and I got married) I saw David's Bach's book, "Automatic Millionaire" and it truly 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 managed to save for a downpayment on a home, open and contribute automatically to 2 retirement accounts, and get rid of all our credit card debt once and for all. At the time this blog was first written I was very excited to write that we had "increased our networth from $0 to $18,000!" Now that number has gone up a bit.

Retirement.
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. We also try to max out our Roth IRA every year (some times it doesn't quite happen but close enough).

Saving.
We used to save 25%, or $1,000, per month of his take home pay but still had credit debt and as you'll see in some of the old blog entries we struggled with that for a while. We've notched down savings a bit, but still save regularly and have an emergency cushion that we're comfortable with.

Home.
After moving back in with my parents we saved like crazy and managed to save $33,000 for a downpayment on a our first home! We financed the rest with a 15 year mortgage since we had recently begun listening to Dave Ramsey and liked a lot of his ideas. We pay an extra $300 a month towards principle which means that if everything goes as planned the house will pay off in 10 years instead of 15!

Cars.
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.

Our goals now are to pay off the house and save for when my husband gets out of the army, whenever that may happen...

Finishing school during DH's deployment

June 22nd, 2007 at 08:41 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 10:04 pm 1182549850
1182549850

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 23rd, 2007 at 02:07 am 1182564447
1182564447

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 08:42 am 1183365733
1183365733

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 08:43 am 1183365829
1183365829

networks = "networth" for june (whoops my bad)
Amber Says:
July 3rd, 2007 at 02:05 am 1183428343
1183428343

What did you decide?
armyamy Says:
July 17th, 2007 at 12:32 am 1184632376
1184632376

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 11:29 pm 1184714978
1184714978

Good luck and thanks for the update

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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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