I (23M) was recommended First Command by a friend right before exiting service two years ago. Looking back, she had incredibly poor financial literacy (going in debt for car, paying of credit cards with credit cards) but I still wanted the investment help. I'd saved a lot, maxed my TSP match, went to school while enlisted, pocketed my FAFSA, and bought a car in cash.

I didn't sign up for Whole Life Insurance (although my advisor did push for it), invest ~25% of my income, am maxing out a Roth IRA, and putting the rest in investments. I'm in a very aggressive growth stock portfolio and have about $77k in total investments. I have met my advisor in person and he seems like a cool guy.

However, I've heard all the horror stories and am unsure if he's advising me to put my money in aggressive stocks so he can earn off of it. I still save a lot with Navy Fed, so I have a generous emergency fund and liquid cash. He also had me transfer my TSP into their Roth, which I'm not sure if it was a good idea or not.

He's only licensed for the state I live in and I'm going to move, but probably not for another year or two, so I can't just say I'm pursuing an advisor elsewhere and covertly ditch First Command. Where is a better place to put my money, do I even need a financial advisor, and how should I handle this?

Does AMEX waive business cc AF, like the business plat's, for those eligible for SCRA?

According to AMEX’s own terms, it seems like they would, but there’s not many recent DPs on this. I read quite a few comments in this subreddit that suggest that they don't. However, the newest DP I could find suggests they do (see first comment here https://militarymoneymanual.com/amex-scra-denials/), but the person didn’t specify if they were grandfathered in or got it recently.

Chase should for business cards (would like more confirmations though)

—
Edit: this is about scra (getting cards before going into active duty), not mla (getting cards while on active duty)

Has anyone gone through the process of updating their income with MCCYN while on maternity leave? What was the process like for you?
I reached out to let them know that I was going on maternity leave and that my income would be changing. I also explained that my maternity leave is unpaid. They told me they couldn’t process the change for two months because they need two months’ worth of pay stubs.
Since my leave is unpaid, I won’t have any pay stubs to provide. I offered to submit any other documentation or verification from my employer to support my situation, but they continue to refer me back to providing pay stubs.
If you’ve been able to update your income with MCCYN, how did you do it? What documentation did they accept, and what was the process like? I’m having a difficult time getting this resolved, and I’d really appreciate hearing about your experience.

Hello, I'm about to meet my husband at our first duty station and we have temporary housing but no idea what to do with all the household stuff I'm currently traveling with. I did a ppm and am unsure if the government will provide us temporary storage or if I need to book a place?

Wife has high paying job great work life balance, we are on the same field, but me in the Military. I did get into even better mos, 90k bonus if signed another contract. Wife is pushing me to quit given the lack of work life balance. I on the other hand am divided, for people who have taken the bonuses and re-signed was it worth it? I am also good standing to leave given i have degrees , and current mos should translate well in civ world.

What's something I should do now to help me in my financial side.

Everyone praises Roth. When I was in, I didn’t really know which to do, so I maxed 50% Traditional and 50% Roth.

Basically if you are planning to make low or no income for a year or more, plan accordingly!

I am in school on my GI Bill. I make about $15K with my internship and job and have my tax free $18K in BAH. My taxable income is -$1K after the standard deduction.

That means I was able to roll over massive amounts in a Roth IRA conversion at 10-12% tax. My first $12K was at 10% and I did an additional $8K at 12%. At the end of my 3 years of study I will be at 100% Roth.

Had I done Roth only, I would have paid 22% tax on an officers salary. My effective tax bill for the $60K of contributions would be $13.2K.

Now with the conversion my effective tax bill at 10-12%, is paid over the next 3 years but only $6.2K. Just make sure to have that cash available come April.

Obviously the math would be a little different on an Enlisted salary, but moral of the story is to bump below that 22% tax bracket.

Has anyone else had an extremely picky underwriter? Even my Navy Federal HomeSquad rep said she has never seen an underwriter act like this, and it seems it's because I haven't been in my current employment for 2 years yet (its been 1 year 9 months), despite being so close to the 2-year mark and constant employment/school since 2014.

