Service and Wealth

Trick question (or is it?): what's the first step in budgeting? If you said "put down your income," or "list my regular expenses from biggest to smallest," you're 100 percent WRONG. No effective Personal Financial Plan or budget can start this way, because it's ignoring what's important to you. There's no goal or road map for it. You're just writing down a bunch of numbers and tracking them each m...

It's a real shame: budgets and budgeting apps are designed to fail. They just tell you the fun and rewarding things that you're not allowed to do! Life's too short not to enjoy it. But since there's a Future You that will want a new car, to buy your first house, to travel the world, go back to school -- not to mention that you've got a 50-50 shot at living to be 100 and you don't want to work for...

America's military families are in trouble: --74% can't afford their housing costs on BAH alone --76% state they need more money to make ends meet --76% say they need their spouse to work to make ends meet --57% of them are single-income households There's no denying it: the military lifestyle is hard. But this isn't 2005, and it doesn't have to be. 3 out of 4 military families report financial di...

If you only read the headlines, you'd believe that there's no way you can ever become a homeowner and check off the biggest "to-do" on your way to achieving the American Dream. After all, as we roll into 2025 the average (median) home price in the U.S. stands at $410,000: at 7% interest rates, that results in a monthly mortgage payment of $2,700  IF you make a 20% down payment -- and nea...

It's crazy: there are still people out there who think you can't make money in real estate! The reality is that real estate offers so many different ways to make money that it is a far superior asset class to anything else out there. Want to make money on your stock portfolio? You have TWO ways to make money: appreciation and dividends. But what about real estate . . .  In real estate investi...

Believe it or not,  no one can predict what will happen with the stock market -- or with individual stocks . In fact, on a daily basis, there's a 53% chance a stock will go up and a 47% chance it will go down: hardly any better than a coin flip. So when the headlines are calling for Doom and Gloom, talking about "bubbles", and predicting a crash, it's no more reliable than your own guess. But...

Just like working up for a deployment, at some point all the training just seems to come together and make sense. You memorized all the technical jargon in your Field Manual (FM), and know the Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures (TTPs) to apply the "tools in your toolbox" in a real mission setting. That's what this episode is all about -- but for real estate! Whether you've been in for 2 years or...

Finally, it's here . . . drumroll please . . .  The Authoritative Guide to the VA Loan . If you think you already know all you need to know about the VA Loan, we guarantee that by the end of today's show you will have found several reasons to pick up your Green Notebook and a pen and write down some notes with the "golden nuggets" we introduced. From explaining why the VA Guaranty will always...

In our fourth installment of our Podcast series on Real Estate for the Military, we finish building our Financial IQ Foundation by discussing financing and mortgages. Not just for the VA Loan, but general truths about home loans and the mortgage industry. While it may feel like a bit of tease to not jump into the VA Loan straightaway, understanding financing will help you take advantage of many di...

Welcome back for our third installment in the series of Real Estate for the Military, in which we move from crawl to walk -- and help you with some tried-and-true TTPs for making killer offers and getting a great deal on your first (or next) house. In Week 1 we laid the foundation of what real estate is all about in the U.S., and in Week 2 we talked about how to prepare yourself to buy a house by...

In our second installment of the Military Wealth Coach's Service and Wealth series on real estate for the military, we build on the foundation of Part 1 in which you learned about the foundation of all real estate transactions, and the things you need to check on before buying a property. Armed with that knowledge, we dive into the people you will work with to buy your first (next) house: your age...

Buying a house -- so many words and feelings come to mind: exciting, intimidating, scary . . . and also we probably all assume it's really complex! But the feeling that it's hard comes from not knowing the ins and outs of real estate transactions, where it all starts, and the "who's who in the zoo." Fear not, as this week the Service and Wealth Podcast pulls back the curtain to explain the core co...

We follow up last week's "post-election special" with a second round of discussion about the link between a second Trump Presidency and your life and finances in the military. In response to listener feedback, we dig a bit deeper into the numbers to explain why the standard military pay based on the Employer Cost Index (ECI) simply "doesn't cut it" when it comes to helping you get ahead -- and in...

