In this episode Jamie and Spencer discuss Military Lending Act (MLA) benefits for military spouses. Military spouses enjoy the exact same benefits active duty military servicemembers do on American Express, Chase, Citi, and US Bank credit cards: the annual fees are waived on all the premium cards. Spencer and Jamie break down the best credit cards for military spouses including: The Platinum Card from American Express Chase Sapphire Reserve Card American Express Gold Card Best Hotel credit cards Best Airline credit cards Spencer offers a 100% free course on military travel hacking and getting military annual fee waived credit cards for active duty, guard, reserve, and military spouses. The Platinum Card® from American Express, the American Express® Gold Card, and the Chase Sapphire Reserve® Card are all fee waived. Learn how to get yours in my Ultimate Military Credit Cards Course at militarymoneymanual.com/umc3. If you want to maximize your military paycheck, check out Spencer's 5 star rated book The Military Money Manual: A Practical Guide to Financial Freedom on Amazon at or at shop.militarymoneymanual.com. If you have a question you would like us to answer on the podcast, please reach out on instagram.com/militarymoneymanual or email [email protected].

Rob Shaye is a Coast Guard reservist, Certified Financial Planner (CFP), and military travel hacker. He's passionate about financial education and helping military servicemembers make the best decisions with their money. Learn more about Robert Shaye's company Fireside Finances on his website. In this wide ranging episode, co-hosts Jamie and Spencer talk with Rob about a variety of topics including: The mistakes Rob made investing his lawn mowing money at 15 How Rob got into travel hacking Converting a Chase Marriott card to a Ritz Carlton card Rob's favorite card at the moment, the Paceline Card Getting military fee waivers as a Reservists and military spouse Maximizing the Amex Platinum $200 airline fee credit Bank account bonuses Where Rob goes for credit card news Recommended fiction and non-fiction books If you want to maximize your military paycheck, check out Spencer's 5 star rated book The Military Money Manual: A Practical Guide to Financial Freedom on Amazon at or at shop.militarymoneymanual.com. I also offer a 100% free course on military travel hacking and getting annual fee waived credit cards, like The Platinum Card® from American Express and Chase Sapphire Reserve® in my Ultimate Military Credit Cards Course at militarymoneymanual.com/umc3.

Jamie and Spencer attack how to budget your military paycheck. Ideas discussed on this episode include: Classic pen and paper budget Google Sheets and Excel spreadsheets Apps like Mint.com, You Need A Budget (YNAB), EveryDollar The Reverse Budget, or Anti-Budget (set a high savings rate and spend the rest) If you want to maximize your military paycheck, check out my 5 star rated book The Military Money Manual: A Practical Guide to Financial Freedom on Amazon at or at shop.militarymoneymanual.com. I also offer a 100% free course on military travel hacking and getting annual fee waived credit cards, like the Amex Platinum and Chase Sapphire Reserve in my Ultimate Military Credit Cards Course at militarymoneymanual.com/umc3.

Living paycheck to paycheck can be extremely stressful. It can negatively affect your mental, physical, spiritual, and financial health. Learn how to stop living paycheck to paycheck and to get out of the cycle of never having extra cash in your checking account. If you want to maximize your military paycheck, check out the 5 star rated book The Military Money Manual: A Practical Guide to Financial Freedom on Amazon at or at shop.militarymoneymanual.com. I also offer a 100% free course on military travel hacking and getting annual fee waived credit cards, like the Amex Platinum and Chase Sapphire Reserve in my Ultimate Military Credit Cards Course at militarymoneymanual.com/umc3.

Morgan Housel's book the Psychology of Money is an excellent refresher of the core concepts of financial independence and personal finance. In this episode, Jamie and Spencer apply Housel's concepts of personal finance and investing to military life. The 3 main takeaways for today are: Save money for no reason at all. Play your own game. Better to be reasonable with a good enough plan, than rational with a plan you can't stick to. For a military specific personal finance book, check out the 5 star rated The Military Money Manual: A Practical Guide to Financial Freedom on Amazon at or at shop.militarymoneymanual.com.

