SOLDIER & FAMILY TOOLKIT
1/34 ARMORED BRIGADE COMBAT TEAM Volume 35, February 2015
Military Save$ Week February 23rd-28th 1
IN THIS ISSUE 3 BEYOND THE YELLOW RIBBON EVENTS & DEALS 4 PERSONAL FINANCIAL COUNSELOR FLYER 5 MILITARY ONESOURCE TAX FLIER 6 MILITARY SAVES WEEK 8 MILITARY ONESOURCE ARTICLE 10 HEALTHY MONEY HABITS 11 RESOURCE LINKS From the Editor: Thanks for reading our Soldier Family Toolkit. The intent of this toolkit is to provide you with available events, deals, resources, and important information. Military Saves Week is this month. January can be overwhelming and February is no too late to start setting some financial goals for 2015. If you will be getting a tax refund, it would be a good way to jump start your financial goals. Perhaps, this will be the year to stop procrastinating and get taxes done early. The motto of MilitarySaves.org is to “Start Small. Think Big.” These are great word to start off the year with. Thanks for reading. 2
HOME FRONT EVENTS & DEALS www.BeyondTheYellowRibbon.org Check out the Beyond the Yellow Ribbon website and sign up for exclusive email updates on monthly local Beyond the Yellow Ribbon events and deals.
Spirit Mountain Season Passes Enjoy a season of skiing and snowboarding! Spirit Mountain in Duluth is offering discounts on season passes to Servicemembers and veterans. There are also other season pass options for families and college students. More Info: Website Bowling with Veterans When: Every Tuesday, 3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. Where: Midway Pro Bowl, St. Paul About: Get out and join other veterans in a weekly bowling group - every Tuesday at the Midway Pro Bowl. More Info: Flyer Twin Cities Veterans Club Meetup Group All wartime and peacetime veterans are invited to join the Twin Cities Veterans Club Meetup group. Meet with other veterans and enjoy wellness and recreational groups, peer to peer support groups, sporting event outings, movies, BBQs and much more. More Info: Flyer Free Drop-In Legal Clinic for Veterans When: Feb. 3, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Where: VA Medical Center, Minneapolis About: Minnesota Assistance Council for Veterans (MACV) invites you to participate in a free drop-in legal clinic for veterans. More Info: Flyer Youth Archery League When: Feb. 7 to March 28, 2015 Where: Chilakoot Bowhunters Range, Somerset, WI About: Chilakoot Bowhunters Range, located near Somerset, Wisconsin, is sponsoring a beginners to advanced youth archery league. Safety and proper use and handling of equipment will be stressed. More Info: Flyer
An Evening with Taya Kyle When: Feb. 8, 7 p.m. Where: Beth El Synagogue, St. Louis Park About: Beth El Synagogue's Heroes Among Us Series proudly presents An Evening with Taya Kyle and special guest Jim DeFelice. Taya's late husband was American Sniper, Chris Kyle. A riveting and inspiring speaker, Taya regularly speaks to audiences across the country about the challenges facing verterans, first responders and their families. More Info: Flyer Drop-In Legal Clinic for Veterans When: Feb. 10, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Where: Anoka County Government Center About: Minnesota Assistance Council for Veterans (MACV) invites you to participate in a free drop-in legal clinic for veterans. More Info: Flyer Career Fair - Minnesota Correctional Facility When: Feb. 11, 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. Where: Minnesota Correctional Facility, Lino Lakes. The event will be held in Visiting. About: Explore exciting careers with the Minesota Department of Corrections. Staff and recruiters will be onsite talking with job seekers about the many careers in corrections. More Info: Flyer Hiring Our Heroes - Hiring Fair and Minnesota Wild Military Salute Night When: Feb. 12, 2015. Employment workshop 9:30 a.m. to 11a.m. Hiring fair 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Where: Xcel Energy Center, St. Paul About: Hiring Our Heroes, U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation is hosting a Military Hiring Fair and Minnesota Wild Salute Night. The first two hundred pre-registered attendees are eligible to receive up to two free tickets to attend that evening's game between the Minnesota Wild and the Florida Panthers. More Info: Flyer Website
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MILITARYONESOURCE ARTICLE Start Saving with Small Steps It's commonly believed that becoming a good "saver" takes discipline — making solid choices over and over and sticking to a rigid budget. While this may be somewhat true, there's a hack you can use to eliminate the need for some of the discipline — systems. Create systems that work for you. Do the work up front, and make saving automatic. Here's how: Step 1: Examine your spending habits. The first step to putting your systems in place is taking a close look at your spending habits. Determine how much money you have coming in each month. Compare this to how much is going out and note where it's going. Consider how much you spend on the following: Mortgage or rent Car loans Household bills Groceries Gas Insurance premiums Savings deposits Entertainment To get a full picture of your finances, get a small notebook. Carry it with you at all times for one month and note all expenses. This will give you a great snapshot of your spending and may offer some surprises. Did you realize you were spending $80 a month on lattes? They may no longer seem quite as satisfying.
