Author Topic: Taking a military muster...  (Read 7889 times)

Nords

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Taking a military muster...
« on: December 01, 2012, 04:37:34 PM »
I'm curious how many of us are U.S. military:  a servicemember, a veteran, or a member of a military family.  I've met some of you already, but I'm pretty sure that I have yet to meet most of you.

As of 1 December 2012 this forum has 2198 members.  I know that some of you are not American citizens, and I'm pretty sure that this group does not represent (thank goodness) a typical demographic cross-section of American society. 

But if the military demographic percentages did apply to this group, then over 150 of us meet those muster criteria.

I understand if you'd prefer to remain anonymous, but occasionally my military readers have personal-finance questions that are of interest only to other military.  If you join the muster here (or send me a PM) then I'd have a feel for whether there are enough military here to help other military with their answers.

unitsinc

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Re: Taking a military muster...
« Reply #1 on: December 01, 2012, 04:47:32 PM »
Ex Army here.

Not sure how useful I'd be in answering anything, I was just a kid back then.

Kriegsspiel

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Re: Taking a military muster...
« Reply #2 on: December 01, 2012, 07:01:04 PM »
Sky Soldier over here, just got out half a year ago.

Kriegsspiel

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Re: Taking a military muster...
« Reply #3 on: December 01, 2012, 07:12:52 PM »
By the way, I remember seeing this article in the Army Times right about the time I found MMM.  I think it was right before I went on my last field exercise. 

NICE!

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Re: Taking a military muster...
« Reply #4 on: December 01, 2012, 07:50:51 PM »
Air Force here - currently in Kandahar, Afghanistan.

I haven't forgotten about writing a post for you, Nords!

Jamesqf

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Re: Taking a military muster...
« Reply #5 on: December 01, 2012, 08:27:34 PM »
Ex-USMC, but a long, long time ago, so no help relevant to anything current.

Ozstache

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Re: Taking a military muster...
« Reply #6 on: December 01, 2012, 09:21:32 PM »
Military, yes. US, no.  I get a lot out of your site too Nords.

chucklesmcgee

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Re: Taking a military muster...
« Reply #7 on: December 01, 2012, 11:54:38 PM »
Mother was an Army Captain.

militaryincome

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Re: Taking a military muster...
« Reply #8 on: December 02, 2012, 01:38:52 AM »
I'm an Enlisted Marine. I appreciate all the advice!

cadamsgis

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Re: Taking a military muster...
« Reply #9 on: December 02, 2012, 07:27:18 PM »
I was enlisted navy 1991-1994

nom_nom_babies

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Re: Taking a military muster...
« Reply #10 on: December 02, 2012, 10:52:08 PM »
Air Force here, less than a year in though so I'm still pretty green behind the ears.

sibamor

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Re: Taking a military muster...
« Reply #11 on: December 03, 2012, 08:07:49 AM »
Army Guard and spouse Active Air Force both with <5 years. Your book is awesome Nords and we hope to follow the same path.

Splashncash

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Re: Taking a military muster...
« Reply #12 on: December 03, 2012, 09:03:25 AM »
Hey there, Nords!

Spouse of Army officer here.  Great to meet you on Saturday at the Kailua beach park meet-up. 

HawkeyeNFO

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Re: Taking a military muster...
« Reply #13 on: December 03, 2012, 10:41:33 AM »
Pentagon Navy Staff checking in.

Nords

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Re: Taking a military muster...
« Reply #14 on: December 03, 2012, 11:00:11 AM »
Thanks everyone, keep 'em coming!

Thanks, Anner, I had a good time!

Hey, Hawkeye, good to see you here, too!

Kriegsspiel, let us know how your transition is doing and what you'd want others to know for the coming drawdown.  I enjoyed that Military Times interview-- it's nice to talk to journalists who can actually understand military-speak.

NICE, there's no deadlines-- any Guest Post Wednesday that fits your schedule is good for me.

Those of you who are military family members or who made the civilian transition long ago can help me understand your perspectives from the other side of that transition.  I write about discussing things with the spouse and the kids, and you guys can explain exactly what's important to the spouse & kids during that conversation.  I try not to write about the benefits-- there are plenty of places to learn about that-- I try to write about the factors in the decisions regarding those benefits.  Many of the best contributions to the book came from "Things I wish I'd known when I was getting out" or "If I was doing it again here's what I'd do differently" or "Things that my parents didn't understand about military kids" and so forth.
« Last Edit: December 03, 2012, 11:04:06 AM by Nords »

mindaugas

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Re: Taking a military muster...
« Reply #15 on: December 03, 2012, 12:37:56 PM »
Father was in the AF.

zinnie

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Re: Taking a military muster...
« Reply #16 on: December 03, 2012, 10:56:18 PM »
Hi there. Hubs was an officer in the Navy for 5 years and did two deployments. Got out a couple of years ago and went back to school. Don't know how much I have to contribute but just wanted to say hi. It's been an interesting transition, that's for sure!

Gundy

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Re: Taking a military muster...
« Reply #17 on: December 06, 2012, 08:04:31 AM »
Hey Nords,

9 years in the Air Force here.

I've been a reader of frugality blogs for awhile and just recently stumbled upon the early retirement forums and then more recently this blog.

Haven't had a chance to read your book yet, but I appreciate your quest to spread financial literacy. I know from experience that there are a lot of military members that need a financial crash course.