Travelling in the military doesn't need to be painful! Know your Joint Travel Regulations (JTR) and benefits available to you. TSA PreCheck is free for military servicemembers. Military spouses can use the right credit card to get Global Entry and TSA PreCheck for free as well. With the right travel rewards cards, you can access airport lounges, upgrade your seat, upgrade your hotel room, and earn hotel perks like free breakfast, executive lounge access, and other free perks. Learn how to maximize your military paycheck in my new book The Military Money Manual: A Practical Guide to Financial Freedom available directly from me on my website or on Amazon. The book has dozens of 5 star reviews on Amazon and Goodreads. It's available as a: Amazon Kindle Ebook Amazon Prime Hardcover Audible Audiobook If you enjoyed the book, please leave a review on Amazon or Goodreads so other military servicemembers and spouses can find it.

Jamie and Spencer talk about a few of their favorite things in this episode. Learn how to maximize your military paycheck in my new book The Military Money Manual: A Practical Guide to Financial Freedom available directly from me on my website or on Amazon. The book has dozens of 5 star reviews on Amazon and Goodreads. It's available as a: Amazon Kindle Ebook Amazon Prime Hardcover Audible Audiobook If you enjoyed the book, please leave a review on Amazon or Goodreads so other military servicemembers and spouses can find it.

Learn how to maximize your military paycheck in my new book The Military Money Manual: A Practical Guide to Financial Freedom available directly from me on my website or on Amazon. The book has dozens of 5 star reviews on Amazon and Goodreads. It's available as a: Amazon Kindle Ebook Amazon Prime Hardcover Audible Audiobook If you enjoyed the book, please leave a review on Amazon or Goodreads so other military servicemembers and spouses can find it.

Don't have a good asset allocation or investment strategy for when the stock market crashes? Learn how to self-invest your military paycheck in  my book The Military Money Manual: A Practical Guide to Financial Freedom. available directly from me on my website or on Amazon. The book has dozens of 5 star reviews on Amazon and Goodreads: Amazon Kindle Ebook Amazon Prime Hardcover Audible Audiobook Three main takeaways from today's episode: The stock market has normal cycles of ups and downs Don’t panic- it’s not a realized loss until you sell When the market is down, long-term investors, like most people in the military, especially younger ones, have the chance to buy index funds basically on sale Continue your education: how to maximize your military TSP 5% match My asset allocation Little Book of Commonsense Investing Warren Buffet on Stock Market Crashes My Personal Investing Principles: LADS How to Time the Stock Market (with PersonalFinanceClub) PersonalFinanceClub on Instagram

To learn how to maximize your military paycheck, check out my book The Military Money Manual: A Practical Guide to Financial Freedom. available directly from me on my website or on Amazon. Dozens of 5 star reviews on Amazon and Goodreads: Amazon Kindle Ebook Amazon Prime Hardcover Audible Audiobook Buying a car is usually the largest purchase of a young servicemember. Take some time to think through the decision. Even saving 10% can add up in a big way. I cover buying your first car in the military in the book. In this episode, Jamie and Spencer talk through their car buying process and what to consider when making a large purchase.

Active duty, guard, reserves, and military veterans are all eligible for VA loans if certain conditions are met. I built the VA Loan Ultimate Guide to explain the confusing VA loan process. What is a VA loan? How to determine if you are eligible for a VA loan? How to get a VA loan Certificate of Eligibility? What credit score do you need for a VA loan? What is the VA loan process, from start to finish? Who are the best VA loan lenders? What is a VA cash-out refinance loan? In this episode Jamie and Spencer explain everything you need to know about VA loans and how to use them for maximum benefit. To learn how to maximize your military paycheck, check out my book The Military Money Manual: A Practical Guide to Financial Freedom. available directly from me on my website or on Amazon. Dozens of 5 star reviews on Amazon and Goodreads: Amazon Kindle Ebook Amazon Prime Hardcover Audible Audiobook