President Trump secured the 2024 presidential election by a wide margin -- and perhaps even more significantly the Republican Party gained seats in both the Senate and House of Representatives. As the party with an historical reputation as being more "pro-military," does Republican domination mean more pay for you next year? In this week's episode we explain the rules and processes that determine...

Do you know what happens when you let the military manage your TSP (Thrift Savings Plan)? You sacrifice between $1.1 and $2.6 MILLION by the time you hit retirement age. Let that sink in for a minute. The Lifecycle Funds sold by the TSP are highly inefficient investment strategies that rob you of the returns you need to reach the goals and dreams you have for your future. But they do make the TSP...

When your investment portfolio takes a turn for the worse, how do you react? Are you a "stick it out" type -- or do you "panic sell?" Do you believe that you "got screwed by the market" -- or do you take action to set up future trades in a way that prevents a big financial loss? It turns out there are two very different types of people in this world, and when it comes to investing and building wea...

Did you know that your beliefs about money, saving, and investing were most likely formed when you were just 6 or 7 years old? The truth is that we imprint the beliefs and emotions of our parents, neighbors, and pop culture when we're too young to even realize what's happening. And the consequences can be disastrous. Most of us have 1 of 4 "Money Scripts" that determine how we emotionally deal wit...

TikTok loves Girl Math Memes -- both those "for", and those "against." While Girl Math has nothing to do at all with math (obviously), it also has nothing to do with girls: boys also use Girl Math all the time! While it can be fun to talk about and makes for silly memes, the wasteful spending that comes from Girl Math will cause a lot more damage than just going over budget. Each "$5 so it's free"...

This week we wrap up our monthlong series on the Blended Retirement System. Click the links to listen to Episode 1 and  Episode 2  if you missed out. This episode is dedicated to explaining what to do with your BRS and TSP when you take off the uniform one last time and collect your DD214. Unlike the Legacy High-3 retirement that you could put on auto-pilot, the BRS has choices to m...

Most of us who leave the military before 20 years do so to chase higher paychecks in civilian jobs. And while the dollar amount printed on the check every 1st and 15th will likely be more, are you really making more in terms of total compensation? As it turns out, we all need to do a little math to figure out how much the military is actually paying us -- and the results can be stunning! The value...

While your service branch may automatically enroll you in the BRS to make Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) minimum contributions of 5% in order for you to get the 5% Match, that's about the only part of it that is automatic. Of course you should contribute more than the minimum -- and beyond that, you'll need to ensure you're investing in the right fund in your TSP. What's more is that you'll need to mak...

This week we talk RETIREMENT and the Blended Retirement System (BRS). While saving for a car is a $10,000 goal and saving to buy a house with the VA Loan could require $25,000 in savings, retirement is going to require that you're a  multi-millionaire . That's right, by the time you hit your 50s, 60s, 70s, and beyond, you're going to need at least $200,000 a year in income to retire. That mea...

The way we think and feel about money, from unhealthy obsession to constant worry to total avoidance, is rooted in the experiences we had growing up, and the lessons we learned from others. The Military Wealth Coach is no different, and all of the invaluable insights and awesome tactics and tips we share on our channel have their base in my past. This week Coach Ted gets the opportunity to share h...

The military loves to gloss over the important things when it comes to pay and benefits, especially when it affects your bottom line. Indeed it goes beyond that and makes it more difficult to opt-in or opt-out for programs that are in your best interest, while automatically putting you in or out based on what's best for the government. (Hint: if the government makes it hard to get out of something...

Should you get a college degree while you're in uniform using Tuition Assistance, or wait to use your G.I. Bill after you get out? If you already have a degree, should you use TA to go out and get an MBA or other graduate degree? In America in 2024 it's pretty true that you need college in order to make enough money to get by, and so the assumption is that if some college is good, more is better....