Nords

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Re: Taking a military muster...
« Reply #18 on: December 06, 2012, 08:20:09 PM »
Haven't had a chance to read your book yet, but I appreciate your quest to spread financial literacy. I know from experience that there are a lot of military members that need a financial crash course.
Thanks!

Check your local library before buying the book, or read excerpts from the first six months of The-Military-Guide.com.  According to WorldCat (http://www.worldcat.org/title/military-guide-to-financial-independence-retirement/oclc/707329220&referer=brief_results) it's in over 80 libraries now.

Otto Pilot

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Re: Taking a military muster...
« Reply #19 on: December 07, 2012, 08:54:34 AM »
Active Air Force 2002-2010...AF Reserves 2010-present.  I love the work you are doing...its the same kind of thing I did as a JAG, although I never got to the point of writing a book!  Important work that can really benefit our young troops though. 

Bakari

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Re: Taking a military muster...
« Reply #20 on: December 07, 2012, 11:22:11 AM »
US Coast Guard Reserve, MK3 serving at small boat station San Francisco.

Boat Crew qualified last summer, (slowly) working on MK2 advancement and boarding team member (law enforcement) quals currently.

All of the reserves at STA SF (there are as many reserves as active duty there) know about MMM and my plans for retirement, but thus far only one has expressed any follow up interest.

Nords

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Re: Taking a military muster...
« Reply #21 on: December 07, 2012, 09:51:44 PM »
US Coast Guard Reserve, MK3 serving at small boat station San Francisco.
Boat Crew qualified last summer, (slowly) working on MK2 advancement and boarding team member (law enforcement) quals currently.
I'm particularly weak in Coast Guard knowledge & contributors.  You may be getting a PM from another MMM poster with questions about the CG Reserve.

Ironically I have a Coast Guard Special Operations Service ribbon sitting in my awards box, but I haven't written about that sea story yet.

aces2

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Re: Taking a military muster...
« Reply #22 on: December 09, 2012, 01:39:54 AM »
Air Force here.  Currently @ RAF Lakenheath.

Gundy

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Re: Taking a military muster...
« Reply #23 on: December 14, 2012, 09:51:05 PM »

Nords I really want to start a topic along the lines of the thread "heard at work" specifically about the military.

I've been reading this blog now for a little while and feel so relieved and excited to find such a great community of like minded individuals. While not nearly as mustachian as many on this forum, I've always been into saving and investing. One thing that has practically driven me crazy over my military career is listening to the consistently uninformed opinions that many military members have about money. To make things worse, I find that many of the worst offenders are junior enlisted members, who because of their age and income could benefit the most from a little financial education.

So I always have to bite my tongue when I have conversations with guys about money. No kidding, two days ago I'm in the deployment line getting ready to head overseas and I strike up a conversation with a Staff Sergeant in front of me. He seemed like a pretty nice guy and we talked for a bit while waiting to check our bags. Somehow, the topic turned to investing, and he told me this story about how he had purchased a couple of stocks 5+ years ago for his retirement fund. At first he was bemoaning the rate of return, which puzzled me at first, until I realized that he was talking about the dividend. So I mentioned that the dividend is one piece of the overall return on stocks and that you have to look at appreciation as well. He then went on to say that every single one of his stocks had gone down, including Exxon Mobil, which he had held for 8 years. (I found that really hard to believe for XOM, but without a chart in front of me I couldn't really contradict him) Oh, except he had one stock that had gone up and it did business in his home state so he decided it was a keeper. So anyway he had come to the conclusion that investing is for suckers and that he should get into daytrading. Trying to stay calm, I told him that I had done a little bit of short term trading back in the late 90s and had gotten a sour taste in my mouth during the tech crash. I pointed out the studies that show it's the amount that you save and invest that is the biggest determinant of your final number, and how I've gone to passive index ETF's because I don't think that anyone can really beat the market long term and it's important to stay diversified without incurring extra costs. But, he was undeterred because his friend has supposedly made 38,000 over the last 14 years day trading and he figures that he can do it too.

I told him about the deployed Savings Deposit Plan and tried numerous times to point out the benefits of the TSP ROTH 401k options, especially for his deployment and paygrade situation. But he was convinced he had a better answer.

Sometimes I feel like I'm the only one that isn't crazy, and that's why I love reading this blog.

Nords

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Re: Taking a military muster...
« Reply #24 on: December 15, 2012, 01:38:53 PM »
Nords I really want to start a topic along the lines of the thread "heard at work" specifically about the military.
But he was convinced he had a better answer.
Sometimes I feel like I'm the only one that isn't crazy, and that's why I love reading this blog.
Yep, I hear that a lot.

It's probably no better or worse in the military than it is in the civilian world, but it certainly seems like servicemembers are quickly sucked into the "get rich quick" temptation.

One of the "benefits" of deploying on a submarine was that you were pretty much forced into buy & hold...

Ozstache

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Re: Taking a military muster...
« Reply #25 on: December 15, 2012, 02:34:33 PM »
Sometimes I feel like I'm the only one that isn't crazy, and that's why I love reading this blog.

No, you are crazy. You've just found a bunch of similarly crazy people! ;-)

AllChoptUp

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Re: Taking a military muster...
« Reply #26 on: December 19, 2012, 11:33:46 AM »
Active duty Navy, Suppo type.  Have 3.5 yrs to 20, spouse is retired Navy. 

Love this blog, love your blog, love everything about FIRE!

bluecollarmusician

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Re: Taking a military muster...
« Reply #27 on: December 20, 2012, 02:28:05 PM »
Active AF here...been in about a year. I am a late starter, at 35....came in to do a job I was excited about.