To learn more about my LADS investment strategy and how to apply it to the TSP, check out my book The Military Money Manual: A Practical Guide to Financial Freedom. available directly from me on my website or on Amazon. Dozens of 5 star reviews on Amazon and Goodreads: Amazon Kindle Ebook Amazon Prime Hardcover Audible Audiobook Changes are coming to the TSP! Learn all about the June 2022 changes to the TSP in this episode. New TSP app New TSP website Mutual fund window

To learn more about my LADS investment strategy and how to apply it to the TSP, check out my book The Military Money Manual: A Practical Guide to Financial Freedom. available directly from me on my website or on Amazon. Dozens of 5 star reviews on Amazon and Goodreads: Amazon Kindle Ebook Amazon Prime Hardcover Audible Audiobook In this episode Jamie and Spencer discuss several TSP investing strategies and why you may want to go with a particular strategy. The most important thing is to a pick a strategy and then stick with it through good times and bad. Consistency and a high savings rate can overcome any investing performance issues. Chasing performance and market timing nearly always ends up in failure. The safer solution is a long term strategy of buying and holding low cost passive index funds, like the 5 TSP Funds: G, F, I, S, and C Funds.

To learn how to select TSP funds for early financial independence, read The Military Money Manual: A Practical Guide to Financial Freedom. The book is available as a hardcover, ebook, and audiobook. With 20+ 5 star ratings, the book is available directly from me on my website or on Amazon Amazon Kindle Ebook Amazon Prime Hardcover Audible Audiobook Jamie and Spencer break down the 5 Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) Funds: C Fund - the S&P 500 fund S Fund - The rest of the US stock market I Fund - International stock market fund F Fund - US Bond market fund G Fund - US treasuries fund And explain the historical rates of returns of the funds.

Learn more about building a financial legacy for your family in my book The MIlitary Money Manual: A Practical Guide to Financial Freedom. In this episode Jamie talks about his recent experience as the executor of the estate of an extended family member that passed away. We cover building a "legacy box," why you should buy term life insurance over whole life insurance, and things to think about if you're ever the executor or administrator of an estate.

The American Express® Gold Card military benefits include an annual fee waiver for active duty servicemembers and military spouses. The American Express® Green Card military benefit is the same, with an annual fee waived for anyone in the MLA database, which includes military dependents and active duty troops. Both the active duty servicemember and the spouse can be primary users on the card and do not need to be authorized users on each other's accounts. Both cards can add tens of thousands of additional Amex Membership Reward points to your account. They also have complementary bonus categories to the Amex Platinum card, so you can earn more points in different categories like US supermarkets, travel, and restaurants. Learn more to maximize your military travel benefits in my Ultimate Military Credit Cards Course. 100% free, email based, and I'll send you all the content straight away. Unsubscribe at any time.

The Air Force announced the Fiscal Year 2022 Air Force Pilot Bonus on 11 April, 2022. You can see the bonus chart and all the details in my article on my website, Military Money Manual. If you're eligible for a bonus, this can be an amazing opporuntiy to accelerate your journey to financial independence. Learn more about achieving financial freedom in the military in my book, The Military Money Manual: A Practical Guide to Financial Freedom The book is available as a hardcover, ebook, and audiobook. With multiple of 5 star ratings, the book is available directly from me on my website or on Amazon Kindle Ebook Amazon Prime Hardcover Audible Audiobook

Learn more about the amazing military benefits in the Military Money Manual: A Practical Guide t Financial Freedom now available on Amazon, Kindle, Audible, and directly from the author on MilitaryMoneyManual.com in ebook, audiobook, and hardcover. Jamie and Spencer talk to their friend Luke about Space-A travel, also known as space available travel. Luke estimates he has saved over $40,000 in flights for his family over the years. This is a program opened to active duty servicemembers on leave, some dependents, and most military retirees. We also talk about Luke's journey to FI as a C-17 pilot and Air Force officer. If you enjoy the podcast please share it with a military friend. A 5 star review on Spotify or Apple podcasts also helps other military personnel interested in FI and personal finance find the podcast.

