I know people have done it. Is there anyone to Opted into BSR? I don’t plan on staying in for 20, and I would like to grab the continuation pay before 2025. I missed my window being stupid in 2018.

For context my husband and I are mil-mil. He deploys very soon and we are trying to break our lease. He doesn’t receive orders till the day he leaves for that deployment. We have gotten in lieu of orders for him that we have given our landlord that they will not accept. We tried to give them our 30days notice with the in lieu of and they will not accept it. We have been waiting for their “legal team” for 2 weeks now. What should we do? Can we move out on the date specified without penalty?

As the title states I’m currently living paycheck to paycheck with barely enough to get me to the next month I’m living off post but have a 6 months left until my lease is over. My wife and I want to move on base to save money but in my lease agreement it says that the lease can not be broken for on base housing. Is there anything my CC can do? Any advice would be appreciated I’m still super new to the Army

Just sharing here in case others weren't aware that Military Star is switching away from "private label" and is now a Discover card when they send you one of their new cards.

It's pitched like a net positive change, but one negative I've realized is that as a result, service connected vets with commissary privileges no longer get the 1.9% credit card service fee waived for partially disabled, non retired vets who gained commissary privileges in 2020 when using Military Star at the commissary. It's treated just like a normal credit card transaction and the surcharge is applied.

Caught me by surprise at checkout when I used my new card this weekend. I called them today and Military Star confirmed the commissary waived fee benefit was no longer.

I am a military spouse who worked in Germany and paid income tax for 2021. Received a letter that I would be fined if I didn't declare for 2022. Problem is we PCSd in 2021. I didn't work there in 2022 and won't ever again.

How do I tell the govt there that I left and they shouldn't expect any more declarations from me?

Curious if anyone can speak on how long a post-separation ppm audit takes with the Air Force.

Paperwork was lost at my local mpf first, then submitted as expedited last week.

Today finance said DFAS started their audit and it could take 1-2 weeks to be paid.

Is this accurate?

Good morning everyone,

3 years ago I transferred 18 months of my post 9/11 GI Bill to my wife. She only ended up needing to use 13 of the 18 months to finish her degree. I have about 10 months left till my service obligation is finished for that transfer. Do I have to wait until then to get the 5 months back that she didn't use? I tried revoking the months on milconnect but it almost seemed like it was going to revoke all 18 and im not trying to get a bill in the mail for 13 months of her tuition. Is it even possible to get the 5 months back? I couldn't find any good info despite looking for the past few hours. Thank you!

I have been planning on joining the military since I was a freshman, and when I took personal finance class, I thought it would be a good idea to draft up a little financial plan for a 6 year contract. The plan is pretty optimistic (Getting E-5 and E-6 promotions as soon as possible, includes bonus) but its not impossible, I'd say. Some people I've shown this plan to have been rather dubious, given how much of a surplus I would theoretically have when I get out, but to my eye, the math checks out.

I believe I could exclusively eat at the DFAC (I currently subsist on a diet of bran flakes, so I'd say thats not an unreasonable belief), and thus would not have to spend money on such things unless I went out with friends (Misc. Entertainment)

Also, maybe I'm mistaken in this belief, but I believe I could get by without having to buy a personal vehicle

I don't know if this is the ideal format, but the plan is as follows:

|| || |Income|((E-3, <2 years pay: (I would enlist as an E-3) 2377.5 x 18) + (E-4 <2 years pay 2633.7 x 6) + (E-4 2 years pay 2768.4 x 12) + (E-5 3 years pay 3214.2 x 12) + (E-6 4 years pay 3214.2 x 12)) x 0.75 (tax)= 165308| |BAS|460.25 x 72 = 33138| |Bonus|20000 x 0.75 (tax) = 15000| |Total Income|213445| |Retirement|6700 x 6 = 40200| |Phone|140 x 72 = 10080| |Clothes|134 x 72 = 9648| |Internet|61 x 72 = 4392| |Hygiene| 60 x 72 = 4320| |Misc. Entertainment|243 x 72 = 17496| |Misc.|76 x 72 = 5472| |Total Expenses|91608| |Total Surplus|121837|

Looking at getting a Ford Maverick. Anyone get MSRP on one?

So I’m a senior in high school thinking about enlisting. I’ve been researching to make the most out of my military experience and I came across Roth TSP. I’ve heard that you should invest in your Roth tsp until 5% matching then invest in your Roth IRA. But how do you check if you are up to the 5% match? Also how much money should I invest? Because the army paycheck for the first year is around 20000 or so I plan to max out my Roth IRA for sure but I’m not sure how much I should contribute to my TSP. Can anyone tell me what expenses enlisted personnel has during their first year? Also what kind of MOS transfer well into civilian life? I’ve seen 17C being mentioned a ton but with ai catching up I don’t really know if it’ll be good anymore.

Thank you.

I set up a deduction last year for the DCFSA for $60/month. However, my kids decided they did not want to go to the on-base youth center, so those funds have mostly gone un-used. I'll now have $400-500 to spend before the end of March. I'm fairly confident I can't just withdrawal the funds and pay the taxes on it (if I can, please let me know). Alternatively, are there any ways to spend the money that I'm not thinking of? We don't NEED any childcare which makes spending the money difficult.