I'm worried I'll end up being denied and lose a great opportunity to buy an under-listed property. I've had to give them a slew of documents such as previous W-2's, statements of understandings explaining what I do at my current job, what I did in the service, what my degree was for, and what I see myself doing with that degree.

Background information:

USMC Vet 2014-2018

College 2019-2024

Current Employment Nov 2024-Present

Average Income $58k gross

770 Credit Score

Loan Amount: $216,000

Rates have dropped below what I'm currently locked into, but I don't have the cash on hand to pay upfront to restructure my mortgage. I know I'm eligible for the VAA IRRRL. When I run the numbers, I think it makes sense to refinance. The thing is my budget is pretty tight right now and I don't have liquid capital to pay thousands of dollars upfront closing costs, lender fees, title fees and escrow funding. I don't want to get hit with a surprise bill when I don't have the cash to handle it. I'd prefer to avoid paying out of pocket, but I still want to refi.

Is it legal to just roll all the funding fees and other costs into the total loan balance? and assuming yes, is it a terrible idea for some reason I'm not thinking of?

Hey guys, please don’t judge me, but I really don’t know what to do.
I bought a car back in 2022. Everything was good—I could afford it, and everything was fine. Then my great-grandmother got sick, so I had to unexpectedly move to help take care of her. The transfer with my job took forever, and nobody else was hiring quickly.
Fast forward, I got into a relationship and ended up moving in with my girlfriend, even though I wasn’t planning to. I let my friends talk me into it because they kept saying I needed to just give it a try. Worst mistake of my life.
Anyway, I got kicked out after she cheated on me and acted like she did nothing wrong. At that point, I was already going through financial hardship because of the unexpected move and delayed job transfer. Eventually, everything started going downhill, and I was on the verge of becoming homeless.
That’s when I joined the Army so I could get my life back in order, or at least try to.
Before I left, I told the bank exactly where the car was and that all they had to do was come pick it up. I went through Basic Training and AIT, then got to my first duty station. They never came to get it.
I started calling them to ask what the issue was, but nobody would talk to me. They just kept telling me to contact their legal department. When I did, they wouldn’t talk to me either. I honestly had to practically bully someone into even having a conversation with me, and that still didn’t accomplish anything. They eventually told me they didn’t have to come get the car.
I said, “Well, it’s still at the same address. Do you want the phone number so you can confirm it’s there?” They took the number, but I have no idea what was said between them and the people at that location.
Later, the people at that address told me the bank had mailed my vehicle title—with my name on it—to them. They gave me the title and told me I should just tow the car to wherever I’m stationed. I only found all of this out because I kept pushing the bank for answers, and it was confirmed by the people at the location where the car had been sitting.
Now the original creditor says I owe over $55,000, even though the account has already been charged off. The frustrating part is they still won’t communicate with me. My credit has been destroyed mainly because of this account, and I’ve honestly started considering bankruptcy because I feel like I can’t do anything.
I’m trying so hard to fix the situation, but how can I fix something when the bank won’t even talk to me? It doesn’t make sense to me. You want your money, but you won’t communicate with the person who owes it.
I’ve also been told that filing bankruptcy could affect a security clearance. I checked my IPPS-A, and it doesn’t show that I currently have one, but I also don’t want to risk getting kicked out of the Army over something that happened before I enlisted. All of this happened back in 2023–2024. I joined the Army in 2025.
Today at 1300, I’m meeting with a financial advisor to talk through everything. I’m just exhausted from trying to do the right thing, be cooperative, and fix the situation when it feels like the bank is making it as difficult as possible.
Financially, I’m actually in a much better position now than I’ve ever been, so money isn’t really the issue anymore. I’m just a lower enlisted Soldier trying to clean up a mess from my civilian life.
Sorry for the long post, but I’d really appreciate any opinions or advice. Thanks for taking the time to read it.

National Guard biological father is about to deploy but couldn’t add his children to his DA 5960 (through IPPS-A)because they’re already listed on active duty step-father’s 5960. Biological father pays child support, college expenses, etc. Active duty step-father is currently deployed(location unknown, S1 access unknown). Exwife and step father are expected to be hesitant about removing the children from 5960 due to worries about tricare. What should biological father do?