Learn more about achieving financial independence in the military in The Military Money Manual: A Practical Guide to Financial Freedom. Now available on Kindle, Audible, and soon on Amazon. Always available on MilitaryMoneyManual.com Jamie and Spencer break down how to build a plan, how to overcome winner's guilt, how to be generous with your windfall, and how to avoid windfall errors.

Doug Nordman from The Military Guide joins us today on the Military Money Manual Podcast. While he would never say it, Doug is a bit of a legend in the personal finance, FIRE, and military finance community. He retired 20 years ago in 2002 after a 20 year career in the Navy. I stoppd by Doug's house in Hawaii to have a conversation with him about all kinds of great military FI topics. Doug was an early beta-reader of The Military Money Manual: A Practical Guide to Financial Freedom available at shop.militarymoneymanual.com. This is the perfect book to get you started on your journey to financial independence.

If you want to learn how to set yourself up to purchase your first rental property, check out my book The Military Money Manual: A Practical Guide to Financial Freedom. Available now on Amazon, Kindle, Audible, and my website. On today's episode Spencer and Jamie welcome Rich Carey from Rich On Money Website YouTube TikTok Topics we address today: VA home loans for primary residences that you can turn into rental properties when you PCS The 1% rule for buying rental properties and then 50% rule. Your profit is not mortgage minus rent! You must include expenses as well. How to set yourself up financially to be in a position to get into real estate How Rich purchased dozens of homes remotely and 30 doors by the time he retired from the military The systems Rich built to automate his property management What Dave Ramsey and Rich Carey disagree on The downfalls of the VA loan in a seller's market (like February 2022) Why short term rentals like Airbnb aren't Rich's cup of tea If you can use a VA construction loan for a new home build Why Rich doesn't recommend LLC structures for most military landlords Why Rich doesn't recommend any books on real estate investment This was a great episode! Jamie and I (Spencer) both learned a lot and we hope you will too.

Learn more about military travel hacking and how to make thousands of dollars off of annual fee waived credit cards in my Ultimate Military Credit Cards Course. "Leave in conjuction with official travel" or LICWO is a great deal to get a free or reduced cost flight to take leave when you go TDY or TAD. Circuitous travel is a good way to make a PCS a little less stressful and to potentially take a little vacation while you move on government orders. Find out how to do both in this episode! Learn more in the LICWO and circuitous travel guide I published.

The Hilton Honors Military Program offers separating military servicemembers and their spouses up to 100,000 free Hilton points each to aid veterans and their spouses in searching for their next job or establishing their new life. These points can be used for a job hunt, interview, conference, or any other purpose to establish your foundation after the military. This is a separate and complementary program to the Amex Hilton Honors Aspire annual fee waiver program. If you've been travel hacking for a long time, chances are you have accumuluated many annual fee waived cards like the Chase Sapphire Preferred and Amex Platinum. If you're separating or retiring, what should you do with your credit cards when you leave the military? If you're just getting started on your military travel hacking journey, check out the Ultimate Military Credit Cards Course. It's 100% free and only takes a few minutes a day to read through the material. I will send you an email every day for 5 days. Unsubscribe at any time, I promise to never send you any spam. In this episode Spencer and Jamie talk about the Hilton Honors Military Program, how to use it, and how to earn the free 100k points. We also discuss if you should close, downgrade, or keep your credit cards after you get your DD-214 and separate or retire from active duty. The answers may surprise you!

