KateHorrell

Helping Military Families Make The Most of Their Money

From The Mailbag: SBP When You Marry After Retirement


This post may contain affiliate links, from which I may earn revenue to support this free site. All opinions are my own, and I only promote products that I use and love!

Want to chat with other military folks about our financial challenges?  Join the Military Money Questions and Answers Facebook Group at: https://www.facebook.com/groups/MilitaryMoneyQuestionsandAnswers/ The Survivor Benefit Plan (SBP) can be an important part of the income strategy for survivors of military retirees, even survivors who came on to the scene after military service was over. In some cases,… | Read More…

Everything About The Survivor Benefit Plan


This post may contain affiliate links, from which I may earn revenue to support this free site. All opinions are my own, and I only promote products that I use and love!

The Survivor Benefit Plan (SBP) is often the most important decision of your financial life, and it is also probably the most confusing. I can not emphasize enough how vitally important it is to thoroughly understand the Survivor Benefit Plan if a member of your family will remain in the military until retirement. While active… | Read More…

When Is The Next Military Payday?


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It’s a long pay period – really long. The next regular, active duty payday is Wednesday, 1 August 2018, which is 19 days from the last payday. That can be tough on even the most organized of spending plans. Which leads us to the big question: when is that pay going to show up in your… | Read More…

Kates Rants: Military Families Need Emergency Funds, Too


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Once upon a time, I used to think that our family didn’t need a big emergency fund because my husband is in the military.  Payday comes twice a month, and the possibilities of him getting kicked out in a short amount of time are small, right? As I’ve gotten older, I’ve come to realize just… | Read More…

We Did The T-Mobile Military Deal. It’s Amazing.


This post may contain affiliate links, from which I may earn revenue to support this free site. All opinions are my own, and I only promote products that I use and love!

You may have heard me say that I think cellular phone service is outrageously priced in America. After 5 years of living in Europe, where we spent maybe $30 a month on cell phone service, I was shocked when we came back to America. Even getting ridiculously good plans on Ting and Republic Wireless (their… | Read More…

Counting The Cost of Car Ownership


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Military and civilian families alike sometimes need to buy a vehicle. While the transaction might be relatively short, the impact can last a lifetime, even impacting retirement lifestyle. My friend, Gibson Armstrong, is a Financial Advisor with Merrill Lynch. We got talking about the cost of cars and decided to do a little Q&A about… | Read More…

10+ Places To Learn About The Survivor Benefit Plan


This post may contain affiliate links, from which I may earn revenue to support this free site. All opinions are my own, and I only promote products that I use and love!

The choice whether to purchase the military’s Survivor Benefit Plan (SBP) coverage may be the largest financial decision of your life. As I’ve discussed extensively, it is a very individual decision and there is no best answer for every situation. While I’m trying to hit on every possible consideration, it is important that you get… | Read More…

From The Mailbag: Term Life Instead of SBP


This post may contain affiliate links, from which I may earn revenue to support this free site. All opinions are my own, and I only promote products that I use and love!

The Survivor Benefit Plan is a very important topic in financial planning for the retired military family, and it’s awfully complicated. There is no single right answer, and even the exact same situation can be viewed from multiple perspectives. While this seems like a question that can be answered simply by math, there is also… | Read More…

The Simplest Reason Why Renting Will Save You Money


This post may contain affiliate links, from which I may earn revenue to support this free site. All opinions are my own, and I only promote products that I use and love!

Airman Mildollar, the author of the Military Dollar blog, introduced me to a saying that has become my new favorite. “When you rent, you never pay more than you rent each month. When you buy a house, you never pay less than your mortgage each month.” Unfortunately, neither Airman or I know the source of… | Read More…

Military and Divorce: Stuff You’ve Got To Consider


This post may contain affiliate links, from which I may earn revenue to support this free site. All opinions are my own, and I only promote products that I use and love!

While a divorce is essentially a civilian matter, there are certain aspects of military pay and benefits that need to be considered when dealing with a marital separation or divorce where one or both members are in, or retired from, the military. All too often, I hear from one party who got the short end… | Read More…

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Disclaimer

Kate does not represent the Department of Defense, the Department of Veterans Affairs, or any government agency. This blog is strictly for informational and entertainment purposes only. The content on this site should not be considered professional financial or legal advice. I may receive compensation through affiliate or advertising relationships from products mentioned on this site. All reviews on this site represent the personal opinions of the author. All references to third party products, rates, and offers may change without notice.