Servicemen and families are encouraged to utilize money management services and programs provided by their military branch. First off, basic military service pay is a great deal lower when compared to compensations received by civilian counterparts.
Although enlisted personnel receive non-taxable benefits such as housing, health care, and food allowance during active duty, they qualify to receive such benefits after 2 years of military service. Moreover, pay grades depend on the rank, number of years in service, as well as the size of the soldier’s dependent family.
In numerous studies conducted by scholars and related organizations, information gathered disclosed that most servicemen regard money issues as the most weighty stressors. As a result, not a few deployed military personnel beset by financial problems, experience extreme difficulty in giving full focus to their current mission.
Common Financial Challenges and Problems Faced by Servicemen
Rising costs of basic commodities that accelerate faster than pay grades, including Family Separation Allowances. Although service members receive annual pay raise to help their family meet continuing rise in prices of commodities, the gap between cost of prices and pay raise is quite wide. Moreover, rates of adjustment are not fixed, as they are dependent on the amount jointly approved for the upcoming year, by Congress and the incumbent executive head of the government.
Housing needs are a common stress aggressor, particularly for those faced with relocation notices served at a moment’s notice. Existing family budgets are instantly disrupted since there will be new day-to-day financial costs to consider on a hardly increasing budget. This can be aggravated if the serviceman is already dealing with a home financing loan or personal debts.
Such issues though, stresses the importance of learning money management practices through services and programs offered by the government.
A Brief Synopsis of What Money Management is About
Basically, money management entails practices that involve formulating a budget plan based on present income and necessary expenses incurred by the family. The budget plan must of course eliminate unnecessary expenses as well as consider relevant money saving tips. The main objective of money management is to eventually save money to be allotted as emergency fund. That way, they can easily meet unforeseen emergency expenses.
Sticking to a sound budget plan eliminates resorting to payday loans and regular use of credit cards. Instead of seeking for ways to augment income by borrowing, a military spouse in-charge of handling day-to-day expenses should look into verifiable and veritable money saving offers. Some of which include offers of promotional coupons or discount codes. However, they must also be wary of the sources, since they can still end up as victims of predatory marketing techniques.
The great news is that there are online websites furnishing information on promotional discounts offered by well established and reputable online stores like Amazon, eBay, Groupon or Studio. Studio Discount Codes for one, pose as extra reductions on prices of items currently on bargain sale.
Since discounts tend to vary from period to period, budget plans must take into account the regular prices. Once a discounted purchase has been made, set aside the actual money saved as addition to the emergency fund, rather than treat it as extra money to spend.