In this episode Spencer and Jamie breakdown How to stop paying state income tax Why you should do your own taxes How to stop being afraid of taxes We also cover military spouse taxes including the Military Spouse Residency Relief Act (MSRRA), which allows military spouses much more flexibility in which state they are taxed in. This is extremely helpful if you need to PCS in the middle of a year. You can avoid paying and filing taxes in multiple states! We also cover why you DON'T want a large refund when you file your tax return. Other topics include: When it makes sense to hire a CPA What to do if you receive a Combat Zone Tax letter CP04 from the IRS How to avoid tax audits If you need to pay taxes on points and miles Should you keep mortgage or student loan debt around for the tax deduction (spoiler alert: no) Taxes on military career bonuses Taxes on side hustles or 2nd jobs Real world examples of taxes paid by military servicemembers Resources mentioned in the podcast: Military Money Manual MilitaryOneSource MilTax The Military Money Manual Book If you're enjoying the podcast, please leave a 5 star review on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen! Thank you!

Learn everything there is to know about travel hacking the military in my Ultimate Military Credit Cards Course. Besides welcome bonuses, credit card referral links are the easiest and fastest way to earn thousands or even millions of credit card points, miles, and cash. Spencer and Jamie break down the easiest way to earn lots of point and miles with your Chase and Amex cards.

Learn how to maximize your military annual fee waivers in my Ultimate Military Credit Cards course at https://militarymoneymanual.com/umc3 By upgrading Chase and Amex cards from lower tier cards to higher tier cards, you can earn valuable recurring annual benefits like airline fee credits, travel credits, and much more. For example, you could upgrade an American Express Hilton Honors Surpass card to a Amex Hilton Honors Aspire card even if you already have an Amex Hilton Honors Aspire card. Then you could double your free hotel/resort nights certificates annually and earn $500 of resort credit rather than just $250.

Could you achieve financial freedom while you serve in the military? Thousands of servicemembers already have! Check out The Military Money Manual: A Practical Guide to Financial Freedom to discover the exact investment strategies and personal finance tactics you can use to achieve financial independence while you serve. Availabe now at shop.militarymoneymanual.com

Want to learn how to achieve financial independence rapidly in the military? Check out the new book, The Military Money Manual, at shop.militarymoneymanual.com Calculators we talk about in this episode include: https://calculator.ficalc.app/ https://networthify.com/calculator/earlyretirement https://firecalc.com/ https://engaging-data.com/fire-calculator/ https://engaging-data.com/will-money-last-retire-early/ https://www.portfoliovisualizer.com/ https://www.madfientist.com/

Spencer and Jamie cover a lot of ground in this short, start of the year episode. Topics include: Spousal IRAs Contributing to last years IRA (during this year!) Roth TSP vs Roth IRA And much more Did you know if you max out your Roth IRA every year while you work you could easily end up with $1.2 million by the time you retire? It sounds crazy, but thanks to compounding interest, it's very possible.

Long term, the Chase Sapphire Reserve is definitely the superior card. But you may want to open the Chase Sapphire Preferred first because the Sapphire Preferred often offers a higher welcome bonus than the Sapphire Reserve After keeping the Preferred open for a year you can then upgrade to a Chase Sapphire Reserve. You must wait 1 year to upgrade due to a federal law called CARD Act. Cards mentioned in this episode: Chase Sapphire Reserve Chase Sapphire Preferred Amex Platinum for military You can also compare the Chase Sapphire Reserve vs Chase Sapphire Preferred. Optimal order to open credit cards in while you're in the military. You can maximize the benefits of military annual fee waivers rapidly by opening up credit cards in this order. Learn more about military travel hacking in the Ultimate Military Credit Cards Course at https://militarymoneymanual.com/umc3