I’m at my 10 year mark AD and just went through a Med Board and received a 70% DoD rating and a 100% VA rating. Medical retirement orders have been processed with a retirement date of 14 December.

I know I will receive my last normal paycheck from DoD on 1 December and then a few weeks after 14 December I will receive my “back pay” for 1-14 December from DoD.

My wounded warrior non medical care coordinator mentioned that I would receive an additional pay from DoD of 70% of my base pay at some point after my retirement date but I’m not understanding why. She also stated I would not pay back that 70%.

It was my understanding I would only receive DoD or VA payments, not both. Can anyone explain this better? When I asked my finance office about it they had no clue what I was talking about.

I'm 18 finishing up my first semester of community college interested in the coast guard, how can make the most out of 20 years of serving in terms of money? do know with some planning in TSP, it can grow a lot, but I'm at a loss overall, how can open a TSP account? Does the military offer financial advisers? Any advice when I'm starting out early? I'm a blank slate and I don't know much so I appreciate any guidance

Got out of AIT on July, I was told to wait 3 months and then go to finance. Once I told finance they said they needed to send a form first since the 3 months had already passed, which they did. Now my question is how long does it take for them to review/send to get bonus?

Hey everyone,

I'm still active but soon to be retired. Over my 20 years in the military, I've seen many of us face financial struggles. I wanted to share an idea I've been thinking about and get your thoughts on it.

The Situation:

The Service Members Civil Relief Act (SCRA), caps interest rates at 6%, but only on debts we had before starting active duty. The thing is, many of us joined up when we were 18 or 20, fresh out of high school, without much debt. But as we serve, we start accumulating debt—car loans, credit cards, mortgages, student loans—you name it. Unfortunately, the current SCRA doesn't cover the debts we pick up during our service, which feels outdated, especially given the current economy.

Also, let's be honest: we're often targets for predatory lending. Even with all the briefings and financial training, sometimes life happens, and we end up with high-interest loans or not-so-great financial deals. It's a tough spot, affecting many of us more than we might admit.

Plus, our spouses often share these financial burdens. They're holding down the fort while we're deployed, dealing with moves, job changes, and everything else that comes with military life. Some states, like Ohio, have laws that extend SCRA protections to debts incurred during active duty and even include spouses, which is pretty cool.

My Idea:

I'm thinking maybe we push to expand the SCRA at the federal level to:

1. Cover Debts Incurred During Active Duty:
   • Apply that 6% interest rate cap to all debts we take on while serving.
   • Make it automatic so we don't have to deal with a ton of paperwork.
2. Include Our Spouses:
   • Extend these protections to debts held jointly or individually by our spouses, recognizing their integral role in our financial stability.

Why This Could Help:

• Retention and Recruitment: This could be a solid tool for keeping folks in the service and attracting new talent. The military has been struggling with recruiting goals lately, and we need to incentivize the best to come and work with us.
• Less Financial Stress: We're not asking for a pay raise here. This is about making our current paychecks stretch a bit further by cutting down on high interest rates.
• Better Focus on the Mission: If we're less worried about money, we can focus more on our jobs and less on how we're gonna pay the bills.
• Support for Our Families: Recognizes the sacrifices our spouses make and gives them some much-needed relief.

What Do You Think?

• Do you think this would help you or others you know?
• Have you dealt with financial headaches that something like this could've eased?
• Any potential issues or things I'm missing here?

I plan to submit this idea officially soon, but I really wanted to get some feedback from you all first. Your experiences and opinions mean a lot, and maybe together, we can make some positive changes.

Thanks for hearing me out, and I look forward to your thoughts!

Hey y’all I’m a army reservist and my unit set up the flights and everything for my mobilization,I’m just wondering if I have to pay back the 159 dollars on my gtc even though my unit made the flight plan and all that stuff. Just to note I have tried going through chain of command and it has been weeks of “let me get back to you on that” with the charge still sitting in my account. TIA!

So I am 21 spent about 2 years in the army found out I had epilepsy got med boarded and retired they gave me 100% disability but whenever I check into myPay on my retiree account anything I click on says error and to call dfas so I’m super confused on if I’ll be receiving retirement pay or not or is there something I have to do or am I even eligible I call the customer support but we all know that robot lady is a headache and I’ve only been retired about a month and a week and it is not the first yet so I know nobody has been paid but I’m being impatient and would love to know so thank you if you can help

Hi everyone,

We've just refinanced our existing VA mortgage via an IRRL, and are in the process of buying another (larger) home to move into. My wife's parents will be moving into our current place.

• My lender called me today and said the underwriter mentioned this would be fraud, perhaps because the IRLL went through as a primary residence since it was done before the new purchase, which was also listed as a primary residence.
• My understanding is that you can use a property as an investment so long as its served as your primary residence for 12 months, which in our case it has.
• The question is, should it be as simple as reclassifying the refinance as an investment property? The lender is saying I'll need to run the new purchase as a convention loan to avoid this, or as an investment with a higher rate, and neither of those options sound appealing.