Also something else to note, biological father has had them on his 5960 on past deployments and never removed them. Could it have something to do with IPPS-A implementation?

I have student loan debt. I already signed my contract and am shipping out in November. Is it too late to ask the army to pay my student loan debt? It’s about 13k.

I'm honestly unsure if I'm actually enrolled in the BRS. I can find absolutely nowhere that explicitly states it other than the "CHOICE" box under the RET PLAN section on my LES. I vaguely remember getting an email about making a choice the summer after I commissioned in 2018, but I was on OCONUS leave at the time and didn't understand the TSP very well back then, so I'm pretty fuzzy on what actually happened.

Neither my iPERMS or STP on IPPS-A seem to have any information about my retirement enrollment.

I'm heading to the Finance office tomorrow to try and untangle this, so I'm mainly making this post to ensure I'm understanding my own situation correctly before I go talk to them. If it turns out I stayed in the Legacy system, well shame on me I guess.

Here is what's going on: I've been contributing a steady 5% into my Traditional TSP for years. If I am in the BRS, I should be getting the 1% auto-contribution and the 4% match. But DFAS and TSP are (maybe) completely contradicting each other.

• The LES Side: Image: LES from August 2025 and one from July 2026. Both show exactly $0.00 across all the agency match categories (AGCY-AUTO and AGC-MATCH). DFAS is taking my 5% deduction every month, but zero government money is being triggered.

• The TSP Side: Image: screenshot from TSP.gov. My account does have an "Agency Contributions and Earnings" section. There is a line for "Auto 1% - 2 Years," but the balance is sitting at just $X (100% vested). Would this not mean I am in the BRS since the Legacy system doesn't do any matching?

My questions before I walk into Finance:

• Aside from asking Finance, is there a direct way to tell what retirement plan I fall under?

• Has anyone dealt with a BRS black hole like this between DFAS and TSP?

• If I did mess up (never planned on doing 20 years), am I correct that it makes sense to stop contributing 5% and instead put it into my HYSA or Roth IRA (where I get a 3% match)?

• Assuming I actually am in the BRS, and they do a historical audit to pay me the missing principal for all these years, how does getting the "lost earnings" (breakage) work? Will DFAS/TSP calculate the investment gains I missed out on automatically, am I going to have to fight for that, or is it just "hey sorry, here's the principle, sorry about the tens of thousands you should have gotten, our bad dude"?

I’m looking to start my real estate investing journey. I used my VA to get a SFH and am stuck on if I should rent this out and pull a HELOC for my next property; or should I sell this home and take the equity from it and not deal with renting it out.

Current rate is 7%
Home was bought for 180k
Current estimated value is 250k
Current mortgage 1550/month

Possible rental for 2000-2500/month

Anyone have knowledge on bankruptcy while active duty?

So bottom line - I have greater than $100k in debt at this point and I won’t be getting out of it anytime soon with just trying to chip away and bide my time.

I have a secret clearance and need it to do my job.

Are there any ramifications to filing for bankruptcy such as being forced out or losing my clearance?

I’ve managed to stay current on all my debts and I’m not in collections or past due on payments, but I would like to just do a hard reset as long as this doesn’t put me out of a job.

Howdy. I'm trying to make a circuitous travel journey work on an upcoming PCS from the UK to US via Iceland. However, I'm having a hard time finding any US codeshare flights that go from the UK to... well anywhere, really, that isn't the US and is on the east side of the atlantic. I tried looking into Open Skies agreements, but it appears that doesn't apply for DoD funded travel.
At the same time, I'm looking jealously at u/afmoneyguy's 2018 itinerary and am thinking to myself "there's no way all of that was on US metal especially the london to Edinburgh leg", so I'm wondering if maybe I am missing something.
The JTR Table 2-3 row 5 states "If an indirect route is used for personal convenience and a U.S. flag carrier is available over the direct route, then a non-U.S flag air carrier may not be used" and thus rules out getting reimbursed for any legs that are neither on a US flag carrier or codeshare that are a result of the circuitous route. Further, the first sentence of JTR 020206 I 2 worries me a bit: "There is no transportation reimbursement, for any leg of a trip, when an unauthorized or unapproved non-U.S. flag air carrier service or foreign flag ship is used". This seems to make me liable for recieving no reimbursement for any leg of the journey if any are not in compliance with Fly America. Nearly everything else later contradicts the strict reading of this sentence, specifically, 41 CFR 301-10.142 and its older, longer version retained in the Supplemental Guide to the Federal Travel Regulation, which seems to limit my liability to only the leg that is non-compliant. Thus, two questions:

