Volunteering is a great thing, and I encourage everyone to volunteer in some fashion. Be sure, however, to consider the costs before jumping head-first into a situation that might not be right for your finances. Travel Usually, volunteering requires traveling to some location or another. Some organizations reimburse for mileage, or you can deduct the costs… | Read More…

Even before we were married, my husband and I agreed that I would be a stay-at-home mom with our children when they were small. His job in the military isn’t really family-friendly, and we thought it was important that the kids were cared for by a parent. By great chance, my job was eliminated shortly… | Read More…

In the last few days, I’ve stumbled across the word “wealth” used in a variety of different ways. Each time, I stopped for a moment to think about the way the word was being used, and if I agreed with that usage. It has me thinking: what does wealth really mean? How might my definition… | Read More…

Henrietta Mears was a Christian educator who impacted the ministries of many prominent evangelists, including Billy Graham, Bill Bright of Campus Crusade for Christ, and Jim Rayburn of Young Life. Regardless of your religious leanings, her statement about giving applies to all of us. The man who keeps busy helping the man below him won’t… | Read More…

I’ve discovered a lot of odd things while living overseas, but none has surprised me as much as the presence of slot machines on military bases. Every base I’ve been to in Europe has slot machines. I’d always thought that gambling on military bases wasn’t allowed. I was definitely wrong! While I have no problems… | Read More…

I pretty regularly hear the phrases “poverty line” or “poverty level” used with reference to military families. I started wondering just how many military families truly live below the federal determination for poverty, and so I decided to do some math. What I’ve found is that it is pretty challenging for a military family to,… | Read More…

I hate to waste money. It makes me crazy. I know it makes some of you crazy, too. But we don’t live in a perfect world, and we’re not perfect people. Preventable accidents happen, rebates don’t get sent in, and some-people-who-I-will-not-name don’t always understand their health insurance. Sometimes, you will spend money on things that… | Read More…

“Every paycheck a fortune.” I love that phrase. It brings to mind a wide variety of ideas, but usually the first thing that I think is that we are forever increasing our lifestyle to make the statement untrue. Confused? Do you remember your first paycheck, or your first paycheck after a big pay jump? It… | Read More…

After putting money into your Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) account, you will someday want to take distributions from your account. There are three basic situations for taking money out of your account: regular retirement distributions, in-service distributions, and loans (not technically a distribution.) How and When Do I Get My Money Out? Withdrawals from a… | Read More…