Sign up for the Ultimate Military Credit Cards Course at militarymoneymanual.com/umc3 to learn how to accumulate millions of points and miles. Plus, you can pay no annual fees if you're in the military or a military spouse. Once you've accumuluated a lot of points, it can be tough to decide if it's a good deal to use points for a purchase or not. Jamie and Spencer break down the math of valuing points. Just take the cash value of the flight or hotel you are trying to book, divide by the number of points required, and multiply by 100 to get the cents per point valuation. So if the hotel is $100 and costs 20,000 points to book, that's $100 / 20,000 = .005 x 100 = .5 cents per point. If this was a Hyatt booking, that would be a bad redemption because Hyatt points are usually valued at 2 cents each. If this was a Hilton booking, it might be worth it, since Hilton points are usually valued around .5 cents each. We also discuss when it makes sense to use a free night certificate. Best credit card bonus offers this month Credit card transfer partners Credit cards that waive annual fees for military in 2022 Best hotel credit cards Best military credit cards The new book is getting great reviews and is available right now at https://militarymoneymanual.com/book/ This is a short, practical guide to financial freedom. Most people are reporting reading it in an afternoon or on a short flight. I very internationally kept it short and to the point so I don't waste your time.

Learn more about annual fee waived credit cards in the Ultimate Military Credit Cards Course at https://militarymoneymanual.com/umc3. In this episode you will learn how to get Military Lending Act (MLA) benefits applied to your Chase and Amex accounts. It's a very easy process as long as your Social Security Number is correctly loaded in the MLA database, available here: https://mla.dmdc.osd.mil/

The best hotel credit cards for military families are: American Express Hilton Honors Aspire Card military Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant™ American Express® Card military Chase World of Hyatt Card military Chase IHG Rewards Club Premier Card military You can learn everything you need to get started with military annual fee waivers in the 5 day, 100% free Ultimate Military Credit Cards Course. All of these cards are annual fee waived for military and come with annual free night certificates. In this episode Jamie and Spencer talk about the 4 best hotel credit cards for active duty militay and their civilian spouses. We cover: How to get annual fee waivers and check the MLA database Value of hotel points Value of free night certificates Which cards to start with How to maximize your benefits Elite status with the hotel cards Let me show you how to earn thousands of dollars of hotel free nights every year in the Ultimate Military Credit Cards course at militarymoneymanual.com/umc3 Relevant articles: Best credit card bonus offers this month Best credit cards for military Current cards in my wallet Credit cards that waive annual fees for military Also check out my new book, The Military Money Manual: A Practical Guide to Financial Freedom available right now at http://militarymoneymanual.com/book. This is the book I wish I had received as a gift on my first day in the military. I wrote it for you, the US military servicemember who has no idea what to do with your money. I achieved financial independence while I served and you can too. Thanks for listening!

Make sure next year is your most successful year yet with the timeless financial freedom lessons in the Military Money Manual, available now at militarymoneymanual.com/book The end of the calendar year is an excellent time to review your progress, success, and failures over the past year. It's also a good time to look forward and set intentions for the new year. In this episode Jamie and Spencer dissect how Jamie approaches his end of the year review and how he approaches the new year. We discuss: How to use You Need a Budget (YNAB) to quickly generate end of year reports How to track whether you're on pace to FI or need to step up the savings rate Jamie's biggest spending categories and what he wants to do about it next year Various housekeeping tasks like checking your credit report and setting your contributions to your IRAs and TSP Making sure your spending and savings goals align with your values and priorities Learn more at militarymoneymanual.com

Make sure next year is your most successful year yet with the timeless financial freedom lessons in the Military Money Manual, available now at militarymoneymanual.com/book The end of the calendar year is an excellent time to review your progress, success, and failures over the past year. In this episode Jamie and Spencer dissect Spencer's "State of the Money" address to his wife. We also discuss: What's a "sinking fund" and how to use it to stay ahead of infrequent but predictable expenses How Spencer analyses his income, expenses, investing performance, and  How to set financial and non-financial goals for the next year When Spencer rebalances his portfolio and why Focusing on actions that move the needle Using the Pareto Principle to focus on the 20% of efforts that produce 80% of the results Learn more at militarymoneymanual.com

