KateHorrell

Helping Military Families Make The Most of Their Money

Commissioning? Understand Your Blended Retirement System Options


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May and June are the biggest commissioning time of year. Not only do all the service academies graduate then, but thousands of ROTC students also graduate and enter their active military service. This years’ group of newly commissioned officers face a unique question: should they opt into the military’s new Blended Retirement System (BRS), or… | Read More…

What Is A Transition Fund, And Why Do You Want One?


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!

If you’ve hung out around The Paycheck Chronicles long enough, you may have heard me talk about having a transition fund. I think I may have made up that term…maybe not. But I sure am fond of it. So what exactly is a transition fund, and why would you want one? What Is A Transition… | Read More…

Blended Retirement System: How To Choose Between The Military’s Retirement Systems


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!

This post was sponsored by USAA as part of the military personal finance bloggers #BRSBlitz education campaign. As 2018 comes to a close, there is a lot of stuff going on. We’re preparing for various holidays, some people are moving, and there is a general last minute rush to get things done before the end… | Read More…

Life Insurance or SBP? Asking The Right Questions


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!

At least once a day, someone asks me some variation of the same question: “I’m trying to decide whether to get life insurance or take the Survivor Benefit Plan (SBP.) What do you think?” And at least once a day, I type out a multi-paragraph answer. And honestly I don’t have that much time every… | Read More…

The Basics of Retirement Plans, and the Military’s Old and New Plans


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!

One unexpected benefit of the introduction of the “new” military retirement system, the Blended Retirement System (BRS), is that a lot of people have discovered that they don’t understand their retirement plan at all. While it isn’t great that folks don’t thoroughly understand the system, this is a great opportunity for learning all around. First,… | Read More…

Understanding the SBP-DIC Offset


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!

One frequently misunderstood issue about the Survivor Benefit Plan (SBP) is the way that SBP benefits may be offset by Dependency and Indemnity Compensation (DIC) benefits provided by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA.) Under current law, a survivor may not receive the full amount of both SBP and DIC.  In order to receive DIC, the… | 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.