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MILITARYONESOURCE ARTICLE Start Saving with Small Steps Step 2: Set goals. There is an old saying that a goal without a plan is a just a dream. You need to solidify your goals in order to put your systems in place. Write them down. Make short-term and long-term goals and work toward them each month. Stay committed. You can even take the Military Saves Saver Pledge to help you stay on track. Some common short-term goals may include: purchasing a car, saving for a vacation, purchasing appliances, and building an emergency savings account. Long-term goals could be: buying a home, saving for retirement, and contributing to a college savings plan. Set savings goals for each item you are working toward and prioritize. If you don't know what a realistic amount is or the best order in which to tackle your goals, consult a personal financial manager on your installation or call Military OneSource at 800-342-9647 to reach a financial counselor. Step 3: Make a plan. Now it's time to get specific and set up your systems. Take your findings from steps one and two and use them to work saving into your budget. When your expenses are paid how much do you have left? Examine areas you could cut to find more money to save, such as entertainment, eating on the go (those lattes again) or groceries (become a couponing champion or a master of the commissary). Here's what you need to decide: How much will you save? No matter how small the amount you can commit to, start saving now. A small amount over a longer period can be more valuable than waiting until you are older and saving even larger amounts. Decide upon either a set dollar amount from each check or an annual percentage of your income to squirrel away. You can increase these amounts as you receive pay raises, tax refunds or bonuses. How will you make it happen? While a coffee can in the backyard may have been your ancestors' method, you have better choices available. Take thinking about savings off your to-do list and make it automatic. By using allotments or a scheduled bank transfer each month, saving will be automatic without any effort on your part. Decide which goal (s) to work toward first and direct your money to the appropriate accounts — automatically each month. Now that's truly your money working for you. Military Saves features countless resources and tools on their website to help you create accurate figures. They also offer advice and tips on how to stay focused on your goals and how to make saving a priority. And again, your personal financial managers and Military OneSource financial counselors are there to support you. It takes time and commitment to achieve your financial goals. You have access to no-cost tools and resources that can help you on your way. Follow these steps to start saving and create financial security for you and your family. And reach out for help along the way. 9
HEALTHY MONEY HABITS FALLING OFF THE FINANCIAL BAND WAGON In mid-November, our finances were squared away. Almost all of our Christmas presents had been purchased and money had been set aside to take advantage of the afterThanksgiving sales. We were set to end the year on a solid financial note and were in the process of saving for a new car. We weren’t going to be like most people and wake up in January with the typical financial hangover. I could not have been more wrong. It started simple. We both decided to take advantage of some Black Friday deals not budgeted for. That weekend was also our anniversary weekend away. We really like to eat and ordered way too much food at all of the restaurants we went to- $100. We also went shopping and remarkably did not buy anything at IKEA, but did manage to rack up spending at other stores- $300. The first week of December, we both got sick with influenza and other illnesses for several weeks. Thankfully, we were too sick to eat out or our take-out bills would have been huge. Instead, we passed the time with some seemingly innocent online shopping. We had both planned to get each other simple Christmas gifts, but that idea soon crossed into the triple digits- $270. Then there were the last minute upgrades to gifts for the kids- $50, and a neighbor with a daughter two years older than ours, decided to sell 40-60+ Gymboree outfits for 90% off of retail- $250. Once we started feeling better, we had the sudden urge to outfit the whole family in new climbing gear. It was a really good deal getting $600 worth of gear for $300, but who buys climbing shoes for a one and a half year old? This was also our first year playing/coaching hockey and soon new gear and fees added up to $470. Then we had multiple Christmases over multiple days and the expenses associated with them added up- $320. We also took a $520 road trip for New Year’s and tried half-heartedly to keep the expenses down. The following week, we decided to upgrade the lawn furniture in our living room (seriously) to a $400 couch. I should also mention that while on our New Year’s Trip I misplaced our cash envelope system for two weeks. So a week into the New Year, I start to plug in the recent expenses into our budget spreadsheet and realized that since we pay many of our little bills quarterly, those bills were due in January and so were many of our annual premiums. Even worse is the realization that it is going to take until March to return the money that we so carelessly removed from savings. To speed up the process, we have been selling things on Craigslist. The good news is that by then we will have saved enough to pay cash for our next vehicle and to put new windows on our house. These are our first two goals of the year. The best part is that not once during our holiday financial hangover did we yell at each other or say a mean thing about finances. We simply acknowledged what had happened and moved on. We feel so blessed to have healthy kids and a great marriage. We are on a good path this year and have big plans. We are not going to let a fall off of the financial wagon derail us. 10
ARMY / NATIONAL GUARD minnesotanationalguard.com armyonesource.com militaryonesource.mil
RESOURCE LINKS
CHILDREN ADAPT: cehd.umn.edu/fsos/adapt operationwearehere.com mnchildcare.org ausa.org/family mdva.state.mn.us/child guardfamilyyouth.org militarykids.org DISCOUNTS beyondtheyellowribbon.org military.com/discounts/category EDUCATION education4military.com gibill.va.gov militaryonesource.mil militarychild.org EMPLOYMENT esgr.org mn.gov/deed FMLA: dol.gov/whd/fmla HEALTH / MENTAL HEALTH tricare.mil militarymentalhealth.org Counseling 24/7: militaryonesource.mil MARRIAGE AND RELATIONSHIPS Marriage Retreats: strongbonds.org militaryonesource.mil PARENTS OF SOLDIERS bluestarmoms.org operationwearehere.com/Parents.html PET CARE dogsondeployment.org netpets.org guardianangelsforsoldierspet.org SPOUSES & SIGNIFICANT OTHERS militarysos.com spousebuzz.com milspouse.com msccn.org nationalmilitaryspousenetwork.org STRESS MANAGEMENT militaryonesource.mil defense.gov/specials/stressawareness
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