This is the book I wish someone had handed me on my first day in the military. Shipping now at https://militarymoneymanual.com/book The Military Money Manual: A Practical Guide to Financial Freedom lays out the road map to achieve financial independence (FI) while you serve in the military. I walk you through how to build your financial foundation, my 9 principles to achieve FI, unique military investments, and the philosophy of military FI. The book is available in a beautiful hard cover printed in the USA, an audiobook, or an e-book. You can find it exclusively on my website at https://militarymoneymanual.com/book

Learn the behaviors and habits of financially independent military troops in my new book the Military Money Manual, available now at militarymoneymanual.com/book/ Paying off debt, especially when it's 5 or 6 figures, can seem insurmountable. A journey of 1000 miles begins with a single step. The same is true for financial independence. The journey to being a millionaire investor starts with paying off your high interest rate loans. In this episode, 2 Air Force officers Spencer and Jamie walk you through the exact strategies and techniques they used to each pay off more than $100,000 of student, credit card, auto, and time share debt.

Check out my new book The Military Money Manual: A Practical Guide to Financial Freedom where I lay out exactly how to achieve financial independence in the military. One of the first steps on the journey to FI is getting your debt under control and getting back to a positive net worth. Whether you use the debt snowball, debt avalanche, or just get it done, getting out of debt is possible! Jamie and Spencer explain how to get out of debt in this tactic filled episode.

Military deployments can be tough. Usually the "98% boredom, 2% sheer terror" rule applies. Learn how to maximize your military money in the The MIlitary Money Manual: A Practical Guide to Financial Freedom If you have downtime on a deployment, you can grow not just your net worth, but your health, fitness, and knowledge as well. A military deployment gives you the unique opportunity to increase your income and decrease your expenses to near zero. You can achieve 90%+ savings rates and make huge improvements to your financial situation. Debt repayment, maxing out your Roth retirement accounts, and saving for financial independence are all possible on a military deployment. If you have down time while your deployed, take the time to educate yourself through good podcasts, books, and articles. Come up with a plan and execute it with ferocity. Pay down your debts, build your investment portfolio, and leave your deployment in a better position than when you started. Military deployment articles: $50,000 Deployment Savings Challenge Traditional IRA to Roth IRA Conversion on Military Deployment Saving and Investing on a Military Deployment 8 Ways to Save Money on a Military Deployment Military Personal Finance Flowchart Savings Deposit Program: 10% Return Savings Account on a Military Deployment

Learn how to build your financial foundation and achieve military financial independence quickly in the Military Money Manual: A Practical Guide to Financial Freedom. Available now at militarymoneymanual.com/book Cadets and midshipmen at West Point, Naval Academy, and the Air Force Academy or in Army, Navy, and Air Force ROTC have a unique opportunity to rapidly accelerate their journey to financial independence. When you're young your most valuable resource is time. Time to educated yourself, time to learn good money habits, and time to start investing so compounding interest has a long time to go to work for you. In this episode Jamie and Spencer recommend several books to start your education and discuss which credit cards to get when you're in college. We also cover investing strategies, opening a Roth IRA, and buying a home at your first duty station. Cadets can also check out our episode on the USAA Career Starter Loan and Navy Federal Career Kickoff Loan.

Read The Military Money Manual book to learn how to achieve financial independence in the military. Available now at  https://militarymoneymanual.com/book/ In this episode, Jamie and Spencer tackle questions like: What's the average net worth of the above average military officer? Can you build wealth as a military officer? What steps can you take to become wealthy as a military officer? Dive deeper into the numbers by checking out the article on the website: https://militarymoneymanual.com/the-average-net-worth-of-the-above-average-military-officer/ We break down the net worths of military officers from lieutenants to colonels, ensigns to captains. In a 20 year career, you could start with a zero or negative net worth and build a million dollar portfolio before you earn a military pension. Learn how to start building your wealth today in this episode.