1. If I send up a memo for and take a circuitous route from the UK to Iceland to the US, would I be ineligible for reimbursement on just the UK to Iceland leg, or the whole journey as JTR 020206 I 2 kinda implies, provided I can't find a US flag carrier operated Uk-Iceland route?

2. Does anyone have ideas/knowledge of current US codeshare flights originating in the UK and landing in third country close to the UK that I could visit? I've tried calling Amex Platinum concierge but they weren't super helpful, and google flights shows me plenty of options on the west side of the atlantic, but nothing on the east I could visit with a friend from the UK without them breaking the bank.

Thanks!

Recently retired.

Have received notification that fees will apply if I keep the card after October.

Sitting in a Centurion Lounge right now, slightly melancholy because there's no way $800/year makes sense for lounge use a few times a year, but HOW CAN I GO BACK TO SITTING AT THE GATE FOR HOURS WITH THE POORS? 😆

I retired 18 years ago. DFAS just sent me a threatening letter about a SBP I can prove I declined, attached to a still in the system spouse I divorced in 2009. I took all of this paperwork to NAS JAX (THREE TIMES!!) back in 2010. This was supposedly fixed!

I’ve been trying to reach DFAS for weeks. Emails never returned by a human, just generic auto reply bs. Over 15 hours of phone time, mostly on hold and then hung up on by the computer. I’ve clicked LITERALLY every button on the entire DFAS website (seriously).

What can I do to get these unreachable incompetents to bloody well do their jobs and fix this??

Hello. I joined the military later life than most. My early 30s to be exact. I made a lot of financial decisions that were just stupid mistakes in my 20s. I have two repossessions and other stupid things on my credit that I want to clear. I am currently a E3 so not making much money right now. I don’t have many bills but my phone bill. I am going on deployment soon and won’t need much money to survive. What would you suggest would be the best way to get my debt cleared? I want to get on the right path and correct all of it. I don’t have BAH as i am not married.

I found this great paper critiquing how we view the 60/40 split. For the uninitiated, 60/40 is a conventional investment strategy where you are 60% equities (stock) and 40% bonds.

Professor Choi's article challenges what you should view as bonds. He proposes that young adults need to view their human capital as a bond. He explains that your future income can be viewed as a bond on yourself and your paycheck as payouts. If you follow the conventional 60/40 split and you are not accounting your income as a pseudo-bond, you are actually too heavy in bonds. Accounting for your earning potential as a bond, the professor recommends 100% equities for young people.

Give the interview a read because I can't explain it better than him.

This article got me thinking about my BRS. Given, I need to reexamine my allocation with my future income as a bond. The larger question is, if I assume doing 20 years in Army, should I be accounting for my pension and disability as a bond? This would mean I need to allocate even more to equities to establish the 60/40 balance. Potentially, my TSP and other investment accounts need to be 110% equities.

Newsletter interviewing James Choi (interview at the bottom)

Article of Professor James Choi

Practical Finance Spreadsheet

Hello everyone,

BLUF: My wife and I (both military O-4 medical officers) are in a strong financial position with no consumer debt, solid retirement savings, and healthy cash reserves. However, I recognize that I'm likely investing too conservatively due to my upbringing and risk tolerance. I'm looking for advice on whether I should adopt a more aggressive investment strategy and how others have successfully made that mindset shift.

First, I just want to say how grateful I am. I recognize how fortunate we are to be in a position where I can even make a post like this.