My wife got paid and it was way lower than we usually get. She calls and they told her they had been paying for $230 extra a paycheck and they weren’t supposed to. Instead of trying to set up a payment plan they took $2600 (she only got paid $600). How can they do this? (She is in the army).

Thanks for all of the suggestions, with her being in Texas and we live in Massachusetts, I will definitely let her know all of the information. It was actually only $115 a paycheck ($230 a month) not really sure how we are suppose to catch that. It’s just crazy they can take that much without telling us (maybe she has an email about it but we can’t find it)

What happens if you have a couple and they are Active duty, the higher ranking receives BAH with dependents. But what happens when the judge grants Joint Physical and Joint Legal Custody? Will the lower enlisted be able to receive BAH? Or can 1 AD Sponsor Claim one Child and Vice Verse?

I currently bank with BOA and in the process of enlisting. I am with intention of working along different banks and credit cards to my benefits. Is Navy fed a good option to add along the way for my new banking method. or should I just stick with BOA. I have heard good stuffs about Navy fed as being good with military members and their good loan policy. How different are they.

Edit: I also am considering to change my direct deposit to navy fed and flowing my money to other accounts as needed. Is this a good idea and is transferring of money hassle free in Navy fed?

Hey yall, been in for a little minute and never had to actually pay for anything other than copays and prescriptions for my wife and kiddo (tricare selectees). Earlier this year, my wife had to get some work done that cost us roughly 600 bucks. Are we able to claim these expenses even if they’re not on our annual 1040? Thanks everybody.

Hi all, I will ETS next summer and I plan on doing a full DTY move, partially because I am starting school and could use the extra cash and partially because I plan on moving further than my home of record and don’t want to pay out of pocket for the Army movers.

Can someone walk me through the process of how claiming everything will go? My previous PDTYs all required me walking into the transportation office to file my claim and get paid out in a timely manner.

I was doing some research on what benefits my wife will receive if I pass away while still on active duty. I saw the death gratituity, the DIC, health care and BAH. I couldn't find anything definite on the survivor benefit plan. One site said it is only for retirees and another said it was applicable automatically for active duty.

I've been married for over 20 years and have over 20 years of active service if that matters.

Thanks!

Hey all,

I've had my wages garnishmened for 1.5 years by the DoD. I am not military. I am just paying back an ROTC scholarship.

With that being said, does anyone have any way of checking your balance more efficiently? So far my only method is to call, and the wait times are 1+ hours. I cannot find a portal or anything online to set up. Apologize in advance if this is the wrong group to post in. I just followed posts about garnishmebts and DFAS here!

Should I buy a home with my parents using the VA loan?(First time buyer)

With an upcoming move to Arizona, my parents proposed an idea for us to invest in a home together using my VA loan (active duty military) and living with me (25M). I’m on the fence about this decision, it would be a great way for me to build for my future and potentially flip it years down the line. Both of my parents would be working and paying the mortgage so it would be 3 incomes contributing to anything house related. They’re thinking it would make more sense to own a property instead of us paying rent in our separate homes/ apartments.

Also, they would be considered my tenants and look after the house if I were to move again for work reasons, which is always a possibility with the military. It would be an improvement of their living situation financially and better quality of life compared to living in Florida as they would to move closer to me after being apart during my career. We have a good relationship but I’m not completely convinced it’s a good idea because I’d be giving up my privacy and independence again even if I’m single atm. I’m aware of other factors like job security and them getting older so I any tips on whether this could be a good or a bad idea would be very helpful.

I am currently TDY en route and nearby my PCS destination. Without having in-processed yet, obviously all of my stuff is still in storage.

I started talking to base housing after a disappointing look at the costs and availability of what is off base, and they actually have a home available in a few weeks that is on the larger end of their selection due to an inbound that got their orders changed.

I am not due to complete my TDY en route for another few months, but I was wondering if anything is stopping me from accepting this home and paying them my BAH earlier than I normally would have, which I imagine they'll gladly take.

The pros are that I would secure a much larger home than I probably would have available in a few months, my family can move in and I can start delivery of our HHG so they don't have to live in this rental, begin collecting Family Separation pay, and I can focus on my training course during the week and just drive a few hours to my home on the weekends to be with family. Also, the rental we're in right now isn't exactly in a great part of town.

The downsides are that I will no longer be pocketing my BAH (probably around $5k worth if I move in early) and that if I don't pass this training course, I'll have burned up my one allowed HHG delivery already and the next one to wherever I get moved to will be out of pocket.

Anyone have thoughts on this? I'm mostly decided that whatever money I am making from pocketing BAH isn't worth giving up the comfort of my kids having their toys back and my wife having a home again, but just want to see if I'm missing anything big.

23 year old 2nd Lt looking for financial advice. I dont know if I need to be doing more or not. Here is what I have. Should I be doing anything else? Tsp: c & s fund, contributing 6% Roth ira: all FXAIX Amex HYSA: 4.4% rate, roughly $4.5k in it

After 3 yrs of active duty, can you get 100% benefits on housing even when don't have dependents?

Other than pay and rank?