The Platinum Card® from American Express military benefits include a fee waiver. Learn more at militarymoneymanual.com/amex Learn more about military travel hacking in my Ultimate Military Credit Cards Course available at militarymoneymanual.com/umc3 Check out my new book The Military Money Manual, available to order now at militarymoneymanual.com/book

Soon to commission military officers often ask me: "Should I take out the USAA Career Starter Loan or Navy Federal Career Starter Loan?" I offer my career starter loan strategies in my new book The Military Money Manual: A Practical Guide for Financial Freedom. The book is available at militarymoneymanual.com/book Articles on military career starter loans: https://militarymoneymanual.com/navy-federal-career-starter-loan https://militarymoneymanual.com/usaa-career-starter-loan/ In this epsiode Jamie and Spencer discuss: West Point, Annapolis, or Air Force Academy can get the Navy Federal loan 1.25% up to $32,000 or USAA 0.75% up to $36,000 Army, Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps ROTC can get the NFCU or USAA loan at 2.99% up to $25,000 Some loan pitfalls to watch out for How to invest your loan to accelerate your path to financial independence How to use the loan to get into military travel hacking early and save money on travel. Learn more in my free course at militarymoneymanual.com/umc3 How you can use the loan to pay off auto or student loans How you can pay the loan off early Debt habits to avoid If you like the episode, leave us a review, subscribe to the podcast, and share us with a friend! We grow by word of mouth.

To get started with travel hacking in the military, go to the Ultimate Miltiary Credit Cards Course and sign up today. It's 100% free, there's nothing to buy, and I only need your email to send you the 5 day course. In this episode, Spencer and Jamie reveal their personal credit card portfolios with over 50 credit cards between them. We talk about our points accumulation strategies, the path to 1 million Amex points, and some of our favorite features of the cards. You can see Spencer's current credit card lineup here. Head to MilitaryMoneyManual.com to see the best credit card offers for military this month. Cards mentioned in this episode include: Amex Platinum Amex Gold Chase Sapphire Reserve Chase Sapphire Preferred Compare the Amex Platinum vs the Chase Sapphire Reserve or the Chase Sapphire Preferred vs the Chase Sappire Reserve.

Learn more in the 100% free, 5 day, email based Ultimate Military Credit Cards Course. Spencer and Jamie continue to answer frequently asked questions about military travel hacking. Learn how to get your annual fee waived on the most popular card for military servicemembers, the Amex Platinum card for military. Head to MilitaryMoneyManual.com to see the best credit card offers for military this month. Cards mentioned in this episode include: Amex Platinum Amex Gold Chase Sapphire Reserve Chase Sapphire Preferred Compare the Amex Platinum vs the Chase Sapphire Reserve or the Chase Sapphire Preferred vs the Chase Sappire Reserve. Questions from this episode: How to get military spouse annual fees waived on Amex and Chase military credit cards How to use the MLA database Spouse referral links Do contracted ROTC and military service academies (Air Force Academy, West Point Military Academy, Annapolis Naval Academy) get their Amex and Chase annual fees waived? The optimal order to open military credit cards in No annual fee cards to age your account Why you should open Chase cards before American Express Are credit card bonuses once per lifetime? What to do with your annual fee waived cards when you leave the military? What should you do if you get an Amex SCRA denial letter? Which credit card should you start with? Can you use points and miles to upgrade government purchased travel or hotels?

Learn more about military travel hacking in the Ultimate Military Credit Cards Course! Questions we cover in this episode: What is military travel hacking? Why do banks and credit card companies waive annual fees on credit cards for active duty, Title 10 Guard/Reserve, and military spouses? Do all banks and credit card companies do this? (Credit cards that waive annual fees for military) What about credit card debt? What about your credit score? Do miles and points have an expiration date?

New book, the Military Money Manual: A Practical Guide to Financial Freedom, available soon at https://militarymoneymanual.com/book/

Learn more about the 9 principles to achieve financial independence in my new book The Military Money Manual, available for pre-order now!