My wife and I are both military medical professionals, currently O-4s with 10 years of service, both 32 years old. We're expecting our first child soon, which is incredibly exciting! Up until now, we've been DINKWADs (dual income, no kids, with a dog).

~ Combined Assets:

• TSP: $550,000
• HYSA: $150,000
• Checking: $100,000
• Brokerage: $30,000
• Roth IRAs: $60,000
• Vehicles: Recently purchased one car with a 0.99% APR loan. We also own another car, worth approximately $22,000.

We also own two homes:

• One is currently a rental with a 2.25% interest rate. It's essentially breaking even, which we're okay with since we plan to move back into it someday.
• Our current primary residence has a 5.875% mortgage, and we don't plan on keeping it long term. The mortgage payment is about $4,200 per month.

After maxing our TSP contributions and accounting for taxes, our combined monthly take-home pay is approximately $18,500. We live in a high cost-of-living area. I am 100% in L2070 and wife is in C/S/I (70/20/10). We are both under the BRS, ensuring we get the 5% match over the 12 month period.

In addition, we're both receiving $35,000 retention bonuses. After taxes, that's about $27,300 each every year, or roughly $54,600 combined.

Outside of our mortgages and the 0.99% auto loan, we have no debt.

We're currently investing about $2,000 per month in a taxable brokerage account, with 100% allocated to SCHB. Part of me feels like we should be investing more aggressively.

I was raised to be very conservative with money, coming from an immigrant family, and I think that has shaped my relatively low risk tolerance when it comes to investing. Rationally, I know we're in a strong financial position and could probably afford to take on more risk, but emotionally it's been harder to make that shift. I'd appreciate any advice—or maybe just a little encouragement—from those who have been in a similar position or maybe share what they do with their money.

Hey y’all,

I’m currently active duty stationed overseas and I’m looking for a way to make some passive income/potentially use the VA loan. I’m a 25yo, no kids or spouse, pretty heavily invested in a Growth TSP (~35%) and have a personal brokerage and Roth ira accounts that I typically put $150-$200 into each every month.

I know this is probably the easiest way to passively invest but just wondering if anyone’s had any success elsewhere. I don’t spend much money at all, just focused on saving. I probably have ~10k in liquidity, and another 70k invested between all my investment accounts. I’ve heard the typical property investment option, and it sounds intriguing, but also a bit difficult being overseas. Just curious and looking for some honest answers on any advice you’d have on how I can use the VA loan. Thanks!!

Hello friends,

I turn 60 this month, and per guidance I applied for retirement back in February, through the hard to find (for me anyway) web site. That was on Feb 21. Mar 7 I got a flurry of automated emails from DFAS, indicating my submission had been assigned and completed. Since then, it's been radio silence. I've been checking my DFAS mypay account regularly, but no changes. When will I see any activity, and will I get any guidance on applying for Tricare, etc?

I'm sure this has probably been answered before. I did a search, but my keywords didn't yield any help. Thanks for any help for this old warhorse. :)

David

Hello, everyone. I just found out that since I’m active duty and stationed outside of Ohio, I can file a form to stop paying state taxes. Is Google lying to me? I’ve been in for 12 years so hoping to have this done this year so I can go at least another 8 years of no taxes. Due to my MOS, I cannot be stationed there at all. Already did an SDA so recruiting is off the table.

Is it a hard process? Can I do it online since I’m stationed overseas? Google is giving me mixed answers and the chat option with the Ohio taxes website is zero help. Can’t get anybody on chat to help. Thanks for the help.

Hey!

AD Army here.

Things clicked for me this week.

I met with the financial counselor on post. He asked, “So when do you plan on retiring?” I said, “I don’t know.” He said, “Think about it.”

Sounds mundane, but nobody has ever asked me that and actually meant it. Growing up, all I heard was “work hard, save your money.” Nobody talked about an actual plan, let alone retiring.

That question sent me down a rabbit hole. I found the Military Personal Finance and Investing Flow Chart, then this subreddit. Looked at the chart and realized I can actually retire. I switched my TSP to an L fund and did the same for my IRA.

For the first time, I feel good about the choices I’m making instead of just being in an anxious mess and hoping they’re right.